Reflections on Freedom of Movement began as a conversation amongst a group of Palestinian artists about their freedom of movement as an embodied experience. The group evolved into the “Movement Group,” consisting of Michael Jabareen from Jenin, currently working in Berlin; Haneen Nazzal from Jenin working in Ramallah, West Bank; Khaled Jaradeh from Gaza currently living in France; and Alaa Dayeh, living and working in the old city of Jerusalem.
The group held monthly online meetings between August and December 2022, delving deep into contemporary systems and manifestations of movement control within and in-between nation-states. The discussion also included the physical and emotional effects of these systems of confinement, impediment, and deprivation or restriction of movement.
The artists articulated their own experiences navigating between cement walls, checkpoints, watchtowers, coded driving systems and identification documents,1 and segregated roads and areas, as well as between nation states’ borders. The discussion concluded with each artist creating a work of art using drawing, photography, animation, or text.
The project invites us to think about the impact of settler colonial practices of fragmentation, confinement, and segregation imposed on Indigenous peoples, not only in Palestine but also in Turtle Island and other colonized territories. It also invites us to contemplate Western inventions, such as borders, identity documents, permit systems, and surveillance apparatuses; the link between these inventions and war; and the resulting disasters, including the refugee crisis.
Image description: A series of black and white photographs collaged side-by-side in narrow strips. The images document various surveillance apparatus installed across Palestine by the Israeli government; including barbed wire fences, surveillance cameras, armed guards, and watch towers.
Above: Rehab Nazzal, Israeli military post at the shores of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, 2020.
Image description: A black and white photograph taken through a barbed wire fence, which is visible just slightly out of focus across the frame. Within the military post, which sits on raised land above where the photographer stands, are more wire fences, make-shift structures, and poles equipped with surveillance cameras.
Brief Background Relevant to Palestinians Freedom of Movement:
The 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) resulted in the forced expulsion of approximately two-thirds of the Indigenous Palestinian population from their homeland by Zionist military forces, leading to the creation of the State of Israel on seized Palestinian lands and to the largest refugee crisis in modern times. Currently, there are over six million Palestinian refugees, scattered in fifty-nine refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, and surrounding Arab countries, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). These refugees have been denied the right to return to their homes and country, which has been sealed off from its neighbours.
In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining Palestinian territories—the West Bank and Gaza—uprooting another group of Palestinians and controlling the lives and lands of the inhabitants through military force. This control includes the building of Jewish-only colonies and Israeli-only roads on stolen and occupied territories in violation of international law. Between 1967 and 2020, Israel built 250 illegal, segregated, Jewish-only colonies and Israeli-only roads, further restricting Palestinians’ freedom of movement. Travel bans and the requirement to obtain permission to exit or enter the country were imposed.
1987-1993 The First Intifada, also known as the Stones Intifada, erupted throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was a mass mobilization of Palestinian civil society with widespread participation of youth, students, and women in protests, civil disobedience, and strikes demanding an end to Israel’s military occupation. This resulted in long periods of curfews, closure of the education system, and confinements.
In 1993, Oslo Accords, also known as the “peace process,” were signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel. These accords promised an end to the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. However, the peace process, which established the Palestinian Authority, resulted only in the withdrawal of occupation forces from populated centers, and increasing colonization of the West Bank and further isolation of Palestinian communities from one another, as well as increased restrictions on their movement.
From 2000 to 2006, the Second Palestinian Intifada exploded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to the failure of the so-called “peace process.” The uprising took the form of popular protests and armed resistance against Israeli occupation forces. It resulted in the return of occupation forces to populated centers and an increase in the number of checkpoints and surveillance structures, which further obstructed Palestinians mobility.
Since 2002, Israel began constructing an Apartheid Wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Wall, which is more than 800 kilometers long and eight to nine-meter-high and incorporates concrete slabs, chain-link fencing, and a surveillance system, is designed to steal land and further isolate Palestinian communities from one another and from the outside world. The illegal Wall has gates and checkpoints that control the movement of people and goods between the West Bank, Gaza, and the rest of Palestine and the outside world. The occupation state imposed travel bans and a permit system on Palestinians’ movement between different parts of the country. For example, no Palestinian in the West Bank can enter Jerusalem or Palestinian cities colonized in 1948 such as Haifa, Nazareth, Akka without an individual permit.
In 2007, Israel imposed closures and air, land, and sea blockades on the Gaza Strip, isolating it from the rest of Palestine and confining over two million Palestinians within an area of 360 square kilometers. This blockade has been accompanied by frequent military assaults by Israel’s occupation forces, causing tremendous loss of life and tremendous damage to infrastructure, as well as suffocating control to Palestinians’ freedom of movement.
Explore Artist Projects:
Reflections on Freedom of Movement in Arabic:
Loading…
Reload document 
Open in new tab Biographies:
Rehab Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto and Montreal. Her work deals with the effects of settler-colonial violence on the bodies and minds of colonized peoples, on the land and on other non-human life. Nazzal’s video, photography and sound works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally. She was an assistant professor at Dar Al-Kalima University in Bethlehem and has taught at Simon Fraser University, Western University and Ottawa School of Art. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Social Justice Award from Ryerson University and the Edmund and Isobel Ryan Visual Arts Award in Photography from the University of Ottawa.
Michael Jabareen is a collective experimental artist, designer, architect, and performer who chose his passion and driven will towards art to be a way of existence. He focuses on the development and utilization of art expression methodologies to effectively connect and communicate with the audience and create positive change and impact. By experimenting the combination of artistic human experiences, both visual and performative, Michael works on speaking out and supporting marginalized and silenced humanitarian and environmental causes around the world. Throughout more than 11 years of local and international experience with a bachelor’s in Architectural Engineering and a Master’s in Visual and Experience Design, Michael dedicates his passion towards art to influence social and individual practices using the power of image in visual communication and behavioral guidance, applying this technique in different fields including business entrepreneurship, illustration, comics, graphic design, animation, videography, multimedia production, theatrical practices, and spatial design. [@michaelmjabareen]
Alaa Al-Dayah was born and lives in the old city of Jerusalem, Palestine. She holds a BA in Film Production and Cinematography from Dar Al-Kalima University in Bethlehem. Her film “Exit” was screened at the “Sin” Festival in 2017 and won the Best Palestinian Experimental Film Award at the Bethlehem Student Film Festival in 2019. Her film “Restoring Time” was screened at the Emerging Creators exhibition organized by the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem in 2019 and at an exhibition organized by the Franco-German Institute in Ramallah. She directed a short film titled “Majdoline” and two documentaries, and worked as an assistant director on a number of short films. Al-Dayah contributed to the project “The World Heritage of Jerusalem in the Hands of Jerusalemite Youth” and trained many youth from different schools in Jerusalem in photography, and helped exhibit their photos in a show organized by the Al-Ma’mal Foundation. Dayah is interested in Jerusalem’s architectural heritage and the hidden history of the city.
Khaled Jarada is a Palestinian artist from Gaza, currently living in France. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology- Multimedia, from Palestine University in Gaza. He uses drawing, animation, and graphic storytelling in his works, which deals with issues of identity, memory, and the human body. Jarada has created visuals for several children’s books and stories, including The Bull that Stole the Kangaroo’s Cloak, (2019) with Tamer Institute for Community Education; Ant in my Computer (2015), translated to Portuguese, and Jamileh, a graphic story for youth, (2020). He has participated in several exhibitions including Color of this World, (2019) at the Tamer Institute; Lights on Gaza at the at Les Amarres Center in Paris in 2022, Art Now at Gallery One in Ramallah in 2021, and in Tomorrow’s Memory at the German Cultural Center in Ramallah (2022). Jarada has residencies at Shababeek Art Centre in Gaza, the Spanish Royal Academy and at Reims, France (2021-2022). He is a recipient of the second award of Gaza Video Festival, and the first award for his work Dreams Collector at the “Digital November” festival organized by the French Cultural Institute in Jerusalem.
Haneen Nazzal is a Palestinian visual artist based in Ramallah. She holds a BA in Architecture from Annajah University (2014). Her practice combines illustration, animation, poster art, and experimental design. Nazzal’s work is concerned with the role of art in liberation movements and indigenous identity.
Loading…
- Palestinian ID cards and license plates are green and Israeli ID cards are blue and the license plates yellow.
Since you're here
BlackFlash exists thanks to support from its readers. We are a not-for-profit organization. If you value our content, consider supporting BlackFlash by subscribing to the magazine or making a donation. A subscription gets you 3 beautiful issues per year delivered to your door, and any donation over $25 gets a tax receipt. Your support helps compensate our staff and contributors for their hard work.