January 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Ave. NE, will exhibit in its lobby Feb. 3-24 “Our Story: A Photo Exhibit Commemorating 60 Years of Dispossession.” The exhibit marks the annual observance of the Nakba, the 1948 mass deportation of Palestinians, massacres of civilians and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages following the creation of Israel.

"Our Story: A Photo Exhibit Commemorating 60 Years of Dispossession" will be on display in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill from Feb. 3 to 24.

The Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace will host a reception at the United Methodist Building on Tuesday, Feb. 3, on the opening of the exhibit produced by Friends of Sabeel Canada. The exhibit includes 61 photo boards and 21 text boards with titles and text of the past 60 years of the Palestinian story.

The reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. will feature Afaf Ayish, a survivor of the Nakba; Laila Al-Arian, co-author with Chris Hedges of Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians. Al-Arian will report on the current situation in Gaza, where her family still resides.

Other speakers include Jim Winkler, top executive of the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, which is headquartered in the building adjacent to the U.S. Supreme Court and opposite the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has been invited to speak also.

The reception will include a meditation and prayer for the victims of the 1948 Nakba and the current suffering in Gaza.

This Photo Exhibit is an awareness building resource being used in several countries to educate and inspire advocacy. It is an expansion of the 1998 book and photo exhibit produced by Sabeel Ecumenical Theology Centre in Jerusalem on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nakba. The Canadian Friends of Sabeel has reproduced the original exhibit, adding 10 extra photos commemorating the last 10 years of the continuing Nakba experience of the Palestinian people.

The Nakba Photo Exhibit will be on display in the lobby of the Methodist Building from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace (WIAMEP) owns a copy of the photo exhibit and is making it available to borrow within the D.C. metro area, free of charge. For details, go online to Nakba Photo Exhibit Flyer.

To discuss arrangements for displaying the exhibit, contact Aida Atallah, (202) 607-4963.

The entire exhibit may be viewed on the Canadian Friends of Sabeel website: Nakba photo exhibit. To purchase a copy of the exhibit, contact Monica Lambton, Canadian Friends of Sabeel.