Rehab Nazzal recently returned to Ottawa to install her latest multimedia exhibition Invisible at the Karsh-Masson Gallery as part of the City of Ottawa's Public Art Program. She left Ottawa a few years ago to pursue her Masters of Fine Arts at Ryerson University in Documentary Media and is now pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario.

When news of Nelson Mandela passing spread, the world was shaken. From the people of South Africa who felt the direct impact of his actions, to those who benefited from his AIDS campaign; everyone was saddened.

For me, Mandela's death really hit home. As a Palestinian, I looked up to Mandela. I remember one night, years ago, doing a google search to find out who he was. I quickly learned that he was an anti-apartheid advocate and a hero to the South Africans. I soon stumbled on one of his quotes that I would never forget: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” 

Haneen Alhassoun recently won second place this month at the Ottawa Youth Poetry Slam. At 16, the Brookfield High School student is both humbled and excited about her win as she has been working towards it for the past two and a half years.

I had looked forward to meeting Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Palestinian doctor whose book I Shall Not Hate tells his moving story. But when I met him in Toronto he rebuked me, but in a manner that increased my admiration for his character.

Dr. Abuelaish was born in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and that would normally doom him to life-long misery and despair. His book chronicles his sufferings and humiliation ”“ and that of Palestinians ”“ from an ongoing, harsh occupation. But Dr. Abuelaish struggled day and night to become an internationally acclaimed physician and a crusader for a just peace. He made many Israeli friends.