22-Zakiyya Mohammad Theeb Hamad (Umm Al Abed) with her family

Umm Al Abed was born in 1928 in the village of Saris,15 km/9 miles west of Jerusalem. She described the village as similar to the mountains of Lebanon with its fresh air and cold weather. Residents planted cactus, grapes, figs, peaches, apricots and olives, in addition to wheat, barley, corn, chickpeas, lentils and potatoes. "We were harvesting, threshing, storing figs and grains and we were self-sufficient," she said. (This is a story we heard from many survivors.)—Gratitude as always to my colleague, Fareed Taamallah

Village of Saris (Palestine Remembered)

Current Covid-19 conditions in Palestine (August 24, 2020)—from the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine

Currently Covid-19 in Gaza (August 28, 2020)

Current Covid-19 conditions in Cambridge Massachusetts, my home—use index on left of document for other details

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Photos by Skip Schiel & Teeksa Photography