Amplifying the story of Palestine through art.

THE INITIATIVE
return() combines art, cultural programs, and research-driven writing to shine a light on the plight of the Palestinian people and tell their story.
It is grounded in everlasting hope, optimism, and pride in the resilience of a people that have endured decades of oppression without losing conviction that they will return to their land.
STILL HERE
An exhibition of digital artworks by artists from around the world that tell the story of Palestine and its people.
Stories of pain and perseverance, artistry and resistance, dignity and resilience, and devotion to their land and one another. “Still Here” pays tribute to their steadfastness.
Despite all they have endured, the Palestinian people are still here.
All works are part of the Abu Alya collection.
when:
June 4 - 16 // 12pm - 8pm
where:
Palacete Gomes Freire
Rua Gomes Freire 98 1150-179 Lisboa, Portugal

the collection
These works are all part of the private collection of Abu Alya, organized according to specific themes related to Palestine.
Art is the expression of our conscience. Resistance through creation. Love memorialized.
history
A timeline of key milestones in the recent history of Palestine.

August 29, 1897
First Zionist Congress
First Zionist Congress

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The First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization held in the Stadtcasino Basel in the city of Basel on August 29–31, 1897. 208 delegates from 17 countries and 26 press correspondents attended the event.

January 3, 1916
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Sykes-Picot Agreement

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The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret 1916 treaty between Great Britain and France that effectively divided the Middle East into areas of British and French control following the anticipated defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

November 2, 1917
Balfour Declaration
Balfour Declaration

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The Balfour Declaration was a letter addressed to Lord Walter Rothschild issued by the British government on November 2, 1917, during World War I. It pledged British support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."

April 19, 1936
The Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt

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The Arab Revolt of 1936–1939, also known as the Great Palestinian Rebellion, was a sustained popular uprising by Palestinian Arabs against the British administration of Mandatory Palestine. The movement sought independence from British colonial rule and an end to British support for Zionism, including unrestricted Jewish immigration and land sales.

November 6, 1944
Assassination of Lord Moyne
Assassination of Lord Moyne

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Walter Guiness, also known as Lord Moyne, was the British Resident Minister of the Middle East, and was responsible for Britain's Palestine policy, including immigration. He was assassinated by the Zionist terrorist group Lehi in Cairo, sending shock waves through Palestine and the rest of the world.

July 22, 1946
King David Hotel Bombing
King David Hotel Bombing

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The Zionist terrorist group Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, which was house in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people.

November 29, 1947
UN Partition Plan
UN Partition Plan

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The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations to partition Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate, giving 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state, even though Jews owned less than 6% of the land.

April 9, 1946
Deir Yassin Massacre
Deir Yassin Massacre

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On April 9, 1948, Zionist terrorists from the Irgun and Stern gangs raided the village of Deir Yassin, killing at least 254 Palestinian civilians, mainly women, children and the elderly. There were documented cases of rape, mutilation and humiliation. The Deir Yassin massacre was led by Menachem Begin in his capacity as head of the Irgun. As news of the atrocities in the village spread, thousands of Palestinians fled their villages in fear.

December 31, 1947
The Nakba
The Nakba

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“Al Nakba”, which literally translates as “The Catastrophe,” refers to the violent displacement of at least 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from Palestine by Zionist terrorist groups from late 1947 to 1949.

May 14, 1948
Declaration of the State of Israel
Declaration of the State of Israel

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The State of Israel was officially declared on May 14, 1948, by David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Haganah and later the first Prime Minister. The proclamation was read at the Tel Aviv Museum, coinciding with the expiration of the British Mandate over Palestine.

September 17, 1948
Assassination of Count Bernadotte
Assassination of Count Bernadotte

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Count Folke Bernadotte was a Swedish diplomat and member of the royal family, who had notably helped free tens of thousands of prisoners held in Nazi Germany during World War II. He was appointed as a UN mediator for Palestine, and had been working on a proposal to resolve the conflict.
On September 16, 1948, he submitted a plan that affirmed the existence of the state of Israel and the Palestinian right of return, advocating that those expelled from their land during the Nakba should be allowed to reclaim them.
One day later, four members of the Zionist terrorist group the Lehi ambushed his motorcade in Jerusalem and murdered him.

June 5, 1967
Six Day War
Six Day War

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The Six Day War was begun by Israel on the morning of June 5 with a surprise attack on Egypt that obliterated its air force while most of its planes were still on the ground. What ensued was a swift Israeli victory over the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and annexation of the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, which Israel illegally occupies until today.

September 16, 1982
Sabra and Shatila
Sabra and Shatila

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Over the course of three days, Lebanese Christian militiamen murdered as many as 3,500 people, mostly Palestinian inhabitants of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut in revenge for the assassination of their leader, Lebanese president elect, Bashir Gemayel. Many of the victims were raped.
Almost immediately after the killing began, Israeli soldiers surrounding the camps became aware that civilians were being murdered but did nothing to stop it. Instead, the Israeli military fired flares into the night sky to illuminate the darkness for the Phalangists, allowed more fighters to enter the area on the second day, and supplied bulldozers that were used to dispose of the bodies of many of the victims.

December 9, 1987
First Intifada
First Intifada

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“Intifada” is Arabic for “shaking off” and is used to describe Palestinian uprisings against Israeli oppression.
In December 1987, a large-scale popular uprising by Palestinians known as the First Intifada began against Israel’s then 20-year-old military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Sparked by an incident in which four Palestinians were hit and killed by an Israeli driver in Gaza. Palestinians used tactics such as protesting, stone throwing against Israeli soldiers, commercial strikes, refusing to pay taxes to Israel, and other acts of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.

September 13, 1993
Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords

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The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed in 1993 and 1995 that aimed to achieve a lasting peace and a two-state solution. They established the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

September 28, 2000
Second Intifada
Second Intifada

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The Second Intifada began after then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon sparked the uprising when he stormed al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem with more than 1,000 heavily armed police and soldiers on September 28, 2000.
The first days of the uprising were characterized by large non-violent demonstrations that included civil disobedience and some stone-throwing. It started in Jerusalem and quickly spread to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The demonstrations were met with excessive force from the Israeli authorities that included rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. Soon thereafter followed military incursions involving helicopters and tanks into heavily populated Palestinian areas. More than a month later, Palestinians responded with violence, including suicide bombings.
At least 4,973 Palestinians were killed over the course of the Second Intifada. Among them were 1,262 children, 274 women and 32 medical personnel, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. In addition to the deaths and injuries, the Israeli army demolished more than 5,000 Palestinians homes and damaged another 6,500 beyond repair.

April 16, 2002
West Bank Wall
West Bank Wall

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In 2002, under the pretext of security, Israel began unilaterally building a wall to separate Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from Israel and Palestinian occupied East Jerusalem, and from Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
At a total length of 708 kilometers, the route traced by the wall is more than double the length of the Green Line, with 15% of its length running along the Green Line or inside Israel, and the remaining 85% running as much as 18 kilometers inside the West Bank.
The wall is illegal under international law and has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations (UN), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and human rights groups.

January 25, 2006
Hamas Elected
Hamas Elected

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Elections for the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) took place on January 25, 2006, resulting in victory for Hamas over Fatah, the ruling party at the time. On 20 February, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was nominated to form a new government, and Haniyeh was sworn in as Prime Minister 29 March, 2006.

June 12, 2007
Gaza Blockade
Gaza Blockade

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Following Hamas' victory in the elections in January 2006, Israel gradually begins tightening restrictions on Gaza, beginning by withholding tax revenue owed to the Palestinian Authority, closing passenger and commercial crossings, including the Karni crossing used to bring in commercial goods into Gaza.
The blockade was so severe that Israel began limiting the daily caloric intake of Palestinians well below survival levels. The goal, as described by Israeli officials, was to "keep Gaza's economy on the brink of collapse." Any good that was considered a luxury by Israel was also banned throughout the blockade, including instant coffee, chocolate, and other sweets.

July 14, 2014
2014 Gaza War
2014 Gaza War

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Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Palestinian militants, the Israeli army initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which it killed 10 Palestinians, injured 130 and imprisoned more than 600. Hamas resumed rocket attacks on Israel more than two weeks later, following the killing of one of its militants by an Israeli airstrike on 29 June.
Israel launched a military offensive that resulted in slaughter of more than 2,000 Palestinians, including over 500 children, and more than 10,000 injuries.
During the conflict, family homes were among the targets for airstrikes. Several of the attacks directly and deliberately targeted civilians and landmark buildings.
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also fired thousands of indiscriminate rockets and mortars into civilian areas of Israel, killing six people, including one child.

March 30, 2018
The Great March Of Return
The Great March Of Return

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The "Great March of Return" refers to a series of mass, nonviolent grassroots demonstrations held weekly by Palestinians along the Gaza-Israel border between March 30, 2018, and December 2019. Protestors demanded an end to the blockade that had been imposed by Israel since 2007 and asserted the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their ancestral lands.
Israeli security forces responded with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and live ammunition, resulting in over 200 Palestinian deaths and approximately 36,000 injuries over the course of the protests.

October 7, 2023
Al Aqsa Flood
Al Aqsa Flood

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The October 7 attacks, also known as Operation Al Aqsa Flood, were a series of coordinated armed incursions from the blockaded Gaza Strip into Southern Israel, carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.
In total, 1,195 people were killed by the attacks: at least 828 civilians (including 36 children and 71 foreign nationals), and at least 367 members of the security forces.

October 8, 2023
Gaza Genocide
Gaza Genocide

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In response to the events of October 7, 2023, Israeli government officials promised swift and brutal retaliation, making genocidal statements that promised collective punishment, and the destruction of Gaza and its society. The destruction began immediately, and continues until today, with more than 90% of all infrastructure destroyed, over 70,000 people slaughtered, and over 50,000 children killed or injured. More than 2 million people have been displaced.
Israel has deliberately targeted schools, hospitals, vital infrastructure, aid workers, and noncombatants, using over 100,000 tons of bombs, more than Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.
The world's leading scholars have declared it a genocide, while South Africa has brought charges of genocide against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 21, 2024, along with other Israeli government officials.
write of return
A collection of essays written by Abu Alya, covering Palestine, the history of the occupation, and the latest developments.























