Path 17 of 20

Faces of Palestinian Resistance

Palestinian resilience manifests in the spirit of resistance, fostering a legacy of strength and steadfast pursuit of sovereignty.

30 profiles
Born 1904–2002
2 from Jerusalem

Handala on the separation wall at Ni'lin

Graffiti on the separation wall, Ni'lin

Handala graffiti near Lions' Gate, Jerusalem

Photos: Friends123 (CC0), Yoram Shurek (CC BY-SA 3.0), brionv from San Francisco, United States (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

About Resistance

The long refusal.

Palestinians have resisted dispossession since before 1948: in the revolt of 1936 to 1939 against British rule and Zionist settlement, and after the Nakba from the refugee camps. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, killed by the British in 1935, became the symbol of that first armed struggle.

In the 1960s Yasser Arafat’s Fatah and George Habash’s Popular Front led a new generation, and in 1987 Sheikh Ahmed Yassin founded Hamas. Resistance has also meant stones and prison cells: a boy facing a tank in Gaza, and leaders like Marwan Barghouti who have spent decades behind bars.

This path includes political leaders, fighters, prisoners and writers. Faces of Palestine presents them as part of their people’s history, without hiding the choices they made.