Al-Quds University English Department organized on Monday a symposium about the Journal Biography “Life in Occupied Palestine” at the main theater in Abu Dis Campus. 

Dr. Cynthia Franklin, professor of English at the University of Hawai’i and co- editor of the special issue of the Journal Biography said that “the aim of the journal is to support the struggle for justice in Palestine, and to provide a platform for Palestinians to tell their stories to the audience who doesn’t actually hear them, in addition to providing a platform for the Palestinian narrative.

Dr Franklin added that “Palestinians are experiencing severe restrictions to their daily life activities through the checkpoints and the Apartheid Wall, so I hope this Journal will help inform Americans of the struggle Palestinians face daily.
 
Students in the English department, Zeinab Mughrabi, Leena Safi, Tarek Zuhour, Manar Hasan and Ehab Abudhebeh presented selections written by a few of the contributors of this issue, along with Sondos Shehade from Al-Quds-  Bard College who represented Dr’ Rima Najjar’s contribution titled “Life in Abu Dis Continues Quietly”.
 
Dr. Rima Najjar, professor in the English Department at Al-Quds University, contributed in the Journal appeared through genres that include letters, social media postings, autobiography, and travel narrative. In “Life in Abu Dis Continues Quietly” Rima Included Facebook postings and she discussed how she used social media to document the Palestinians daily life under the Israeli Occupation.