We have a very special opportunity for educators and young students who have
studied the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to ask questions of young Palestinians
who have come to the US to share their pictures and stories.

Next Wednesday, April 11th, several young Palestinians from Balata Refugee Camp
outside of Nablus, West Bank will be at Harvard University for a presentation
of their pictures and to answer questions. High school and junior high
students are especially encouraged to attend!

If you have any questions about the event, including the location and parking
information, please contact The Outreach Center.


The event is within a short walking distance from our library on Sumner Road.

PICTURE BALATA YOUTH SPECIAL BOSTON EVENT:

Wednesday April 11, 2007 7pm-9pm

7pm Slideshow presentation by Picture Balata youth
Center for Government and International Studies Building North
Bowie-Vernon Room (N262), Second Floor

7:30-9pm Photography exhibition*, musical performance, and reception
Fisher Family Commons, First Floor

*LOCATION:*
Harvard University Center for Government and International Studies
Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street

*Photography exhibit will run 9 April - 21 April at Fisher Commons, Center for
Government and International Studies Building North*

****PRESS RELEASE*****

www.picturebalata.net

Picture Balata coming to six US cities in April

Four teenage participants from the Picture Balata workshop are coming
to the US the first two weeks of April 2007. Showing their work and
speaking about their lives, the photographers will travel to New York
City; Washington, DC; Pittsburgh; Boston; Chicago and San Francisco.

These young people, leaving the West Bank for the first time, will be
able to educate Americans regarding the reality of the situation in
Balata Refugee Camp and occupied Palestine. The tour will also give
them the chance to see that people outside Palestine support their
work and the Palestinian struggle for justice.

The tour also aims to raise funds to purchase cameras, computers and
Internet access so that after further training the workshop
participants, nine in total, will be able to do everything from
taking the picture, editing it on their own computer and then
publishing it on a website for the entire world to see. This self-
sustainable project will give these young people the opportunity to
further pursue photography and other media as a form of self-
expression and resistance.

Background:

Outside the West Bank City of Nablus lies the Balata Refugee Camp.
Established in 1951, Balata and the dozens other camps in the West
Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan were supposed to be a temporary
solution for the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were driven
from their homes during the establishment of the State of Israel in
1948.

Nearly six decades later, Balata is home to almost 25,000 residents
living on less than one square kilometer -- the most densely
populated refugee camp within the West Bank. In recent years, Balata
has seen hundreds of deaths and arrests, dozens of home demolitions
and the camp is subject to near-nightly invasions by the Israeli
army. It is here the Picture Balata workshop was started to teach
youth from the camp about photography.

Picture Balata puts the camera into the hands of the children born
and raised inside the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Participants
ranging from ages 11 to 18 photograph their situation as they live it
in Balata Refugee Camp.

www.picturebalata.net