News stories by Eva Bartlett, page 6

This is the month for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, or 'catastrophe', in which more than 700,000 women, men and children were pushed off their land and rendered homeless refugees by the Zionist attacks before, during and after the founding of Israel in 1948.

'I've learned most of what I know about photo editing and graphic design via the Internet,' says Emad, 27-year-old film-maker and editor. In Gaza, this sort of thing has become usual in a different way.

'Why are you rushing? Isn't it nicer like this?' Mohammed Omer, oud teacher (an oud is similar to a lute) at the Gaza Music School, asks his student. Omer takes the oud and demonstrates, playing the song slowly, gracefully, with the ornamentations that are key to Arab music.

Nine-year-old Ismail spends every afternoon herding his family's flock of sheep and goats, a scraggly group of roughly 20 animals. They live in a shanty house district near Tel el Howa in Gaza City, where growth is sparse to non-existent.

They come by the hundreds every day to sand dunes and rubble sites to sift for pebbles, stones and sand that can be used in making concrete blocks. They lean into trash bins across the Strip, and wade through piles of rubbish scavenging for plastics, metals, and any bits worth reselling.

'If we had money we'd get married right away,' says Samir*, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding.

'If we had money we'd get married right away,' says Samir*, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding.

For many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional.

On a quiet October morning, Fida Zaneen, 19, sings a traditional love song as she pulls olives from trees in Beit Hanoun's border region during the annual olive harvest.

On a searing summer morning, workers are adding layers to the mud-brick police station being constructed in Sheikh Zayed, northern Gaza.