Discovery zone cincinnati9/13/2023 In the decades that followed, hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants, mostly from Europe, poured into Palestine. After promising Arab countries their independence if they would fight against the Turks and Germans, Britain reneged on that promise and, under pressure from Zionists, unilaterally designated Palestine a homeland for Jews under the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The roots of the Arab revolt go back to World War I. Jason Al Ghussein’s grandfather, Yacoub, was among Arab leaders who met in London and who were exiled to the Seychelles. He was arrested again in 1936 for being a leader of the Arab Higher Committee, loaded onto a British destroyer, and sailed to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, where he was a political prisoner for nearly two years. His grandfather, Yacoub, was a national Palestinian leader arrested several times by the British and beaten unconscious after he cursed a British police superintendent in 1933. Roger Waters has long supported Pales tinians in their struggle for nationhood and civil rights.Īl Ghussein has far more personal reasons for his support. During the concert that night, Waters wore the scarf while performing “Déjà Vu,” a protest song he wrote for Palestine. Before leaving, he asked if he could take Al Ghussein’s keffiyeh with him. The rock star chatted for 30 minutes during his visit and signed covers of Pink Floyd’s iconic The Dark Side of the Moon album as well as Al Ghussein’s electric guitar. Waters donned another keffiyeh that Al Ghussein gave him for a photo shoot in front of the mural. For his meeting with Waters, he was wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headdress that’s become a symbol of the Palestinian resistance movement. Waters greeted Al Ghussein with the teasing words, “Man, you’re a hairy dude.” Al Ghussein, 34, a freelance graphic design artist and software developer, sports shoulder-length hair and a bushy lumberjack beard. That night during his concert at Heritage Bank Arena, Waters wore the keffiyeh that Al Ghussein gave him. Jason Al Ghussein welcomed Roger Waters to see his mural on August 2, 2022. Today nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees are eligible for services through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, with one third living in UN refugee camps. policy by recognizing Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital rather than Tel Aviv. Embassy in Jerusalem-a move that reverses 70 years of U.S. Land taken from Al Ghussein’s cousin, Ali Qleibo, has been proposed for the site of the new U.S. Their abandoned properties were then confiscated by the fledgling nation of Israel through the 1950 Absentee Property Law. But in 1948, his widowed grandmother and her 11 children were driven from their land and into neighboring Jordan during the beginning of what Israelis call the War of Independence and Palestinians call the Nakba, meaning “catastrophe.”īy war’s end, hundreds of villages in Palestine had been destroyed and 750,000 Palestinians had fled or were expelled. ![]() But first the rock legend wanted to meet with Al Ghussein, and for one reason: The two men share a passion for the Palestinian cause.Īl Ghussein’s mural was inspired by the famed Jaffa oranges, given as prized winter holiday treats in Europe since the days of Queen Victoria and once grown on Palestinian land owned by his family. After landing at Lunken Airport earlier that afternoon, his solo concert at Heritage Bank Center was just a few hours away. ![]() When the passenger door of the lead SUV popped open, out stepped the lanky frame of 78-year-old Roger Waters, cofounder of Pink Floyd.
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