Zababdeh by George Da, Palestine

Zababdeh ( My village ) is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Jenin and 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Arab American University. The village of Zababdeh is home to about 3,000 inhabitants and is the only majority-Christian village in the northern West Bank, ruins found under the village show settlement dating to the Byzantine times. At the convent of the Rosary Sisters, a 6th century mosaic, as well as remnants of columns indicates that there was once a significant Byzantine church on the site. In the center of the village the remains of a Byzantine-Roman building, known as the Baubariya, can be found, The modern village of Zababdeh was founded in the 17th century. Within the village there are four small churches belonging to the Catholic, Anglican, Melkite, and Greek Orthodox denominations. The village is also home to the Arab American University of Jenin.  

This is just one example of the important work produced YaLa’s citizen journalists, a program funded by the European Union’s Peacebuilding Initiative in order to enable young leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa to document and share their experiences of the region.