The Seraj Library Project was founded by Laurie Salemeh in 2006.   Laurie grew up in the Chicago area and while studying in a Master's program at North Park University met Estephan who grew up in Jifna, a Palestinian village in the West Bank.  When they moved to Palestine in 2006 they established the first Seraj Library in Jifna.  Shortly after that James Wall and a small group in the Chicago area founded the Seraj Library Project, a non-profit 501(c)3 "providing initiative and support in developing libraries in rural Palestinian villages. Its mission is to assist in the education of Palestinian villagers of all ages and faiths through the development of high quality and accessible library programs." There are now eleven libraries in West Bank villages and one in the Aida Refugee camp.

Eighteen people, all but one from the Chicago area, participated in the first Seraj Library visit October 16 to October 26. We stayed in a hotel in Ramallah for eight nights with daily excursions  On the third day we visited the library in Jiftlek in the Jordan Valley which is in Area C.  This library is housed in a room of a one story nondescript building where in addition to the library, Bedouin women refurbish and sell clothing, make jewelry from plants and food objects and organize to demand a new clinic.  On the ninth day during our visit to Bethlehem, we spent time at the children's library in the Aida Refugee camp. This  large library is housed in  Alrowwad, an organization whose mission is "to save lives and inspire hope through the empowerment of the community with focus on children, youth and women."  We were greeted at the library by children reading, using the computers and playing games.   At several of the libraries we visited, Fidaa Ataya, a member of the Seraj Library staff and Coordinator of the Storytelling Center in Kufor Aqab, performed her powerful storytelling for the children.  Fidaa's grandmother was forcibly expelled from her home and homeland in Al Bourj Palestine in 1948.

A significant part of the visit was spent in learning about the ongoing Nakba on Palestinian life in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Here are five examples:

-- We were given an orientation held on the grounds of the Augusta Victoria Hospital by two members of the United Nations OCHA to the settlements in East Jerusalem.

--We visited the Arafat Museum in Ramallah and the Palestinian Museum where we saw the fifth annual exhibition, "A People by the Sea : narratives from the Palestinian coast -1748-1948."

-- We spent one morning in olive harvesting in Jifna.

-- We met with a farmer in the Jordan Valley who had to abandon his grape vines when the ground water became too salty as Israeli authorities did not allow him to dig any deeper on his own land to reach fresh water. So the farmer built an impressive date farm knowing any day his buildings could be raised and his trees uprooted.

-- On the final day, the 25th, we gathered late afternoon outside the Edward Said Conservatory of Music in East Jerusalem to be greeted by the Director, Suheil Khoury.  Suheil explained to us he would not be able to stay as he needed to attend to his son, Shadi and then described the early morning arrest of his son on the 18th by Israeli forces.

The Zionist project, settler colonialist at its heart, aims to eradicate the presence of the indigenous people.  The Seraj libraries as centers of reading, storytelling and community building are powerful signs of resistance to this Zionist project.