The second Palestinian Industries Exhibition opened on Saturday, August 9, at the Nablus municipality complex. It is the largest event to be held in Nablus in over eight years. The exhibition will be attended by local government leaders as well as figures from the Arab world and international representatives from various consulates in the area. The exhibition will also feature representatives from 72 different Palestinian companies from all over the West Bank, and will last three days. 

International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have been present in Palestine for more than 60 years and have evolved over time to adapt to the needs on the ground. Most INGOs that work in Palestine are well coordinated with local bodies, working together in order to add value to Palestinian society. These organizations understand that the agenda must be set first and foremost by the communities they serve. 

The birth of the municipality of Ramallah, which is now celebrating its centennial anniversary, was in the year 1908. The centennial celebration will not only be limited to the municipality but will extend to include the whole of the city, whose age is much greater. The municipal council recognised that its centennial could be an opportunity to highlight the city of Ramallah as a distinct Palestinian city - politically, economically, and culturally - and to invite tourism and investors. 

I was only six months old when this story happened, but I learned about it a generation later. I was moving house in Berkeley, California, and my father was helping in the effort. As I carried a small - by then almost antique - carpet into our new house, my father saw it and said, "Oh, so you ended up with the Moshe Dayan carpet." My ears pricked up, "What do you mean?" "This is the carpet Moshe Dayan sat on when he came to a meeting at our family home." 

As Palestinians prepare to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or the 1948 creation of the state of Israel that resulted in the expulsion or flight of the majority of the indigenous Palestinian population, the IMEU presents a selected list of events that will be held around the world to commemorate this tragedy. 

Last weekend, Catholics in Nazareth and around the world celebrated the most holy and significant events to Christianity, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a man in Biblical times known simply as "Jesus of Nazareth." However, today Nazareth faces a slow and painful death in the face of land theft and colonization. 

Sixty years ago, prior to the establishment of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people were living in their homeland Palestine. Today the Palestinian population worldwide is estimated to be 10.1 million, with more than half (approximately 5.2 million) living in the diaspora. 

Its formula is strikingly simple - a combination of virgin olive oil, water, and a basic sodium compound - but the history of the olive soap industry in the West Bank city of Nablus has been a complex one of development in the face of constant adversity, ranging from natural disasters to an ongoing military occupation.