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Palestinian girls nurture 'Flower' magazine behind bars

Two years ago, a small group of teenage Palestinian girls created a secret magazine inside their Israeli prison. Now, they hope to revive it.

Palestinian_Magazine.jpg
A page from the "Zahrat" magazine hand-produced by Palestinian girls incarcerated in Israel's Hasharon Prison is seen in this image taken in July 2018. — Ahmed Sammak

Despite tight controls and risk of heavy punishment, a group of Palestinian girls in Israel’s Hasharon Prison managed to publish a magazine to tell their story from behind bars, and they now hope to revive it.

The magazine was the brainchild of Mona Qa’adan, a now-released prisoner from Jenin. “I came up with the idea of a magazine when I noticed that some of the minor prisoners have a talent for writing and drawing,” she told Al-Monitor. When she approached them with the idea, the girls agreed to write about their opinions, feelings, what they faced during their arrests and how they spend their time in prison. Qa’adan was released before its first edition came out, but the inmates managed to smuggle out a copy and give it to her. She still holds on to this prized possession two years later.

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