Portraits of Loss

“If the enemy is inclined toward peace, make peace with them.”
-Qur’an 8:61

“You shall not mistreat a stranger, nor oppress them: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
-Shemot 22:21; repeated in Vayikra 19:33-4 and Devarim 10:17-19

This game is based on a series of art shows sponsored by Jerusalem Peacemakers in the mid-2000s.  (Jerusalem Peacemakers has since been renamed to Abrahamic Reunion.) They have also run summer camps for 11-year-old girls from Israel and Palestine to get to know each other a little, as well as interfaith prayer meetings dedicated to peace-building, and no doubt many other programs I haven’t heard about because I live in the US.

The premise of the art shows on which this game is based was a simple but powerful one: to present images depicting the human costs of the occupation, without labeling the people in the photos as either Israeli or Palestinian. While I was not able to attend any of them myself, I was fortunate enough to hear about them from Eliyahu MacLean, who was one of the leaders of JP at that time, along with a Sufi sheikh whose name I can’t recall (my Israel trip was around 15 years ago). The leadership of JP / AR has grown from just two or three people to 17, as of this writing, which I’m happy to see.

My goal with Portraits of Loss is to emphasize that there are more than two sides to the conflict and occupation. But there are also only two sides that really matter: the side of power, and the side of regular working people who are dying. Whether it is the Netanyahu government or AIPAC or Hamas that’s misusing millions of dollars and getting tons of their own people killed, it’s all still the powerful trampling the powerless. This game is an opportunity for anyone connected to the conflict / occupation to leave disagreement behind for a little while, and experience the human emotion of grief together. May it open their hearts.

Players will draw pictures to represent the photography in the show, and then tape them to the wall and explain their art. To help prevent this from devolving into a horror game, drawings of dead or injured people are not permitted. A broken bicycle or a smiling face can be every bit as devastating, depending on the story attached. I encourage players to play as close to home, emotionally, as they feel safe or comfortable with.

This game was originally written for Story of Palestine Jam 2024.