However, just a few years after opening his first tattoo studio, Zionist militias invaded historic Palestine, and, alongside some 750,000 other Palestinians who were forced to flee their land in 1948 in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (the catastrophe), Yacoub had to abandon his shop and his home. Tattooing across displacement and occupation Ayash is a faithful man, but he also feels that, when it comes to business, religion alone will only take him so far. Handala ( Arabic: حنظلة, romanized: Ḥanẓala), also Handhala, Hanzala or Hanthala, is a prominent national symbol and personification of the Palestinian people. [1] [2]

Habashi, Janette (2017). "The Evolvement of National Identity: A Never-Ending Process". Political Socialization of Youth. pp.151–175. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-47523-7_8. ISBN 978-1-137-47522-0. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday said that the death of Louk showed what he called the barbarism of Hamas and the need to hold the Palestinian militant group to account. Greece has repeatedly asked the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in the early 19th century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Initially, Louk’s mother Ricarda said she believed her daughter was alive and being held in a hospital in Gaza, but informed German television on Sunday that her daughter was no longer alive.Today, facial tattooing is a custom practiced by the Amazigh tribes of Algeria, Kurdish communities in Mesopotamia and the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula. The budding popularity of the Razzouk family's tattoo studio has helped put their family's tattooing history on display in the region, while also acting as a challenge to right-wing Israeli narratives, Wassim says. He shows videos of pilgrims being tattooed, sometimes while singing hymns or reciting prayers in Arabic - or even in Aramaic, the ancient language spoken in the time of Jesus. A photo hanging up at Wassim's tattoo shop showing his grandfather Yacoub tattooing a young woman during British Mandate Palestine (Jaclynn Ashly/MEE) The notion of the woman in the video being Shani was confirmed by first cousinTom Weintraub Louk, The Washington Post reports.

In the Middle East and North Africa, specifically, regional fashion represented deep spiritual connections with land, family, region, religion and ethnicity. Women's fashion, in particular, was a visual representation of identity and ancestry. Every garment and piece of jewellery worn was symbolic, and centred on a deep association with culture. Shani apparently went missing after Hamas terrorists had crashed anoutdoor dance party near Kibbutz Urim on Saturday morning; she was said to have attended the event. Yacoub hastily collected his tattoo equipment and fled with his family to Jordan as refugees for several months until the Arab-Israeli war ended, Wassim says today. When the extremist Israelis claim that Palestine never existed, I feel proud to have my family as a reference point to show people that not only does Palestine exist, but we have had a vibrant culture here for many centuries.” Visibility and Christian identitySome Bedouin tribes also believe that markings will cure them of ailments, and symbols such as dots on the side of the head or above their eyes are said to heal a person's aches and pains. Olin, Margaret (2019). "How Long Will Handala Wait? A Ten-Year-Old Barefoot Refugee Child on Palestinian Walls". Timescapes of Waiting. pp.176–197. doi: 10.1163/9789004407121_012. ISBN 978-90-04-40712-1. S2CID 203233320.

Especially being from a minority [religious] community in Palestine, I feel honoured to be a custodian of a practice so deeply connected with our history in this region.” For these women, tattoos mark different phases in their lives, and consequently start at a young age. Kareem Solomon, a 26-year-old Assyrian Christian who migrated to the UK from Iraq as a child, tells MEE that these tattoos are central to the identity of Christians, particularly those from the Middle East where the community is a minority. On a leather chair, Florentino Sayeh, 13, was readying his mobile phone to record the inside of his right wrist being tattooed with a cross and, in Arabic, the words "Thy will be done" - from The Lord's Prayer.British and Australian soldiers stationed in British Mandate Palestine from 1920 until 1948 became Yacoub’s main clientele. The business accumulated from soldiers eager to receive tattoos allowed Yacoub to expand his practice from a makeshift studio in his home to an official tattoo shop in the Mamilla neighbourhood of West Jerusalem, Wassim explains. OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM – At least 30 British-Iraqi Christians crowd the basement of the St Mark’s Monastery of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Old City of Jerusalem, waiting in a long line to receive a mark of certification for their pilgrimage to the Holy Land: a tattoo of the cross.

According to legend, Amazigh women would cover themselves with tattoos in the presence of French soldiers in a bid to deter their sexual interest. During the Holy Week Ayash tattoos up to a hundred pilgrims per day, who are mainly Christians coming from the Middle East [AFP]The ban will be expanded in March to include all non-therapeutic vapes, including refillable devices, while importers of vapes for medical purposes will need a permit from the Office of Drug control. Additional laws next year will apply the same prohibitions to domestic manufacturers