Bahjat Hussein is a farmer from the village of Beit Duqqo, one of many Palestinian villages which has been starved of investment by occupation. His family has been helped to reclaim 50 dunums of land by the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), in Beit Hanina. But they are still owed $10,000 for grapes that they sold before the current uprising.

Amira El-Nawajtha, 28, is a self-made businesswoman in Gaza who sells clothes that are made by women in the refugee camps. With help from the Women's Affairs Centre in Gaza, she has accumulated stock worth $200,000. Since the current uprising business has shrunk to a trickle, and the Centre is now trying to persuade Amira's creditors to ease the terms of repayment.

Jihad Mashal is Vice-President
of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees and prominent in the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO). PNGO coordinates 86 leading Palestinian NGOs. It tries to expose the excesses of Israeli occupation and lobbies to
make the Palestinian Authority more democratic.

Dr. Nadrine Mulana works for the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in the villages of Abu T'eimeh and Beit Hanoun, Gaza where she tries to persuade women that having large families will damage their health.

Khalid Abdullah Al-Hajin's house was bulldozed by Israelis while the family was sleeping. His father still returns obsessively to the site, where his life savings were also buried. The family is being treated by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme.

Yusra Abu-Daya is one of 18 members of an olive oil cooperative in Ramallah, which bottles and exports olive oil for local farmers who are prevented from selling their oil by the Israeli blockade. The cooperative is supported by the
Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC).

Nafez El-Dabbas, from the village of Beit Liqua, works illegally in an Israeli industrial estate. His last Israeli employer stole his wages and was successfully sued by the Democracy and Workers' Rights Centre in Ramallah.

Professor Fathi Sobh was arrested and tortured by the Palestinian Authority for refusing to break university teaching regulations in Gaza. He was released after pressure from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Gaza.

Samira Rawashdi coordinates a woman's "dialogue tent" (counselling group) in the village of Samou near Hebron. The tent was established with the help of the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling. Samira would like to run for election in the Samou council and is counting on help from the other members of her 'tent."

19 year old Jehad Abbas is webmaster for the Ibdaa Cultural Center at the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. Jehad and other young computer experts have developed a computer center that allows young refugees from Dheisheh to connect with others and form a community of refugees "across borders." Their aim is to rediscover and revitalize their Palestinian identity.