Palestinian-Jordanian entrepreneur Nour Jarrar’s book, The State of Mind Palestine, recounts stories, maps and memories of a beloved homeland
When Nour Jarrar was speaking to a former friend about Palestine, she was told: “Actually, on this piece of land, there has been everything except a Palestinian country. Never was a single entity called ‘Palestine.’” The statement left Nour speechless, and as she grappled with the enormity of the history and emotions swirling within her, she decided that no words could suffice as a response. Instead, she set out to create a book showcasing the memories of those who are living proof of the country called Palestine.
Stills from the book The State of Mind Palestine that aim to display the collective history of Palestine
She began compiling content for the book on 15 October 2023, the week after the 7 October attacks and subsequent bombardment of Gaza. Just under three months later, Nour launched — and sold out of — the first print run of The State of Mind Palestine. From family portraits celebrating the birth of a new baby, to glamorous wedding photos and excursions to the sea, snapshots of intimate moments have been scanned, credited, printed and eternalised in this thick, hardcover coffee table book. Some are torn or wrinkled — mementos kept for decades as a reminder of a different era of Palestine.
“Within the pages of this book, one is transported through time via vintage photographs of Palestine and Palestinian families, predominantly captured prior to the year of 1948,” Nour tells MOJEH. The photos, which were contributed by more than one hundred Palestinian families, are accompanied by a selection of poems, maps and quotes. Nour says that she probably reviewed the book over a hundred times before it went to print, and that the faces featured within it are now seared into her mind. “I feel like I now know the people in the photos, and their stories — I feel like I love them,” she says. “It is a beautiful yet a very emotional thing. Because as much as I loved them, I cried for them. They looked so happy in their homeland, and I feel so very sorry that they were forced to leave, never to return.”
“I feel like I now know the people in the photos, and their stories — I feel like I love them,” says Nour
Nour was motivated by a sense of urgency to preserve the memories of these happier times in Palestine. “I want the younger Palestinian generation to see how our ancestors lived in their homeland — what they looked like, what their way of life was. Simultaneously, I endeavour to honour the memories of the older generation of Palestinians. I yearn to immortalise the Palestine they know with this book,” she says. The project was a very personal, meaningful and emotional one for Nour; a labour of love that was completed in record time, and received with the community’s support. “Palestine is not a story we’ve read in the history books,” says Nour. “We lived this story; we are involved in this story; we are the story.” Shop now
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- Interview by Hafsa Lodi
