During his daily walks in the mountains around Ramallah, Khaled Jarrar began collecting handfuls of soil. Stored in jars, these pieces of Palestinian land are now part of the artist’s first blockchain project, with two new works issued as NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
“I see that these lands are in danger of annexation sooner or later, so I’m taking the soil and putting them in these jars,” he says.
Jarrar's NFT is an animated image entitled If I don't steal your home, someone else will steal it, which shows a valley in the West Bank overtaken by Israeli settlement homes cascading across the screen. In reality, the valley, situated between the villages of Kobar and Jibiya, is controlled by Israeli settlers who moved from the nearby Halamish – also known as Neveh Tzuf – settlement and live under the protection of the Israeli army.
The limited edition NFT comes with a handful of soil that will be sent from Ramallah to the collector.
The fight for land rights is not new in Palestine, nor is it for the Palestinian artist, whose work centres on politics and power, specifically linked to the Israeli occupation.
The significance of the soil also references the ecological and agricultural violations inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli civilians, often with knowledge of the army, over the years. "They transform the soil. They burn the trees. They change the entire landscape," Jarrar says.
“They take the soil in these trucks and take it to the settlements. They’re not just stealing land, but soil as well ... they bring invasive trees and species. They don’t just change the demography, they also try to change nature and the land,” he says.
The artist is referring to incidents of topsoil stripping and the transfer of piles of fertile soil from Palestinian villages to Israeli settlements for horticultural use. He also decries the planting of non-native species on Palestinian land, including destroyed villages, resulting in biodiversity loss and what the artist calls “green-washing colonialism”. Reports of water and soil contamination, as well as the restriction of access to safe and clean water to the West Bank and Gaza by the Israeli government, have been cited by human rights groups for years.
Jarrar says that Palestinian youths are responding to this with “agricultural and farming-based activism” as a form of decolonisation, employing permaculture practices long established by their ancestors over centuries. A portion of the proceeds from his NFT sale will be used to plant indigenous seedlings and trees in the farmlands of Kobar.
His second work, State of Palestine Postage Stamp, is a unique NFT edition of his 2012 series, which featured the Palestine sunbird and the phrase "State of Palestine" in English, Arabic and Hebrew. The stamps were later produced and used by countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Norway.
For the 2021 version, the artist traded in the sunny yellow background of the previous work with a blood-red splatter, and added a glitch, so that pixelated elements now cover the bird's body as it flies over a jasmine flower. The word "annexation" is written at the bottom of the image.
“It reflects what is happening in Palestine ever since the British occupation ... there have been divisions between people since 1947 until now,” he says. “When you go to one place, within years, you will see one house becomes 100 houses by settlers.”
These offences are being thrust back into international consciousness after evictions in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and Israeli air strikes in Gaza in response to rockets fired by Hamas.
With his entry into the world of NFTs, the artist acknowledges that he is still familiarising himself with the technology and is working closely with the blockchain-focused collective Strc prst skrz krk (SPSK) that minted his works on the Our Zora platform. The works will also be presented at the Crypto and Digital Art Fair in Paris, with the third edition taking place in June.
"I have concerns [about NFTs], but I don't want them to prevent me from my goal and fight for freedom," he says. "Travel is also not easy now ... and that is the good thing about this medium, is that it also will be available online."
He says that his focus continues to be on Palestinian freedom and that his latest project will highlight the political power of boycott and sanctions against Israel. "That's our strongest power as Palestinians. That's our weapon as Palestinians," he says.
"I hope that this project will highlight that we have a responsibility to the Earth, the people living here, to the trees and the water," he says. "What is happening in Palestine are crimes against humanity that is supported by normalisation and the buying of Israeli weapons.
"When it comes to Palestinian rights, we have nobody but ourselves and the people, not governments, who have goodwill.”
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
More coverage from the Future Forum
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Honeymoonish
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