Dutch designer Annelys de Vet, the International Academy of Arts inPalestine and ICCO, the Dutch interchurch organization for developmentcooperation, worked together with a group of almost thirty Palestinianartists to realize a moving, beautiful, poetic and at times heartbreaking book.

Sublime landscapes, tranquil urban scenes,frolicking children; who would associate these images with Palestine?All too often the Western media show the country's gloomy side, andPalestinians as aggressors. It is this that makes identifying with themvirtually impossible. If we are to relate to the Palestinians otherimages are needed, images seen from a cultural and more human vantagepoint.

The Dutch designerAnnelys de Vet invited Palestinian artists, photographers and designersto map their country as they see it. Given their closeness to thesubject, this has resulted in unconventional, very human impressions ofthe landscape and the architecture, the cuisine, the music and thepoetry of thought and expression. The drawings, photographs, maps andnarratives made for this atlas reveal individual life experiences, frompreparing chickpeas to a manual on water pipe smoking, from historicdress to modern music. Pages containing humorous and caustic newspapercartoons and invented Palestinian currency followed by colourfulcultural diaries and moving letters from prisoners.

Allin all, the contributions give an entirely different angle on a nationin occupied territory. In this subjective atlas it is the Palestiniansthemselves who show the disarming reverse side of the black-and-whiteimage generally resorted to by the media.