Success stories of Palestinian achievers from all over the world

Amaya Fayez Juha

Personal Info

  • Country of residence: Palestine
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in: 1972
  • Age: 53
  • Curriculum vitae :

Information

Amaya Fayez Juha is a Palestinian artist and cartoonist , born in Gaza City on February 2, 1972. She won the Arab Journalism Award for 2001 , and many other artistic awards. She is the first female artist in the Arab world to work in daily political newspapers and news websites. She is a cartoonist for Al Jazeera Net - the most famous Arab news website - and has a special page on the website.  She is the wife of two martyrs.

education

I graduated from the Department of Mathematics at Al-Azhar University in 1995 with honors and first class honors at the university.

The first Arab female cartoonist

Omaya is the first female cartoonist in Palestine and the Arab world to work in a daily political newspaper.  She participated in many local exhibitions, including the cartoon exhibition entitled “Returnees” on September 27, 2005, in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, celebrating the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. 

Work and Memberships

She worked as a mathematics teacher for three years, then resigned in 1999 to devote herself to artistic work.
She has worked as a cartoonist for Al-Quds Daily Newspaper since September 1999 .
She is a member of the Naji Al-Ali Association for Fine Arts in Palestine.
She works in daily political newspapers and news websites, in addition to being the head of the cartoon company “Juha Toon”. 
Member of the jury of the 2nd International Cartoon Competition on Jerusalem, in Istanbul , organized by the Turkish “Our Heritage” Association and the “ World Cartoonists Union ” (UWC). 

The wife of the two martyrs

The artist Omaya was married twice, the first time to Rami Khader Saad, who was killed by the Israeli army in May 2003 in Gaza. He was a mujahid and a field commander in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades , the military wing of Hamas . The second time to Wael Aqilan , who was martyred because the Israeli siege on the Strip prevented him from leaving for treatment after he suffered a stomach explosion. Aqilan died in May 2009. 

Tightening

Her Facebook page was deleted under Israeli pressure.
On Sunday, January 10 , 2015, the Facebook administration blocked her page, claiming that she had received reports from people about her posting offensive drawings. Omaya Juha said that she was surprised by a flood of messages from Facebook administration about these reports, noting that these messages came one after the other, and then she was surprised by Israelis entering her page and publishing offensive pictures and comments gloating over Palestinian martyrs and threatening victory over the Palestinian people, as well as other pro-Israel pictures.

In response, Omaya Juha launched a counter-campaign with her page friends, who began to support her in a large interactive way and published her drawings on their pages. She pointed out that Facebook administration then began deleting some of the drawings that had been reported. She added that hours later, Facebook blocked any activity on her page, so she could not message anyone, publish her drawings, or comment, noting that every time she was asked for her password to enter her page, which greatly upset her, as she did not receive a message from them warning her that the page had been blocked. Amaya Juha expressed her regret that Facebook administration deleted many of her drawings from her page. 

The authority in Ramallah cuts her salary

On July 6, 2020, Amaya Juha announced that she had been subjected to injustice against her artistic brush, represented by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, “ Fatah Movement ,” cutting her salary for a whole year, as she said: “ My salary was cut since August of last year, and I did not announce it to the media at all, based on promises from the office of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper in Gaza (where she works) to look into the issue, and every month they confirm that the problem is administrative and not security, factional, or organizational, and months passed and I found a whole year passing without any movement.”

She also said: “ My salary is my right and I am an employee, and there is an employment contract between me and the government, and throughout the time I did not direct my arrows against any organization, and my drawings testify to that. I am with Palestinian reconciliation and support every conciliatory trend between the people’s groups, and I have devoted my brush to all Palestinian concerns, from prisoners and refugees. ” 

Achievements and Awards

Awards

1999 , she won first place in the Palestinian governorates for caricature in the Women’s Creativity Competition held by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
2001 , won the Arab Journalism Award in the United Arab Emirates .
2010 , won the Grand Prize in the Naji al-Ali International Cartoon Competition organized by the Solidarity Association with the Palestinian People in Turkey in cooperation with the Humor Group for Humor and Cartoons. On November 28, 2010 

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