Team
Director
Maya is a feminist political and human rights activist, educator, and independent filmmaker. Working within activist communities, she focuses on struggles for justice, truth, and liberation. A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, she combines filmmaking, education, and grassroots organizing. As a member and now Director of Zochrot, she continues to take part in collective efforts to confront the ongoing Nakba, challenge dominant narratives, and imagine and practice possibilities for return and decolonization.
Retrun Space & Tours
umar@zochrot.org
Umar is a Palestinian educator and group facilitator, experienced in giving lectures and leading workshops on identity, history and power relations between Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians. Before joining Zochrot in 2006, Umar was the coordinator of the youth department in the School for Peace, a Political- Educational institute in Neve Shalom. Umar has also more than twenty years of experience in social education for elementary school students in informal education programs. He was born in the village of Musheirfa, whose residents survived the expulsion during the Nakba and became citizens of Israel.
Throughout his work at Zochrot, Umar has led hundreds of tours to Palestinian localities that were depopulated by the state of Israel during the Nakba. He wrote and edited dozens of booklets about those localities, gave lectures, authored articles and facilitated workshops on the subjects of Nakba and Return. Umar has also co-edited two books: “Once upon a land” and “Awda - imagined testimonies from potential futures”.
In 2020, Umar received the Andreina Blua Award for Frontline Responders and Educators by Psychologists for Social Responsibility
“Zochrot is an anti-colonial worldview that challenges the (dis)order in Palestine, cracks the wall of Israeli denial and opens the eyes of Israelis who seek the truth. Zochrot works for acknowledging past atrocities but uniquely also seeks and promotes a more just future, including return of Palestinian refugees. This is why I’m with and part of Zochrot.”
Resource Development
Political feminist activist, former director of Zochrot, and long-time volunteer and board member at the Tel Aviv Rape Crisis Center. She has also held leadership positions in various nonprofit organizations.
"I joined Zochrot because I believe in the importance of ongoing resistance and exposing the continuous crimes of the Israeli Zionist regime—so that we can build a better society for all of us in this place."
Administrative Manager
Admin@zochrot.org
Ranin holds a BA and MA in Social Work from Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities. She is a feminist and political activist and has been a member of Zochrot since its founding in 2002. Over the years, she has volunteered and worked with Palestinian women’s organizations, including Al-Siwar Association for Supporting Victims of Sexual Violence and the Arab Forum for Sexuality, Education and Health.
"I work within Zochrot because I believe it is impossible to build a just and repaired society in this land without exposing the truth about Zionism and the colonial regime, and without recognizing the injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people since the beginning of the Zionist movement. At Zochrot, we do more than uncover history—we also imagine, plan, and dream of a shared future grounded in repair, justice, and the realization of the Palestinian refugees’ right of return."
Political Education
Lia is a feminist political activist in the West Bank and in 48'. Involved in organizing, community work, and political education, and has experience in social-educational work with children of asylum seekers and those without civil status. She views education and art as central tools for exposing historical truth and striving toward it beyond systems of lies and concealment. Lia believes that decolonization, recognition of the injustices of the Zionist regime, and return are the only processes that can lead to justice and shared life between the river and the sea.