Occupied East Jerusalem – Shouts of “Allahu Akbar! [God is greatest!]” reverberate from the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. One voice travels farther than the rest; bellowing across the centuries-old stone homes and the narrow, cobble-stoned alleyways in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The voice is emerging from the never-tiring throat of 64-year-old Nafisa Khwais, a Palestinian grandmother turned activist from the Mount of Olives, just east of the Old City walls. “People always ask me where my voice comes from,” Khwais tells Al Jazeera. The tote bag hanging from her shoulder, along with her wallet and key chain, has the iconic image of the Dome of the Rock imprinted across it. “It comes from my love for Al-Aqsa. It’s a love that is much bigger and stronger than my body.”
