The Animal Rights Activists of Occupied Palestine
Ahlam Tarayra, the director of the Palestinian Animal League, says that building strong humans is an essential part of animal liberation
I first heard the words “vegan” and “Palestine” in the same sentence three years ago. I was at a vegan festival where there was a talk about the Palestinian Animal League, but as I waited for the talk to begin, I started to feel indignant at the whole idea. My subconscious speciesism kicked in: how can they be asking Palestinian people to care about animals? Haven’t they got enough to worry about?
Since then, PAL has transformed the presumptions I had about what Palestinian people should care about, and about which activists should be at the forefront of the animal liberation movement.
One of the activists who changed my mind is Ahlam Tarayra — the current director of PAL.
In 2012, Tarayra’s brother brought a puppy home. This puppy soon became a mother, giving birth to her own litters, and even adopting stray puppies from the street. Soon, at any moment, over 20 dogs surrounded the house. “It…
