The Maia Mural Brigade brought artists from The Estria Foundation's Water Writes Project and The Break the Silence Mural Project to travel to Palestine and collaborate with local artists on the creation of public murals depicting local water conditions. We painted 8 murals in 8 days at schools near water filtration systems that provide potable water to over 30,000 children and their families. 

Members of the Eastern Catholic Church began their Christmas celebrations in the Gaza Strip on Sunday with traditional prayers in church services. The Protestant community also observed mass in the Dir al Latin church. Reports from Gaza confirm that the ceremonies passed without any untoward trouble or interference, contrary to recent reports of harassment and persecution of Christians in Palestine. 

As Christmas approaches, Palestinian Christians in historic Palestine and the diaspora are preparing to celebrate the holiday season. Occupied Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is in the hearts and minds of many of them. 

This summer Palestinian American student Sami Kishawi traveled to the Gaza for the first time since 2004, expecting to see war-torn buildings and a "collective sense of devastation." But as his photos show, he saw a Gaza which is not depicted in the media. Kishawi told The Electronic Intifada: "The vibrancy of the photos depicts the vibrancy of the way of life there, despite the siege and occupation. I'm hoping to give people a sense of the humanity of Gaza, beyond statistics." 

Unreported World meets members of the Palestinian Paralympic team hoping to qualify for London 2012. They find athletes struggling to train in the conflict zone. 

As the sun sinks slowly behind the stands of the Yarmouk Stadium, it feels a fraction cooler after a day of blistering August heat. Which is just as well, as it is Ramadan and Nader al-Masri, 31, has not eaten or drunk anything since before dawn and will not do so until dusk, still a couple of hours away. Before that, this quiet, slightly built man will have completed 25 circuits of the stadium in around 45 minutes, concealing the arduousness of the task by his straight-backed but graceful, easy running style. 

Twelve-year-old Sabah Abu Ghanim drags her board through the water as the sinking sun glints on the eastern Mediterranean. The wind has got up a little, and she is hoping the surf will follow - enough, at least, for her to ride the waves. "I feel the sea belongs to me," says the Gaza surfer. "When I'm in the sea I feel content and happy." Gaza's 25 miles of Mediterranean coastline are a magnet for a population with few forms of entertainment and a pressing need to escape the drudgery of life under blockade. 

More than 15,000 kites flew above a northern Gaza beach on Thursday, breaking the world record for the most kites flown simultaneously. The world record was the seventh that children from Gaza have broken in two years, part of an ongoing effort by the United Nations to provide summer entertainment for hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza and to draw attention to the effects of Israel's blockade.