Gaza Travel Agency in Hoop voor Gaza

8-22 April 2026

The Gaza Travel Agency participated in Hoop voor Gaza at the Bergkerk in Deventer, Netherlands, from 8 to 22 April 2026. The exhibition brought together the Nomadic Monument for Gaza, works from the Art Academy for Young Talent in Gaza, Lebanese artist Mounira al Solh, and Palestinian artists based in the Netherlands, holding space for humanity, hope, and resilience. Hoop voor Gaza received more than 4.000 of visitors in total and overall the feedback received was very positive.

Participating in this event was essential for engaging with a new audience and building relationships with leading organizations in the Netherlands and neighboring countries that share the goal of advocating Palestinians' human rights. The group also had to organize the exhibition and find a way to adjust to the venue within a constrained timeline and budget.

Gaza Travel Agency showed the return of Palestinian refugees from Gaza and elsewhere to their places of origin as the only viable option for the future and to resolve the humanitarian crisis.  The Agency is a speculative and participatory design experience that invites visitors to visualize, not debate, the routes, possibilities, and emotions of return.

A journey with a double return: after two years of displacement, living in the street on rubble, under bombardment, Gazans have no home or shelter. The first understanding of home is having peace, safety, food, life, and hope. The second is returning to the original place from which people were made refugees, in many cases, a faraway hope. 

The right of return is walkable, immediately available, cost-effective, and just.

If you are interested read more about the Return Plan 2023.

Gaza Travel Agency was featured next to The Nomadic Monument for Gaza, both projects employ liminal design to simultaneously disturb audiences and encourage generative conversation.

Mohammed Abushaban, Palestinian Architect and Zwolle-based artist

The site of Hoop voor Gaza in the Bergkerk in Deventer, a Romanesque Basilica built around 1209 and former church, reminds us of the historic Christian Palestinian community in Gaza, which includes my own family, who spent most of the past 3 years in seeking refuge in the Catholic Church in Gaza City.

Ramzi Nasir, member of Gaza Travel Agency’s team

Gaza Travel Agency is a project of local Palestinian members, helped by many international volunteers in partnership with Human Rights NGO Zochrot and coordinated by the Netherlands-based NGO Design Reparations. It grew out of the Bring Gaza Home campaign, created by Palestinian and Jewish Israeli activists in response to the events after 7 October 2023. The Bring Gaza Home Campaign, which was featured in Al Jazeera and the New York Times among other outlets, emphasized the right of Palestinian refugees in Gaza to return to their original homes in pre-partition Palestine in response to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. 

We are continuing looking for partners and funding to bring Gaza Travel Agency to more locations and reach more public.

Consider to contribute by joining our project group our making a donation.