MEE team picks: Best photos of 2014

This year, we have brought you pictures from across the region. Some have been harrowing, others uplifting, but we hope they helped bring a small slice of what life was like in the Middle East in 2014.
While there have been so many photos that deserve mention, here is a small selection of what the MEE team loved in 2014.
Mamoon Alabassi, News Editor
The photo not only sheds light on the horror of having many child deaths as a result of the offensive, but it also draws our attention to the trauma inflicted on the children who survived. We can only try to imagine what her eyes are seeing, but how that will affect her life afterwards is something even she does not know yet.
The picture appeared in MEE’s 9 December article - Israel committed war crimes in Gaza: Amnesty
Dania Akkad, News Editor
The picture appeared in MEE’s 5 November article - Al-Aqsa erupts with violence as Israeli policeman killed in Jerusalem attack
Hanan Chehata, News Editor
The baby had not had any food or water for three consecutive days at this point and when the doctor tried to feed it a mixture of water and dates, the baby hardly could gulp and started retching. This single snapshot captures the pain and desperation in the mother’s face as she watched her child fade away, the limp body of one of the young victims of the siege, the physical destruction of the besieged refugee camp in the background, and the heroism and stoicism of those trying to help.
This article appeared in MEE’s 24 June photo gallery - In Pictures: Life and death in Yarmouk
Simona Sikimic, News Editor
The picture appeared in MEE’s 27 June photo gallery - In pictures: Morocco’s teen spirit Shadi Rahimi
Daniela Loffreda, News Editor
The striking and gut-wrenching photo personifies what history has repeatedly taught us: that not even the elderly are spared the cruelties of war. Worn from war and exhaustion, adorned with symbolic tattoos that speak hundreds of enigmatic stories in themselves, she grasps onto an unidentified man, a last remaining connection to a world which has forced her to be caught between life and death, fear and hope. Her raw fragility and timeless innocence invite one simple question: why? I learned recently the disheartening news that this woman did not likely survive, but her image will not be forgotten.
The picture appeared in MEE’s 6 October photo gallery - Photo: Refugees flee Kobane into Turkey escaping IS forces
Alex MacDonald, Journalist
The picture appeared in MEE’s 2 October photo gallery - Video/Photos: Palestinians perform Parkour over the ruins of Gaza
Arwa Ibrahim, Journalist
While coverage of the Middle East usually tends to focus on conflict, disasters and wars, this photo gallery gave us some insight into people’s daily lives. The smiles of the local community captured by Salah Malkawi as they celebrate the harvest of the pomegranate, illustrates that away from politics, there is a lot to appreciate about the Middle East and its people.
The picture appeared in MEE’s 20 October - In Jordan, celebrating the pomegranate
Mary Atkinson, Journalist
This photo by Christine Petre was just one of the many murals that sprung up over the island of Djerba.
The picture appeared in MEE’s 30 October article - Can an open-air graffiti museum lure tourists back to Tunisia?
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.