Art

For Palestinian Artist, Spiny Cactus Makes Perfect Canvas
Shlomi Eldar, Al-Monitor

For Palestinian Artist, Spiny Cactus Makes Perfect Canvas

Ahmad Yaseen makes stunning drawings on cactus pads. His colleagues from the art faculty at An-Najah University in the Palestinian city of Nablus relate that people are impressed not only by his great skills as a painter but also by his original way of expressing Palestinian suffering: using a raw material that no one had ever before contemplated.

on March 24, 2016
Palestinian Art Court-Al Hoash holds the exhibition opening: A Black Hole in the Sun
Palestine News Network

Palestinian Art Court-Al Hoash holds the exhibition opening: A Black Hole in the Sun

On March 17, community members, artists and art lovers gathered at Al Hoash* gallery to attend the exhibition opening of A Black Hole in the Sun. The exhibition, supported by Swiss Development Cooperation and the Danish Center for Culture and Development, featured a collection of art works from different stages of the life of the internationally renowned Palestinian artist, Ibrahim Noubani.

on March 18, 2016
Palestinian Clown Detained By Israel Videos
AJ+

Palestinian Clown Detained By Israel

Israel has detained a Palestinian circus clown because they say he's a threat to the country's security. AJ+ is a global news community for the connected generation. We highlight human struggles and achievements, empower impassioned voices, and challenge the status quo.

on March 7, 2016
Poetry + Politics: San Francisco Transit Ads Raise Awareness About Palestinian Culture and Struggle
Ben Norton, Salon

Poetry + Politics: San Francisco Transit Ads Raise Awareness About Palestinian Culture and Struggle

A new ad campaign on California public transportation is getting Americans talking about Palestine, and thinking about the unique role the U.S. plays in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestine Advocacy Project, a nonprofit organization based in Massachusetts, is highlighting the work of legendary Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in a series of posters on San Francisco MTA buses and trains.

on March 3, 2016
‘What’s Happening is Fascism’: Artists Respond to Israel’s ‘War on Culture’
Michael Griffiths, The Guardian

‘What’s Happening is Fascism’: Artists Respond to Israel’s ‘War on Culture’

The term “loyalty in culture bill” sounds like something out of Nineteen Eighty-Four. However, last month, Israel’s minister for culture and sport introduced just that to a parliamentary committee, which responded with a mixture of rightwing approval and leftwing condemnation. Many of Israel’s newspapers are now happy to mention Miri Regev in the same breath as Joe McCarthy.

on March 1, 2016
The Enduring Art of Palestinian Tiles
Mary Pelletier, Al Jazeera

The Enduring Art of Palestinian Tiles

Aslan Tiles, located in downtown Nablus, is the last remaining producer of traditional Palestinian tiles in the West Bank. Since the 1930s, four generations of the Aslan family have honed the craft, and recently they have resisted lucrative offers to move the operation to Israel.

on February 13, 2016
Netanyahu Seeks to Suspend Palestinian Politicians
Amira Hass, Haaretz

Netanyahu Seeks to Suspend Palestinian Politicians

The Israel Defense Forces soldier who wounded Rehab Nazzal in Bethlehem on Friday, December 11, 2015, by shooting her in the shin, didn’t know who she is. He didn’t know her name; that she was born in Qabatiyah, near Jenin; that she is 55, and also a Canadian citizen; that she teaches art at a college in Bethlehem; that one of her exhibitions angered the Israeli ambassador in Canada; or that she’s writing an interdisciplinary doctoral thesis that’s impossible to summarize in a sentence...

on February 8, 2016
Alan Rickman Gave the Greatest Gift to My Late Daughter, Rachel Corrie
Craig Corrie, The Guardian

Alan Rickman Gave the Greatest Gift to My Late Daughter, Rachel Corrie

My family and I were saddened on Thursday morning to learn of the death of Alan Rickman – too sad to write our feelings at the time. Alan, of course, is famous as an actor and director, both on stage and in film. But we first came to know him when, with Katharine Viner (now editor-in-chief of the Guardian), he edited our daughter Rachel’s writing into the play My Name is Rachel Corrie.

on January 18, 2016
Waging Life in a War Zone
Yes! Magazine

Waging Life in a War Zone

Mohammed al-Saedi leads me through the densely populated Gaza City neighborhood of al-Zaitoun. Walls are painted in blues and pinks, with wooden shutters of purple and yellow. Plants are potted in colorful buckets at each corner.

on January 12, 2016