In West Bank art centre, Palestinian children paint hopes beyond checkpoints
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children → paint → checkpoints
On the outskirts of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian woman has transformed her home into an art centre where children use drawing to process their experiences of settler violence and Israeli military raids.
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children → transform → violence
Artist Sarah Abu Madi says she founded the centre - Rommana, meaning pomegranate in Arabic - in 2020 to give local children a place to express their feelings and talk about what they had experienced.
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they → say → what
The centre's work has taken on greater urgency as violence by Israeli settlers has surged in recent years amid a major expansion of Jewish settlements in the territory.
"
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violence → take → territory
If a settler or a soldier does something, we ask: 'How did that make you feel?
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you → do → something
What did it make you think about?
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you → make → What
How does that affect you?'," Abu Madi said.
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Madi → affect → you
"If there is a raid on a home, we ask: 'What did that make you feel?
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you → be → home
What do you think?
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you → think → What
How does that affect you?
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that → affect → you
What do you wish there would be?'."
This week, the children were asked to sketch the things most important to them.
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children → wish → them
Talia Sabah, 10, drew a picture of birds flying from a cage, saying it represented freedom.
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it → draw → freedom
"I feel freedom is the most important thing in life," Sabah said.
"
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Sabah → feel → life
I wish the military would stop being in our lives and there would be freedom, and we could do what we want with life."
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we → wish → life
'ART CREATES A SPACE THAT TELLS THEM: YOU CAN DREAM'
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YOU → create → THEM
Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 and since then the territory has been under Israeli military occupation.
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territory → capture → occupation
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jewish settlers have moved to the territory, with settlement expansion accelerating rapidly under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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expansion → move → Netanyahu
The United Nations and most countries regard the settlements as illegal under international law governing military occupations.
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Nations → regard → occupations
Israel disputes that interpretation and says the territory's status is disputed.
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status → dispute → interpretation
The Rommana studio is located in Wadi Al-Samen, a Hebron quarter isolated from the rest of the city by six military checkpoints, according to Abu Madi.
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studio → locate → Madi
The area sees frequent military raids as well as incursions from nearby Israeli settlements and settler outposts.
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area → see → settlements
Children spoke about encounters with Israeli settlers and soldiers with a familiarity unusual for children their age.
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Children → speak → children
"My grandfather on my mother's side owns land in the mountains, but the settlers established a settlement there, and anyone who goes up to the mountain gets arrested," said Karam Sabah, 11.
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Sabah → own → mountain
When Rommana first opened, it consisted of a few carpets laid on the floor of an old storage room.
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it → open → room
Today, children sit around low plastic tables beside colourful murals they helped paint.
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they → sit → murals
Their artwork has begun travelling beyond the West Bank, with one exhibition held in Canada and another planned in Mexico, Abu Madi said.
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Madi → begin → Mexico
Around 600 children attend the centre, she said.
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she → attend → centre
Her goal is to expand the project so that all 3,000 children living in the neighbourhood can take part.
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children → expand → part
One of the paintings by the children showed three children sitting on the back of a winged horse, representing a dream of being able to fly freely, no longer trapped behind checkpoints.
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One → show → checkpoints
"Art also creates a space that tells them: you can dream.
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you → create → them
You can imagine and build a reality different from the one you're living in," said Abu Madi.
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Madi → imagine → one
The Aporia
