2007 The Wall, The War, and Waiting for Peace

The Wall, The War, and Waiting for Peace

The present situation in the Middle East troubles many of us. War that indiscriminately kills civilians, especially children, troubles us even more. Those of us who live outside of the Middle East are not exempt from our responsibility towards children who must live under such circumstances. This is a collective responsibility that cries out for all citizens of the world to take a stand against such violence.

This art project focuses on children who live under these circumstances. These are children in crisis. Thus, this photography and art project was conceived as an effort to educate others about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of children. In an effort to realize this mission, I went into Bethlehem, Palestine, in 2005 and asked the International Center of Bethlehem to help me get into the local Refugee Camps. They made arrangements with the directors of schools in the camps to gather students on a volunteer basis whose families had agreed to their participation. Two Refugee Camps were visited in Palestine: The AIDA Refugee Camp and the IBDA Cultural Center in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. In both of these camps, Palestinian children were given art supplies and asked to create art about their experiences as Palestinian children. In addition to bringing art supplies on my second trip to Palestine in 2006, I brought disposable cameras that were given to the children so that they “could take photographs of whatever they wanted.”

The Palestinian children took photographs of their surroundings — what they see happening around them. In their artwork, the Wall built by Israel to separate Israel from Palestine looms large (as it is) in their consciousness because it is all around them… including being adjacent to the entrance to the AIDA Refugee Camp. They also include images of war, e.g., being shot at by Israeli soldiers on the ground, Israeli helicopters and jets overhead shooting and bombing their houses, the presence of Israeli tanks and trucks in their neighborhoods, and Palestinian children resisting by throwing rocks at the Israeli soldiers. Flags of both countries are evident in the drawings signifying the separation of sides (the Israel side of the wall and the Palestinian side of the wall).

All of the children ranged in age from nine to 13 years of age. A total of thirty-five children participated in our project. What resulted is herein presented as their art, photographs taken by them, and text taken from statements they made (translated to English from Arabic).

Let us listen to the visual voices of children. They all want Peace. Their future is our future. We must not lose faith in them or in one another. That is our humanitarian challenge.