scribblin

2007-06-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Some select pages from my sketchbook: scenes around campus, a cafe, the zoo.

2007-03-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

Lineage, I-IV, graphite on paper, 2007
Portraits of Israeli Prime Ministers
from top: Ben-Gurion, Sharett, Eshkol, Meir

2006-11-25T07:08:00.001-08:00

Qana, graphite on paper, 30 July 2006
Gaza picnic, graphite and watercolor on paper, 2006

These two pieces will be displayed in the upcoming exhibition:
Do Not Forget Lebanon, Opened 12 January 2007 at The Freedom Theatre, Jenin, Palestinian Territories

The exhibition will be travelling on to Stockholm, Sweden. Proceeds from the exhibition will go towards helping the children of Jenin and The Freedom Theatre - "an independent, dynamic, community-based center which encourages normal childhood by targeting behavior, knowledge concepts and practices."

2006-10-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ordnance: 72 hours, cut vinyl installation, 2006

Damocles: manifest destiny, razor wire installation, 2006

Images from the
4+4 Exhibition
12 - 26 October 2006
The Manu Chhabria Gallery
Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre
Dubai, UAE
www.ductac.org

Ordnance is comprised of 100 cluster bomb silhouettes, in direct reference to the recent war on Lebanon. The UN estimates that nearly one million of these bombs were dropped by Israel during the war, the majority of which were dropped in the last 72 hours.

Damocles is a series of Arabesque patterns comprised of razor wire, and relates to the flagrant use of the material in keeping Palestinians from their lands in the West Bank and Gaza. It also alludes to the negative portrayal of Islam in the West.

2006-10-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

cluster bomb, conte on paper, 2006

"No-one knows just how much unexploded ordnance there is in southern Lebanon.

Estimates range from tens to hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster bomblets and submunitions. The UN warns it may take two years to clear them. ...The devices tend to be small in size, so often remain undetected until it's too late."
Source: BBC

More from BBC and Human Rights Watch on cluster bombs dropped on Lebanon, the majority of which were dropped by Israel in the last 72 hours of the war, after the upcoming cease-fire had been declared.

2006-09-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Jenin: Mortuary, linoleum print on paper 2005
Jenin: Untitled, linoleum print on paper 2005
Jenin: Ambulances, linoleum print on paper 2005

It has been nearly 18 months since the Jenin imPrints series was first exhibited in Bethlehem. The prints, images of the 2002 incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin, have taken on a life of their own, and thanks to Ms. Elisabeth Gagneur (L'Auberge des Arts) and Yves and Claire Orly (Color Gang Edition), they have been shown in Givors, France, as well as various other venues in the Lyon area.

Jenin imPrints was published as a book by Color Gang Edition in February, 2006, with text by Lebanese poet Etel Adnan, and is available directly (ISBN: 2-915107-20-3):

Color Gang Edition
28 rue Jean Ligonnet
69700 Givors
France
Tel: 04 72 24 09 69
Fax: 04 72 24 02 01
color.gang@wanadoo.fr

2006-08-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

Qana, 30 July 2006
graphite on paper

In its 2006 war on Lebanon, Israel bombed and killed over 50 civilians that were taking shelter in the lower floor of a building. Thirty-four of them were children.

...more about Qana

2006-06-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Gaza picnic, graphite and watercolor on paper, 2006

This is an image of a children's sandal that was left behind on a Gaza beach by the family of Huda Abu Ghalia, aged 11.
Huda's family was spending the day picnicking on 9 June 2006 when Israeli military ordnance exploded on the beach, and left her an orphan. Huda lost her father, step-mother and five of her siblings.

2006-04-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

Mourning Hadeel, ink on paper, 2006
reversed from original photo (to prepare for a print) (MaanImages/Wesam Saleh)

Israeli artillery shells fell on the family home of Hadeel Ghaban in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, on 10 April 2006. Eight year old Hadeel was killed instantly by shrapnel.
For the full story, see the Electronic Intifada article.

2006-02-27T06:04:00.000-08:00

Pisgat Zeev from Hizma, pencil on paper, 2006

The Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev (est. 1985) lies directly to the west of the Palestinian village of Hizma. Approximately 4,318 dunums (4.3 km²) of Hizma's land has been confiscated by Israel for expansion of its settlements and the construction of the segregation wall. Hizma, dependent on agriculture and grazing for 55% of its economy, has lost more than 30% of its land to the path of the wall.

(data from ARIJ: Applied Research Institute, Jerusalem and LRC: Land Research Center, Jerusalem)

"The Israeli government undertook “the unification of the eastern part of the city" and enforced Israeli law on Palestinian citizens in east Jerusalem.

The Israeli land confiscation policy went through the following stages:
1- June 1967-120 dunums inside the old city, which became part of the Jewish quarter
2- January 1968-4000 dunums in Sheikh Jarah-Shufat, Lifta-Aisawieh.
3- January 1970-14000 dunums-Malaha, Sur Baher, Beit Jalah, Lifta, Shufat
4- In 1980-4500 dunums in Beit Hanena and Hizma
5- 1991-2000 dunums in Im Tuba, Sur Baher, Beit Safafa, Bethlehem and Beit Jalah
6- 1969-6000 dunums south of east Jerusalem, Jabal Abu Ghnem, Bethlehem and Beit Jalah.

The total confiscated land was 30.000 dunums, equivalent to 34%of the Jerusalem territories. It is worth while mentioning that the municipality boundary of East Jerusalem was expanded through planning and zoning by the Israeli municipality from 6.5 km² in 1967 to 71 km² in 1996."

Excerpt from Jerusalem Religious Aspects June 2000 - Second Edition (English Pp.75, Arabic Pp. 109), by Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi, PASSIA- Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs -
full text here

2006-02-26T22:11:00.000-08:00

Settlement 1, pencil on paper, 2006

2006-01-30T22:00:00.000-08:00

Crossing Qalandia 1, ink on paper, 2005

Crossing Qalandia 2, ink on paper, 2005

Razor Wire, conte crayon on paper, 2005

The first two are ink wash drawings done from photographs of Qalandia checkpoint, taken in early 2005. At the time, the checkpoint consisted on one tower (shown), and a corral, like the ones used for cattle, by which the Palestinians passed between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

Since December 2005, it has been much different. The Qalandia checkpoint is now called the "Atarot Terminal", and takes 3 times longer to cross than previously. There is an entire complex there now of walls, watchtowers, and automated cues, orchestrated by young Israeli soliders from within closed and fortified quarters. My first encounter with the new checkpoint was to visit Jerusalem. One stands on one of the ten or so cues, complete with digital signs that flash "Welcome" alternately in English and Hebrew (no Arabic). On the whims of the soldiers, orders to switch cues are barked out over loudspeakers in Hebrew.

"go to terminal 2 and 3!" they ordered... 15 men, mostly 40 and over, some elderly, rushed to the designated cues. 10 remained where I was standing, and the orders were repeated about 5 times, until a few of us wandered to cues 2 and 3. Then through a revolving door, that moves on the green light, and locks on the red. Once inside the chamber, all posessions and coats are run through an xray machine. Some men are ordered to untuck their shirt-tails, to show their undershirts.

Everyone passes their papers through a narrow mail slot into the soldiers' cubicle and waits for their verdict. While I stood there, I was glancing around their quarters, and they ordered the lights cut so that I couldn't see them. Guess they didn't want a "foreign" eye to look upon them. After receiving papers back, one collects his possessions and exits through another revolving door. A sign on the other side issues the decree that this "terminal" is "The Hope of Us All", and displays a flower. In arabic, it reads at the roots "security" and at its petals "commerce and trade". This is Israel's democracy.

On a later occasion, we passed by car. A cue of about 20 cars took 2 and one half hours to pass. Soldiers checked our papers, the boot of our car, and looked into our back seat. Later that same day, we had to pass again. The cue of 20 cars this time took 45 minutes. When we reached the soldiers, they waved us on. In fact, they waved the car in front of us on, as well. Both times, we were passing from the West Bank side to the "Israeli" side (although both sides are far into the occupied West Bank). It is clear from this that the checkpoint turned "terminal" is not for security purposes, but rather for purposes of humiliation and oppression, at the whims of the IDF.

Surda, between Ramallah and Birzeit University is also still an operational checkpoint, although this one is moveable, and untraceable on days that the soldiers are absent. Hundreds waited there numerous times during Ramadan, at the hours of the Iftar. Many tired and fasting, waiting to get home to their families to break their fast. Some days the checkpoint was there, some days not. One particularly cold and rainy day there during my visit, we were caught in the tail end of the traffic jam that results from Surda's closing by IDF. The soldiers had recently departed, and hundreds of vehicles were sorting out their passage between Birzeit and Ramallah. On the days of the most detriment weather, hot, cold or rainy, you will find the checkpoints are particulary slow.

2006-01-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

Olive groves, Palestine, ink on paper, 2006

Another drawing from memory, this of the rolling mountains of Palestine and the olive groves in winter. Winter is the rainy season, when everything turns that amazing green of new growth. It is a spectacular place, tended by its Palestinian farmers, and in danger of being expropriated daily by the illegal Israeli settlements. As a sidenote, Israeli settlements are not the stick and mud tenements of the early colonial "frontiersmen". Rather, they are more like condominium complexes, and not only rob the Palestinians of their land, but also their scarce water resources. Many such hills of Palestinian olive trees have dried up due to the redirection and overextention of the natural aquifers by the settlements.

2006-01-14T00:14:00.000-08:00

Olive stumps, Palestine, ink on paper, 2006

Olive trees in the West Bank are a primary source of livelihood for thousands of families. Every day on my commute to the university, I passed groves of olive trees that had been reduced to burnt stumps in the ground. It was apparent that this was done to rob the Palestinian communities of their source of life. It left an indelible impression on my memory, from which this drawing was made.

2006-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

Old Jaffa, Palestine, graphite on paper, 2005

This is the old Palestinian city of Jaffa, now south of Tel-Aviv. Much of the historic city was bombed by the British, and only two of its original gates remain today. The old city has become an exclusive Israeli artist colony, the homes having been stolen from the Palestinians in 1948.

2006-01-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

Aboud, Palestine, 2001, ink on paper, 2006

A drawing of an olive grove in Aboud that has been razed by the Israelis.

2005-12-15T09:14:00.000-08:00

Razor wire, ink on paper, 2005

This is a drawing of long barb barbed tape, known to the trade as LBBT, and to the rest of the world as razor wire. It is used primarily in prisons, and can be regulary seen all around the West Bank, keeping the Palestinians from their own land.

Warhol + "The Graduate"

2005-12-10T02:12:00.000-08:00

"In the future, everyone will be plastic for fifteen minutes."

2005.
We thought we would be in flying cars.
Instead, every yahoo has a blog.
Even me.