‘Our works are next to each other’: Art bridges Gaza and West Bank

Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – Artists arrived with household and friends astatine the Bethlehem Peace Center, wherever a unrecorded provender connected them to a tiny gathering astatine an artist’s workplace successful Bureij exile camp, successful the cardinal Gaza Strip.

The 2 exhibitions marked the opening of Anamel Falasteen, the archetypal contention organised by Falasteen Collective, a taste inaugural launched successful 2025 by Palestinian artists, filmmakers, designers and others moving successful arts and culture. The three-day duplicate exhibitions, held earlier this week, brought unneurotic young Palestinian artists whose enactment and opportunities to conscionable are separated by Israeli question restrictions.

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“In the competition, we person Palestinian artists from Jerusalem, historical Palestine, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” said Osama Nazzal, 1 of the judges, speaking successful Bethlehem. “I don’t similar these divisions. I privation to accidental each of Palestine.”

From his workplace astatine Gallery Paleta successful Gaza’s Bureij exile camp, amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal warfare connected the Palestinian enclave, creator and juror Ghanem Al Den sent greetings connected the unrecorded feed.

“Greetings and bid from psyche to soul, from Gaza to our sister Palestinian cities crossed this beloved homeland,” helium said.

“In this competition, galore things that were mislaid came together. The astir important happening is hope.”

Painter and juror Ghanem Al Den, speaking from his workplace successful Bureij exile campy successful cardinal Gaza, addresses visitors astatine the Bethlehem Peace Center by unrecorded provender astatine the opening of the Anamel Falasteen accumulation connected October 13, 2026 [Leila Warah/Al Jazeera]

After the speeches, visitors had the accidental to instrumentality a person look astatine the paintings, photographs and drawings that covered the walls. Visitors moved betwixt them, stopping to look closer, constituent and speech astir what they saw.

“Artists decided to travel from Hebron, from Ramallah, from Jerusalem, from Jaffa, from Nablus, contempt the risk,” said Mohamed Abusrour, 1 of the founding members of Falasteen Collective.

“They person a voice, they privation to contribute, and they privation to amusement the satellite that we inactive exist.”

Not each the works connected show successful Bethlehem were originals. Because of the blockade and question restrictions, the organisers said determination was nary mode to transport archetypal artworks retired of Gaza. Instead, they printed reproductions of the Gaza submissions and hung them alongside archetypal pieces.

For 1 Bethlehem visitor, the curation was what stood out. She assumed immoderate works exploring akin themes were by the aforesaid artist. They turned retired to beryllium by antithetic artists, immoderate successful Gaza and others successful the West Bank.

“I sat a spot longer with immoderate paintings, and that brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “The livestream with the beingness of everyone’s paintings was a portal to bringing everyone’s essence together.”

Visitors look astatine works by young Palestinian artists from Gaza and the occupied West Bank astatine the opening of the Anamel Falasteen accumulation astatine the Bethlehem Peace Center connected October 13, 2026 [Leila Warah/Al Jazeera]

Young artists papers nonaccomplishment and mundane life

The works connected show reflected antithetic ways of documenting Palestinian life, from the nonaccomplishment of household and location successful Gaza to the traditions and mundane experiences artists privation to preserve.

Abusrour said the thought for the contention came from listening to creator friends picture however they could not enactment oregon explicit themselves freely. He said the purpose was to springiness young Palestinians a level to amusement their enactment astatine location and overseas “without immoderate restriction”.

The contention was unfastened to artists aged 15 to 30. About 170 applied, astir 60 percent from Gaza, according to the organisers. A assemblage divided betwixt the West Bank and Gaza selected 120 works crossed 3 tracks: representation and place, onshore and return, and mundane heritage.

The assemblage met regular by video, moving done powerfulness and net cuts successful Gaza.

“Despite the deficiency of resources, they decided to instrumentality part, and erstwhile they decided to instrumentality part, they decided to instrumentality portion with strength,” Abusrour said of the artists successful Gaza.

Among the works shown successful Gaza was The Vine Bears Witness, by Arwa Mukhaimer, a 20-year-old assemblage student. It shows the entranceway to her family’s home, shaded by a grapevine. It was there, connected March 30, 2024, that she received quality of her father’s death. He had been incapable to get aesculapian attraction during Israel’s warfare connected Gaza, she said. Five months later, she said, the location was destroyed.

“This coating is simply a memorial to what we lost, a treble loss, of the begetter and of the place,” she told Al Jazeera.

Two days earlier helium died, helium told her: “My darling, whitethorn God beryllium pleased with you.” She wrote those words into the painting.

When she was displaced arsenic a effect of the war, she said, “The archetypal happening I thought astir was my tools.” Art supplies are hard to find successful Gaza, she said, and immoderate materials ne'er participate the Strip.

The challenges facing artists widen beyond entree to materials. Gaza’s main creation spaces, including the Eltiqa and Shababeek galleries, person been destroyed arsenic a effect of Israeli attacks successful Gaza.

Mukhaimer said her coating “has anticipation and joyousness successful it, but its meaning is achy and moving”.

In Bethlehem, Hanan Barghouthi, 24, a ocular creator from Ramallah, besides chose to overgarment joy, but from a antithetic place. Her coating of a Palestinian wedding is filled with agleam colours, accepted symbols, and movement.

“All the creation has go astir radical expressing sadness, truthful I privation to bespeak happiness, due to the fact that I similar to beryllium happy,” she said.

Hanan Barghouthi, 24, a ocular creator from Ramallah, looks astatine her coating of a Palestinian wedding connected show astatine the Anamel Falasteen accumulation astatine the Bethlehem Peace Center connected October 13, 2026 [Leila Warah/Al Jazeera]

Movement restrictions disagreement Gaza and the West Bank

Bringing the 2 exhibitions unneurotic required organisers to enactment astir the restrictions that support Palestinians successful the 2 territories apart. Artists successful Gaza and the West Bank unrecorded nether antithetic conditions of Israeli occupation, but some look barriers to meeting, collaborating and exhibiting together.

Israel has imposed a land, oversea and aerial blockade connected the Gaza Strip since June 2007. In the occupied West Bank, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 925 obstacles restricting the question of 3.4 cardinal Palestinians, including successful East Jerusalem, arsenic of December 2025.

That separation is not accidental, said Rehab Nazzal, an creator and pedagogue connected the competition’s advisory committee.

“It’s a instauration of the settler assemblage project,” she said. “By suffocating the Palestinians with each the restrictions of movement, it intends to propulsion the Palestinians out.”

Abusrour said spaces similar the accumulation springiness young Palestinians a crushed to enactment and proceed creating.

“You cannot unrecorded successful a place, and beryllium called steadfast, without having a crushed to unrecorded arsenic well,” helium said.

Watching the Gaza artists connected screen, Barghouthi said she felt “very sad” and asked herself, “Where are we and wherever are they?”

“I felt we were adjacent to them, but astatine the aforesaid clip acold away,” she said. “But emotionally, I felt they were adjacent to us, due to the fact that our works are adjacent to each other.”