The Hassib Sabbagh IT Center of Excellence at the Arab American University, in partnership with the Tamer Foundation for Community Education, organized a drawing exhibition titled “The Scene Shall not be Gotten Used to by us,” from the texts of “What Happened After Eid.” In the exhibition, paintings drawn by Gaza children were displayed in which they expressed their suffering in the Strip during the Israeli bombing over Eid al-Fitr in 2021 within the course of creative writing.
The exhibition was attended by the Vice President of the Arab American University for Academic Affairs, Dr. Muayad Abusaa, Dr. Dawwas Dawwas, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Committee for Education, Culture and the Arts, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Islamic World Organization (ISESCO), and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab American University, and the delegation accompanying him, His Excellency Qasim Awad, Director General of the Department of Human Rights and Freedoms in the Palestine Liberation Organization, His Excellency Ayman Shakaa, Director General of the Department of International Relations in the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Director General of Hassib Sabbagh IT Center of Excellence Engineer Mays Awad, the Coordinator of the Tamer Foundation for Community Education, Mr. Ahmad Amarneh, representatives of the Jenin and Tubas governorates, and a number of mayors of Jenin and Tubas, as well as representatives of the education directorates in Jenin and Tubas.
At the inaugural ceremony, the Director General of Hassib Sabbagh IT Center, Engineer Mays Awad, delivered a speech in which she welcomed the attendees, saying, “In the exhibition, there are paintings drawn by the children of Gaza to describe their suffering and to tell us with full transparency and honesty about what happened to them during the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip on the day of Eid in 2021 till this day. In addition, an expressive film is shown about the continuous bombing and war, and a documentary film titled Cities from the Sky, in addition to contemplative rooms through which school students from the Jenin and Tubas governorates will express the rhythm of their daily lives and the multiple emotional states of these children through drawing, clay, writing, and oral expression.”
She continued saying, “The exhibition highlights the human and social dimension and the suffering it reflects of children in Palestine in general and the Gaza Strip in particular.” Dr. Awad indicated that the exhibition conveys a message about the necessity of preserving the cultural and historical heritage of our country, and that we should not become accustomed to the scene even if it is repeated a thousand times each day. She showed that the scenes in Gaza, Jenin, Tulkarm and all the Palestinian governorates are too difficult for us to get used to, to resist, and we consider every new death to be an unforgivable crime, not merely numbers.
In turn, Dr. Dawwas Dawwas, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Arts, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Islamic World Organization (ISESCO) and member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab American University, said, “The children of Palestine and Gaza in particular are coming out with their creativity despite the conditions they live in and the constant targeting. In Gaza, the number of martyrs has exceeded 29 thousand, a third of them were women and children, in addition to 60 thousand wounded, the majority of whom were women and children. This exhibition is only a small part that conveys the suffering of the children of Gaza and what is happening in the beloved Strip.
Dr. Dawwas stressed the necessity of protecting children and providing them with everything they need, and that work is continuing to protect them. We are directing institutions, associations and everyone related through our programs with the aim of tracking the effects and reflection of social life after the war, Dr. Dawwas added.
In turn, the coordinator of the Tamer Foundation for Community Education, Ahmad Amarneh, said, “The Foundation conveys the messages intended by the children themselves, and invites them to realize the experiences they lived through during the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in 2021 with the most innate senses closely related to humans. This is looking through creative writing, expressive arts, and drawing Children of the sea, oranges and many details, diaries, experiences and short stories, to tell us with full transparency and honesty about what happened to them during the days of the aggression.”
He indicated that the exhibition highlights the unique pictorial language used by a group of children from Gaza, whose ages ranged between eight and fifteen, to express the rhythm of their daily lives and the multiple emotional states they experienced during the aggression through five main “themes”; A Besieged and Liberated sky, Houses Guarded by Dreams, Faces are Mirrors of the Soul, Topographies of Imagination, and Color Metaphors.
