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

Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – Artists arrived with family and friends at the Bethlehem Peace Center, where a live feed connected them to a small gathering at an artist’s studio in Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

The two exhibitions marked the opening of Anamel Falasteen, the first competition organised by Falasteen Collective, a cultural initiative launched in 2025 by Palestinian artists, filmmakers, designers and others working in arts and culture. The three-day twin exhibitions, held earlier this week, brought together young Palestinian artists whose work and opportunities to meet are separated by Israeli movement restrictions.

“In the competition, we have Palestinian artists from Jerusalem, historic Palestine, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” said Osama Nazzal, one of the judges, speaking in Bethlehem. “I don’t like these divisions. I want to say all of Palestine.”

From his studio at Gallery Paleta in Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave, painter and juror Ghanem Al Den sent greetings on the live feed.

“Greetings and peace from soul to soul, from Gaza to our sister Palestinian cities across this beloved homeland,” he said.

“In this competition, many things that were lost came together. The most important thing is hope.”

After the speeches, visitors had the opportunity to take a closer look at the paintings, photographs and drawings that covered the walls. Visitors moved between them, stopping to look closer, point and talk about what they saw.

“Artists decided to come from Hebron, from Ramallah, from Jerusalem, from Jaffa, from Nablus, despite the risk,” said Mohamed Abusrour, one of the founding members of Falasteen Collective.

“They have a voice, they want to contribute, and they want to show the world that we still exist.”

Not all the works on display in Bethlehem were originals. Because of the blockade and movement restrictions, the organisers said there was no way to transport original artworks out of Gaza. Instead, they printed reproductions of the Gaza submissions and hung them alongside original pieces.

For one Bethlehem visitor, the curation was what stood out. She assumed some works exploring similar themes were by the same artist. They turned out to be by different artists, some in Gaza and others in the West Bank.

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

Young artists document loss and everyday life

The works on display reflected different ways of documenting Palestinian life, from the loss of family and home in Gaza to the traditions and everyday experiences artists want to preserve.

Abusrour said the idea for the competition came from listening to artist friends describe how they could not participate or express themselves freely. He said the aim was to give young Palestinians a platform to show their work at home and abroad “without any restriction”.

The competition was open to artists aged 15 to 30. About 170 applied, nearly 60 percent from Gaza, according to the organisers. A jury split between the West Bank and Gaza selected 120 works across three tracks: memory and place, land and return, and everyday heritage.

The jury met daily by video, working through power and internet cuts in Gaza.

“Despite the lack of resources, they decided to take part, and when they decided to take part, they decided to take part with strength,” Abusrour said of the artists in Gaza.

Among the works shown in Gaza was The Vine Bears Witness, by Arwa Mukhaimer, a 20-year-old university student. It shows the entrance to her family’s home, shaded by a grapevine. It was there, on March 30, 2024, that she received news of her father’s death. He had been unable to get medical treatment during Israel’s war on Gaza, she said. Five months later, she said, the house was destroyed.

“This painting is a memorial to what we lost, a double loss, of the father and of the place,” she told Al Jazeera.

Two days before he died, he told her: “My darling, may God be pleased with you.” She wrote those words into the painting.

When she was displaced as a result of the war, she said, “The first thing I thought about was my tools.” Art supplies are hard to find in Gaza, she said, and some materials never enter the Strip.

The challenges facing artists extend beyond access to materials. Gaza’s main art spaces, including the Eltiqa and Shababeek galleries, have been destroyed as a result of Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Mukhaimer said her painting “has hope and joy in it, but its meaning is painful and moving”.

In Bethlehem, Hanan Barghouthi, 24, a visual artist from Ramallah, also chose to paint joy, but from a different place. Her painting of a Palestinian wedding is filled with bright colours, traditional symbols, and movement.

“All the art has become about people expressing sadness, so I want to reflect happiness, because I like to be happy,” she said.

Movement restrictions divide Gaza and the West Bank

Bringing the two exhibitions together required organisers to work around the restrictions that keep Palestinians in the two territories apart. Artists in Gaza and the West Bank live under different conditions of Israeli occupation, but both face barriers to meeting, collaborating and exhibiting together.

Israel has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on 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 movement of 3.4 million Palestinians, including in East Jerusalem, as of December 2025.

That separation is not accidental, said Rehab Nazzal, an artist and educator on the competition’s advisory committee.

“It’s a creation of the settler colonial project,” she said. “By suffocating the Palestinians with all the restrictions of movement, it intends to push the Palestinians out.”

Abusrour said spaces like the exhibition give young Palestinians a reason to stay and continue creating.

“You cannot live in a place, and be called steadfast, without having a reason to live as well,” he said.

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

“I felt we were close to them, but at the same time far away,” she said. “But emotionally, I felt they were next to us, because our works are next to each other.”