In the outskirts of Hebron in the West Bank, Sara Abu Madi, a Palestinian artist, has turned her home into an art center where children process their experiences of violence from settlers and Israeli military raids through painting.
Establishment of the Romana Art Center
Sara Abu Madi established the "Romana" art center, which means pomegranate in Arabic, in 2020 to provide local children with a space to express their emotions and discuss their experiences. This center has become a necessity in recent years with the increase in violence from Israeli settlers.
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Abu Madi states: "If a settler or a soldier does something, we ask the children: 'How did this make you feel?' and 'What impact does this have on you?' This approach helps children identify and express their emotions.
Paintings of Freedom and Hope
This week, children were asked to paint the most important things to them. Talaya Saba, a 10-year-old girl, drew a picture of birds flying out of a cage and said that this image symbolizes freedom.
She added: "I feel that freedom is the most important thing in life, and I wish that military forces would no longer be in our lives and that we could live freely."
Since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the area has been under Israeli military control, and hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers have migrated to the region. With the accelerated expansion of these settlements under Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the dimensions of this crisis have increased.
Abu Madi expresses: "Art creates a space that tells children: you can dream. You can imagine and create a reality different from what you live in."
The Romana art center is located in Wadi al-Samen, one of the neighborhoods of Hebron, which is separated from the rest of the city by six military checkpoints. This area witnesses frequent military raids and incursions by Israeli settlers.
Children at this center share their experiences of daily encounters with settlers and soldiers. One child named Karam Saba, 11 years old, said: "My grandfather has land in the mountains, but settlers have established a settlement there, and anyone who goes to the mountain gets arrested."
The Romana art center currently accommodates about 600 children, and Sara Abu Madi's goal is to expand this project so that all 3,000 children residing in the neighborhood can participate.
One of the children's paintings depicts three children sitting on the back of a winged horse, symbolizing the desire for free flight and liberation from the constraints of checkpoints.
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