Samih Abu Zakieh

Artiste et professeur, Samih Abu Zakieh est un des fondateurs du Palestinian Child Arts Center d’Hébron, qu’il dirige et anime depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans. Auteur de nombreux articles sur l’expression artistique des enfants en temps de guerre, il donne régulièrement des conférences sur l’art, l’éducation et les droits des enfants palestiniens, lors de colloques internationaux (Turquie, Irak, Suède, Égypte, États-Unis, Jordanie).Director of the Palestinian Child Arts Center in Hebron for 25 years, Zakieh is one of the rare community movers who meet the stringent standard for pacifism set out by Mahatma Gandhi : “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” That’s a tough sell on the ground in occupied Palestine, where Zakieh was born and grew up, whipsawed by the deafening clamor of tanks and bulldozers which enclosed the street where he lived under curfew. He imploded and flew inside out on the wings of a dove, which he began drawing. Followed by another, and others, sometimes twos and threes. Doves swirling tapestries of local and universal reference. And for the children he worked with, the doves also became engines of empowerment. Dave Himmelstein.