Bethlehem’s Children: A powerful display of loss, resistance and national identity
Children from a Bethlehem refugee camp depict life under occupation and dreams of a free Palestine in a powerful exhibition, the final project of the late Jeremy Lester. Their raw and hopeful artwork, alongside symbols of Palestinian identity, offers a moving glimpse into a deeply personal struggle.
Child of Bethlehem's artwork.
Words by Devon McCole | Photos by Devon McCole and Fraser Wilson
The entrance to The Deep End. Credit: Devon McCole
From the 6-15 of September, the Scottish Friends of Palestine brought a raw exhibition of artwork by children living in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem to the Deep End.
The artwork was the result of an art therapy project by retired academic, Jeremy Lester. Jeremy spent two months with children in the West Bank making art from December 2023 to January 2024.
The idea was simple. He asked the children to draw their life living in the West Bank today - an Israeli occupied state - and then imagine what a ‘free’ Palestine might look like 100 years later in 2048. The results were incredibly impactful.
On the front facing wall as you enter the room, a film of Palestinian streets as they are today is projected, creating a real sense of place.
In the two minute film, the residents can be seen going about their daily business in the cramped alleyways and narrow streets. Graffiti is scrawled on every wall.
There are words I can’t make out written in Arabic script I don’t understand. But among the words, there is a childish smiling face sprayed onto a sandy stone wall. A young man on a moped, unseen at first, ducks suddenly round the corner. Stopping to look at the man with the camera.
Local resident watches the 2min loop video of Dheisheh as it is today. Credit: Fraser Wilson
On the other three walls in the room, the drawings by the children of Bethlehem are pinned up and there are objects of Palestinian national identity and resistance set up in the corners of the space.
The artwork is varied from child to child, some show very childlike imitations of bloodshed and tanks rolling upon a refugee camp, making the imagery all the more unsettling. Others are more abstract and capture the everyday realities of living under occupation in a simple manner.
A child of Bethlehem's depiction of life under Israeli-occupied Palestine. Credit: Fraser Wilson
In one such drawing a young person called Ghassan depicts the air in Dheisheh in 2024 and the air in 2048. The first drawing of the air in Dheisheh, poisoned by war, is represented using dark grey and charcoal smudges. It’s dark and is disorienting. But in an imagined Dheisheh 100 years in the future, Ghassan uses colourful blues and yellows to depict the fresh “jasmine scented” air of a peaceful Dheisheh.
Ghassan's depiction of the air in Dheisheh 2024-2048. Credit: Fraser Wilson
And, whilst there were many objects dotted around the exhibition space which represented Palestinian nationalism and resistance; like the Keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf, symbolising Palestinian national identity), or the Palestinian sunbird (which represents freedom of movement) and the watermelon (a fruit that is common in the region and is often used to represent the country for it bears the colours of the Palestinian flag, as there have been attempts to suppress the waving of the Palestinian flag).
Objects of Palestinian national identity. Credit: Fraser Wilson
Palestinian Keys of Return on display at The Deep End. Credit: Devon McCole
But there was one object on display that left the biggest impression. The old keys, or ‘the key of return’. These keys are called the Palestinian key of return, a symbol of the homes lost in the Nakba (meaning catastrophe in Arabic).
The Nakba is the name given to the events of 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel. This displacement resulted in a mass refugee crisis which led to the formation of refugee camps like Dheisheh.
Many Palestinians still have the keys to their family homes that were lost during the Nakba, the keys likely no longer fit in the homes that were taken from them but they are kept within families in the hopes that one day, they will be able to return home. In fact there are families that still have the deeds of their homes they were removed from.
These objects are passed down as a lasting symbol of their right to return.
Jeremy Lester, who collated the artworks, had a Scottish connection but was living in Italy. He travelled to Glasgow for the inauguration of the exposition of the Palestinian children’s drawings but sadly passed on 10 September. He will be remembered for the amazing work he did in his final months to bring attention to the reality of the conflict for Bethlehem’s children.
Projected image of Jeremy Lester standing next to the artwork. Credfit: Fraser Wilson