Oussama Diab Artist

Oussama Diab applies a conceptual approach to painting by exploiting the stylistic variants of the medium as emotive prompts in order to explore how form can articulate the urgency of sociopolitical issues. 

Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, since 2015, Syrian-Palestinian artist Oussama Diab has made a name for himself through several collective exhibitions in the Emirates, in Egypt and in Canada. His dynamic, expressive work seeks to engage in humanity’s progress, which is why he focuses on perpetuating predecessors, who he admits have influenced him. 

As such, one may notice a touch of Picasso, but also Basquiat and Munch. “Why, he says, doesn’t history repeat itself?”. In this artistic spiral, Oussama Diab, who was born living and breathing art, establishes a link here, presenting, for example, this piece, which is both complex and highly realistic, and which he christened “Kings, Masks and Other Things”.

Helen Zughaib - Artist

Helen Zughaib (/zəˈɡeɪb/ zə-GAYB;  born 1959) is an American painter and multimedia artist living in working in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of a State Department civil servant. Her family left Lebanon in 1975 due to the outbreak Lebanese Civil War, and moved to Europe as a teenager, attending high school in Paris. She studied at Northeast London Polytechnic School of Art.

She moved to the United States to study visual and performing arts at Syracuse University graduating in 1981 with her BFA.  She first learned about gouache paints at SU and continues to use gouache as her primary medium, but also creates mixed media installations. Her themes are centered around hopefulness, healing, and spirituality, using visual arts to shape and foster positive ideas about the Middle East.  

She has served as cultural envoy to Palestine, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.  She has also been selected for the 2021-2023 inaugural social practice residency by the John Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Israel Advances Further into Gaza

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes heavily bombarded an area around Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday as the military ordered mass evacuations from the town in the face of a widening ground offensive that is pushing Palestinians into a progressively shrinking portion of the besieged territory.

The expanded assault posed a deadly choice for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians — either stay in the path of Israeli forces or flee within the confines of southern Gaza with no guarantee of safety. Aid workers warned that the mass movement would worsen the already dire humanitarian catastrophe in the territory.

“Another wave of displacement is underway, and the humanitarian situation worsens by the hour,” the Gaza chief of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Thomas White, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.   READ MORE...

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US Ship Attacked

Above, te guided missile destroyer USS Carney patrols the waters of the Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch. The Pentagon said on Sunday that the USS Carney had come under attack in the Red Sea.   © FELIX GARZA/US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images


The Pentagon on Sunday announced that attacks had been carried out on a United States warship as well as commercial vessels stationed in the Middle East, which could be a significant escalation in the ongoing war in the region.

"We're aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available," the Pentagon told Newsweek. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.

The U.S. has strongly backed its longtime ally Israel in the aftermath of an October 7 attack carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which left some 1,200 dead. 

Israel's government declared war on Hamas, which is backed by Iran, and has bombarded Gaza, which the group governs, while also cutting off fuel, food and electricity to the densely populated area. More than 15,000 Palestinians have died since the bombing began.  READ MORE...