Abel Abdi

Abed Abdi was born in Haifa in 1942, during the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1948, during the Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe"), his family—like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians—was forced into exile. While his father managed to remain in Haifa through the upheaval, Abdi, his mother, and three of his siblings fled to refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Three years later, in 1951, they became one of the few Palestinian families permitted to return to Haifa under a family reunification policy. By then, the city had been irreversibly transformed. Between December 1947 and April 1948, Zionist forces expelled over 95 percent of Haifa’s Palestinian population. Once home to roughly 75,000 Palestinians, only 3,000 to 4,000 remained after the war. Those who stayed were confined to the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood and barred from returning to their original homes or reclaiming their property. The rest remain refugees to this day, primarily in Lebanon and Syria, denied the right of return. At age 22, Abdi left Haifa to study in East Germany, enrolling at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (1964–1971) earning a Master in Art degree. At the academy, he studied under prominent artists such as Lea Grundig, Gerhard Kettner and Gerhard Bondzin, and specialized in painting, mural and printmaking.The following year he continued his specialization in mural art. he is the first Palestinian in Israel who had pursued academic studies in fine arts. When Abdi returned to Haiffa in 1972, he found himself among very few practicing Palestinian artists. “People were struggling for bread, not for creativity or nonessentials,” he later recalled. However, upon his return to Haifa he was appointed chief graphic designer and illustrator for Al-Ittihad newspaper and Al-Jadid literary journal—then the principal cultural platforms for Arab society in Israel. During this period, Abdi produced hundreds of illustrations and prints, many depicting themes of exile, displacement, and homeland. Abed Abdi’s body of work is deeply rooted in the Palestinian experience, reflecting themes of displacement, memory, and resilience. Through painting, printmaking, illustration, and monumental public murals, Abdi gives visual form to the collective history of the Palestinian people, particularly those who remained within the borders of the new Israeli state after 1948. Abdi’s images are not only artistic expressions but also acts of cultural preservation and political testimony. His illustrations for key literary figures such as Emile Habibi, Samih al-Qasim, and Salman Natour brought the written word into dialogue with visual art, reinforcing a shared memory of trauma and perseverance.
Abed Abdi in his studio in the neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas in the northern city of Haifa [Foto from the article in Al Jazeera]

Abed Abdi was born in Haifa in 1942, during the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1948, during the Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe"), his family—like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians—was forced into exile. While his father managed to remain in Haifa through the upheaval, Abdi, his mother, and three of his siblings fled to refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria.

Three years later, in 1951, they became one of the few Palestinian families permitted to return to Haifa under a family reunification policy. By then, the city had been irreversibly transformed. Between December 1947 and April 1948, Zionist forces expelled over 95 percent of Haifa’s Palestinian population. Once home to roughly 75,000 Palestinians, only 3,000 to 4,000 remained after the war. Those who stayed were confined to the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood and barred from returning to their original homes or reclaiming their property. The rest remain refugees to this day, primarily in Lebanon and Syria, denied the right of return.

At age 22, Abdi left Haifa to study in East Germany, enrolling at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (1964–1971) earning a Master in Art degree. At the academy, he studied under prominent artists such as Lea Grundig, Gerhard Kettner and Gerhard Bondzin, and specialized in painting, mural and printmaking.The following year he continued his specialization in mural art. he is the first Palestinian in Israel who had pursued academic studies in fine arts.

When Abdi returned to Haiffa in 1972, he found himself among very few practicing Palestinian artists. “People were struggling for bread, not for creativity or nonessentials,” he later recalled. However, upon his return to Haifa he was appointed chief graphic designer and illustrator for Al-Ittihad newspaper and Al-Jadid literary journal—then the principal cultural platforms for Arab society in Israel. During this period, Abdi produced hundreds of illustrations and prints, many depicting themes of exile, displacement, and homeland.

Abed Abdi’s body of work is deeply rooted in the Palestinian experience, reflecting themes of displacement, memory, and resilience. Through painting, printmaking, illustration, and monumental public murals, Abdi gives visual form to the collective history of the Palestinian people, particularly those who remained within the borders of the new Israeli state after 1948. Abdi’s images are not only artistic expressions but also acts of cultural preservation and political testimony. His illustrations for key literary figures such as Emile Habibi, Samih al-Qasim, and Salman Natour brought the written word into dialogue with visual art, reinforcing a shared memory of trauma and perseverance.

Abed Abdi in his studio in the neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas in the northern city of Haifa
[Foto from the article in Al Jazeera]