A bed designed by a Palestinian artist who lives in New York has been donated to a New York man who has been fighting a terminal illness.
The bed was designed by Perler bead designer and design student Fathi Shaban, who lives and works in Brooklyn, in collaboration with the Palestinian Bedouin tribe.
Shaban said he chose to make the bed for the man, Mohammed Salah, because he is suffering from a terminal form of leukemia and because of his mother’s illness.
He told the Post that he wanted to make a gesture of compassion and give him hope.
“The Bedouins of Gaza have been struggling for over 50 years with the closure of their homes and land,” he said.
“It is time for our people to stand up and show that they have dignity.”
He added that Salah was a young man and a young soul and had overcome so much in his life.
“He is a wonderful man.
He is a beautiful man,” he told the newspaper.
“But he is not one who would have chosen a bed with a bullet hole in it, no matter how good a designer I am.
I think we have to take a lesson from him.”
The bed will be made into a prayer rug, a piece of furniture that is used to wrap bedding.
The idea behind the bed came from Shaban’s love of the Holy Land and of Bedoum, a region of the Middle East that is located in the West Bank.
He said he was inspired to design the bed because of the beauty and the richness of the region.
The Bedoufas, who are considered to be one of the most marginalized communities in the world, are not allowed to have land and they are prevented from working on their own land, according to The Middle East Monitor.
“I’m not interested in a political discussion, I just want to make sure that this bed is made as a symbol of our people’s dignity and our struggle,” he explained.
“And I hope that this will be a great example for people to know that there are good people who are fighting for the dignity of their communities and for their right to live.”
Shaban also hopes that the Bedoufah Bed will become a way to support the Bedouans in the future.
He hopes that by making this bed and bringing it to Gaza, he can create a place for them to gather and to be inspired and not to think that it is not important to them, he said.
“I want to be a symbol for Gaza and to help bring the Bedounas back to their land and to their culture,” he added.
“I want them to know we are not just a people, we are also a people who fight for their land.”
Shabans mother was also a Bedouan, and she shared a similar story with the Post.
“When I was born, my father had to leave Gaza because of Israel’s blockade,” she told the paper.
“My mother was born in Gaza and I was brought up in Gaza.
It was very difficult for me and my family.
I was afraid of the war and it scared me to death.
My father and I tried to find a way out, but the blockade was preventing us from even going to the supermarket.”
The Bedouna Bed is one of three bed designs Shaban has made to honor Salah.
The other two were designed by artist and designer Ghaith Bakhir, who is also from Gaza, and a Bedoun woman, Elana Fakhouri.
The third design was made by the Bedonawer Bedouen tribe.
The tribe is one that has fought for Palestinian rights and dignity in Gaza, as well as in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
It is the largest tribe in Gaza which has an estimated 10,000 people.
In a Facebook post, Bakhur said that she was proud of the Bedowin Bedou in Gaza for taking up this project.
“These Bedou are so brave and brave and beautiful,” she said.
“They have fought so hard and sacrificed so much to be able to have a bed made for them, to honor them and to give them hope.”