A display of pictures in a State Street coffee house drawn by Palestinian children has stirred commotion among the UW-Madison community.
The 4-day pictures display that began Sunday, entitled \Innocence Under Siege: Palestinian Children's Perspectives of the World Around Them,"" is presented by the Palestinian Humanities and Arts Now, a Chicago-based group, in conjunction with Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition. The pictures were along the wall at Espresso Royale Caffe, 650 State St., until last evening.
Images were drawn by middle school aged Palestinian children and focus predominantly on violence in the Middle East. One picture, for example, shows a woman cradling the bloody body of a man, probably her husband, with a person holding a gun in the background. Other pictures show Israeli tanks and Palestinian towns and children surrendering.
""Our organization put the pictures up because they present a reality and experiences that are completely silenced in the United States media,"" said UW-Madison senior Sarah Kaiksow, co-chair of the UW-Madison chapter of Al-Awda. ""I feel like for any true peace to be negotiated between any two parties in any conflict, the reality of what those people are facing needs to be negotiated.""
But members of Madison's Jewish community, including those of UW-Madison's Hillel, say they are offended by some of the artwork, including pictures on which a child wrote things like ""Death for Israel,"" ""From North to South it's only Palestine"" and ""Bloodshed is the language of Israel."" That particular picture was drawn by an eighth-grader.
Greg Steinberger, executive director of Hillel, described the display as ""hurtful"" and ""disturbing"" and said he did not think it was helping peace to be reached in any way.
""They've offended a lot of people and they should take the pictures down,"" he said.
Kaiksow said she too found the display offensive, but from a different perspective.
""I think it's offensive that this is happening to children,"" she said.
Steinberger said he faulted the management of Espresso Royale for agreeing to act as host for the artwork, saying that the company does not usually engage in political commentary.
""Clearly they've taken a stand,"" he said, adding that he would no longer shop there. ""Their decision to put it up and frankly, their decision to not take it down is a series of statements.""
Espresso Royale denies taking a position on the issue. Employees have posted a sign next to the display, in which they remove themselves from any opinions expressed by the artwork.
""Please accept this art piece as expressionism and reality, and understand that we would just as willingly post similar pictures drawn from any other race,"" the statement reads.
Kaiksow said she thought if the Espresso Royale manager had known the display would cost business, she would not have posted it.
Also, there was a box in which patrons could write their feedback. Kaiksow said more than half of the responses have been positive.
