Emad Al Natsheh is a master artisan and co-owner of the renowned Hebron Glass and Ceramics Factory in the West Bank. He is part of a multi-generational Palestinian family that has kept the ancient, 300-year-old Phoenician free-blowing glass technique alive in Hebron.

He is in Corning this month and you will have a chance to meet him at the June 14 STIC meeting.

STIC member Dianne Roe will introduce Emad and give some background of the situation in Hebron Al Khalil today.

Thank you to Corning glass artist Rodi Rovner for taking a side trip when she was visiting her aunt on a kibbutz in northern Israel last December. Against all odds she navigated a war zone to visit Emad in an area she was told was enemy territory.

Thank you to the Palestinians who greeted her and proved to her they were never her enemies. Thank you to Islamic Association of the Finger Lakes (IAFL) and the UpperNY United Methodist Peace with Justice Committee who made Emad’s visit possible.

She will recount the thirty year history Corning locals working to make a connection between Hebron-Al Khalil and Corning. We will watch a video of Emad blowing glass. Emad will share his family’s glassmaking story and bring samples of his work.

Dianne Roe is a Corning artist who spent fourteen years in Hebron-Al Khalil with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) 1995-2009). She witnessed first hand home demolitions and home invasions by the Israeli military.  She played a part in the formation (with Israeli peace activists) of ICAHD (Israeli Committee against Home Demolitions) by connecting Israelis and internationals with families facing home demolition.

She painted a mural in the Galilee in 2003 highlighting the non-violent activism of Israelis and Palestinians she met.

Mural of Forgiveness, by Dianne Roe, in the church in I’billin. The Niwano Peace Auditorium where you view this mural was built with the Peace Prize awarded to Father Chacour by the Niwano Peace Foundation, a Buddhist organization in Japan.

She remains appalled by the on going genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and expanding into the West Bank and Lebanon, and the complicity of the U.S. She believes churches have a responsibility to speak out, and she is encouraged by the vast number of Jews who are taking a stand.

She believes the best antidote to the dehumanization of any group of people is to help people connect on a human level.

Dianne’s purpose in introducing Emad is help us form that connection.

See also: Summer Bush. A Look into the Meaningful History Behind Handmade Glass from Hebron. 21 Jan 2023. Hand Made Palestine.

STIC members advised the Corning Museum of Glass in 2022 on their exhibition, Dig Deeper.

See also: Katherine Larson. From 363 to 2023: Bringing an Ancient Glass Workshop to Life in New Exhibition ‘Dig Deeper’. 23 May 2023. Corning Museum Blog.

Katherine Larson was the Curator of Ancient Glass at The Corning Museum of Glass. She is now at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD serving as its Chief Collections and Curatorial Affairs Officer and Senior Curator of Ancient Art