Palestinian artist brings Japanese origami to Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In a small studio packed with sculptures made of scrap metal, Palestinian artist Ahmed Humaid has found a new medium in origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

It’s an unlikely pursuit for an artist living in the Gaza Strip, which has been largely cut off from the outside world since Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory more than a decade ago.

But the 29-year-old Humaid says interest in origami is on the rise. Despite having no formal training, he practices a form of origami in which he folds and forms the pages of an entire book into a readable inscription of calligraphic letters.