GAZA CITY — Using two fingers, 24-year-old Abdel Salam al-Arabi shapes a lump of clay as it rotates on an electric pottery wheel, transforming the solid mass into a vase or pot within minutes. He then dips his fingers in water to soften the sides of the emerging vessel and mold the shiny soft clay before leaving it to dry.
“Pottery relies on the rotation of the wheel and the movement of the fingers. I can form whatever I want with a mass of clay. I am now making a bird’s nest,” Arabi told Al-Monitor.