Hasan Hourani

Dorit Rabinyan'sbook Gader Haya ("Hedgerow" - English title: All the Rivers, novel), 2014 [גדר חיה Gader Chaya) is dedicated to Ms. Rabinyan’s former lover, the artist Hassan Hourani, who drowned in 2003. She wrote a poignant farewell to him in The Guardian.

At the time of his death, Hourani had completed only 10 of the 40 drawings that make up his whimsical children's book, Hassan Everywhere, in which the character Rihan roams the world in search of the rose of love. That year, his drawings were exhibited at Al-Hoash's grand opening in Jerusalem, and the next year A. M. Qattan Foundation, a Palestinian cultural foundation, established the Hassan Hourani Young Artist of the Year Award. In 2004 the Qattan Foundation compiled his completed stories and half-rendered drawings, and published Hassan Everywhere.

Hasan (Hassan) Hourani (Arabic: حسن حوراني ‎, 1974 – August 6, 2003) was a Palestinian artist, born in Hebron, Palestine. He attended the College of Fine Art in Baghdad, Iraq from 1993-97. In 2001 he arrived in New York City and presented his one-man show "One Day, One Night" in the UN building. He then studied at the Art Students League of New York and continued to live in the city for several years. His work has been exhibited in Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, South Korea, New York and Houston.

In 2003, he returned home for a visit. Like nearly all West Bank Palestinians, he had been barred from traveling across the Green Line to see the sea for many years; but during this trip home, he was able to visit the Mediterranean shore. On August 6, 2003 he went swimming with his young nephew Samer Abu Ajamieh and their girlfriends from Ramallah, and both drowned near the Port of Jaffa.