Born in 1930, in the village of Yajur near Haifa, Palestine, Ibrahim Hassan Kheite is also known as Ibrahim Ghannam, was a Palestinian artist based in Lebanon. As a child, Ghannam contracted gout. Hence, he used a wheelchair throughout his life. In 1948, Ghannam and his family fled the Zionist violence to the Tal-el-Zaatar refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon.  Since he was seventeen years old, Ghannam favored solitude; he stayed in a small cell-like room. He found refuge and solace in painting and in playing the Oud- an oriental string instrument. Ghannam was instrumental in the inception of Palestinian modern art. He was a founding member of the General Union of Palestinian artists foundation, and the General Federation of Arab Artists foundation.

Ibrahim Ghannam gave visual form to Palestine as an idealized lost paradise; he registered the pleasant times before the Nakba. In a primitive and naïve style, he depicted daily life and peasantry in rural Palestine. He adopted vivid colors in his paintings, which featured panoramic scenes of harvesting, olive picking, and wedding ceremonies. The artist portrayed village people dressed in traditional folkloric outfits preserving the cultural heritage of his country. 

His paintings were promoted throughout the Arab world. They provided nostalgic images of the lost homeland for generations of Palestinians born in exile. Ghannam himself became an emblem of resilience because, despite his lifelong disability, he was creative and productive.

His art and that of his contemporaries served as a model for the following generation. Ibrahim Ghannam, who had to struggle all his life with his disability, passed away in 1984.

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