In 1976 Abdelké graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus - Syria. The topic of his graduation project covered an event called ‘Black September’, which happened in Jordan in 1970. At that time, King Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999) launched military operations against the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) the aim was to stop the PLO’s operations against Israel, which were an embarrassment to the Jordanian king due to his established good relations with the United States and Israel. Thus, Youssef Abdelké illustrated the crackdown of the Palestinian people by producing a large-scale work on Black September - portraying the massacres of Palestinians in Jordan in 1970, which revealed a militant artist who, ever since, has been relentlessly denouncing violence, fighting for freedom of thoughts and human rights.