This week in Palestine May 2018 241 by PalGov

Al-Nakba, Seventy Years On

4 A Vibrant Society 6 The Nakba 13 The Destroyed Villages of Palestine 14 Combating the Ongoing Nakba 22 The Impact of Art 28 Searching for the Audiovisual Heritage of Palestine 34 Solomon’s Pools 40 A Practical Look 48 A Darkness unto the Nations 54 Empowering Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon through Microfinance 58 A Vision for Palestinian Economic Rights and Resilience 68 70 Years of Nakba 72 Personality of the Month 74 Book of the Month-1

Cover design: Taisir Masrieh

76 Book of the Month-2 78 Artist of the Month

Publisher: Sani P. Meo Art Director: Taisir Masrieh Graphic Designer: Tamer Hasbun Editor: Tina Basem

80 Exhibition of the Month 82 TWiP Kitchen

Printed by: Studio Alpha, Al-Ram, Jerusalem. Maps: Courtesy of PalMap - GSE

84 Events 86 Accommodation 88 Restaurants 90 Attractions

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

CONTENTS

241

Issue May 2018

In this issue

This month we commemorate 70 years of Al-Nakba as we remember the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and homeland, and highlight the ongoing repercussions. We also raise our voices to decry the continuing measures that prevent Palestinians from enjoying peace and prosperity in a Palestinian state. The term Nakba, catastrophe, was first employed in 1948 by Constantin Zureiq, a professor at the American University of Beirut, who called the events a catastrophe of unprecedented proportion. The term was taken up a year later by the Palestinian poet Burhan al-Deen al-Abushi and gained further prominence when, in the 1950s, Aref al-Aref published a book entitled Al-Nakba, which detailed accounts of the events based on his own personal experience and interviews of witnesses. We are publishing this issue with a heavy heart, given the fierce onslaught against protesters in Gaza. Our sincere Thank You goes to The Negotiations Affairs Department and the Palestine Investment Fund, the sponsors of this issue. The three theme-based sections of this issue feature a number of prominent authors and artists. What was – and therefore has been lost – is the theme behind a photo essay by Mona Halaby that shows Palestine before the Nakba, thriving on all levels – culturally, socially, and economically. The guiding theme of the middle section, What was and still is, contains reflections by Dr. Honaida Ghanim, Amjad Alqasis, Faten Nastas Mitwasi, Dr. Bashar Shammout, Roubina Ghattas, and Lubnah Shomali. Images of destroyed villages, taken by award-winning photographer Bruno Fert, are dispersed throughout the articles. Where do we go from here? is the question addressed in the third section. It reflects the positive and resilient spirit that has allowed this nation to persevere and, in many ways, thrive against all odds! Here you will find some of our most weighty articles by such authors as Sam Bahour, Jamal Haddad, Palestine Investment Fund Chairman Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, and PLO Secretary General Dr. Saeb Erekat. Our personality of the month is Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, and our artist of the month Shehab Kawasmi. Both The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story and Erased from Space and Consciousness are featured as books of the month, our exhibition of the month features John Halaka’s Faces from Erased Places, and TWiP Kitchen hopes to entice you to try out a recipe for lentil soup, a staple entrée for iftar, the meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan. Enjoy the many events that are listed. The entire team at TWiP wishes a Ramadan kareem, a blessed Ramadan, to those who are celebrating, and we offer our gratitude to all for your continuing support of TWiP.

Sincerely, Tina Basem

94 Cultural Centers 98 The Last Word

Telefax: +970/2 2-295 1262 info@turbo-design.com www.thisweekinpalestine.com www.facebook.com/ThisWeekInPalestine

Forthcoming Issues June 2018: Design in Palestine July 2018: Sustainable Gaza August 2018: Discover Palestine: Hiking Trails and Alternative Tours

This Week in Palestine would like to extend its gratitude and appreciation to the Negotiations Affairs Department and the Palestine Investment Fund for sponsoring this special issue themed “Al-Nakba, Seventy Years On.”

The views presented in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Maps herein have been prepared solely for the convenience of the reader; the designations and presentation of material do not imply any expression of opinion of This Week in Palestine, its publisher, editor, or its advisory board as to the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or the authorities thereof, or as to the delimitation of boundaries or national affiliation.

“The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization or the Palestine Investment Fund.” NAD website: www. nad.ps, Twitter: @nadplo, Youtube: NADMedia. The Palestine Investment Fund website: www.pif.ps.

Advisory Board Maha Abu Shusheh

Majd Beltaji

Businesswoman

Programme Specialist - Gender Equality, UNESCO

Nur Arafeh

Issa Kassissieh

PhD Student at Oxford University

Ambassador to the Holy See

Majed Bamya

Najwa Najjar

Diplomat at the Mission of the State of Palestine to the UN

Filmmaker

A Vibrant Society Palestine Pre-1948

Haifa intersection. Haifa was a central port and hub for Middle East crude oil. Its refineries facilitated the rapid development of the city as a center for heavy industry. Haifa was also among the first towns to be fully electrified. In 1925, the Palestine Electric Company inaugurated the Haifa Electrical Power Station, launching the beginning of the city’s industrialization.

By Mona Hajjar Halaby

For the past century, numerous voices have alleged that the land of Palestine is a barren desert. Orientalist painters, such as David Roberts, have depicted small rural agrarian villages scattered on rocky hillsides and Bedouin shepherds tending their sheep in romanticized Biblical tableaux, and historical figures have created myths to serve their colonial intentions.

Anis Jamal and Tabitha Ustinov’s mansion in Talbiyyeh, 1928. Source: As cited in Adnan Abdelrazek, The Arab Architectural Renaissance, 2017, p. 96. In 1934, Anis Jamal, a Palestinian businessman, built a beautiful and spacious mansion in an extensive garden in Talbiyyeh. The windows on the second floor were arched, and a large arch surrounded one of the entrances. Anis lived on the second floor with his wife, Tabitha Ustinov, the aunt of actor Peter Ustinov, and their two children, Alexa and Alex.

As these photographs attest, however, Palestine was a vibrant society with an elaborate and sophisticated infrastructure, railways and ports, hospitals, orange groves, an advanced educational system, and beautiful private mansions. Nothing was barren about Palestine! Al-Lidd Railway Station, 1932. During the 1930s, Al-Lidd became one of the most important railroad junctions in the Arab world, with lines that connected Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Cairo. An ancient Biblical town, Al-Lidd was known through the nineteenth century as an intermediate center for caravans and for its magnificent Byzantine basilica over the tomb of St. George. Under Ottoman rule, it was an important center for soap and olive oil manufacture.

Alhambra Cinema, Jaffa, 1937. Source: Library of Congress, American Colony Collection. Alhambra Cinema opened its doors in 1937 in an Art Deco building in Jaffa that was named after the famous palace in Granada, Spain. It was one of the biggest and most luxurious cinemas in Palestine and was also used as a theater, hosting such famous artists as Umm Kulthum, Farid al-Atrash, and Leila Mourad.

Jaffa postcard, depicting fishermen casting their nets, with the city in the background. Jaffa port is reputed to be one of the oldest ports in the world. It was a bustling center for fishermen and for the exportation of its legendary Jaffa oranges. Jaffa and Haifa ports were considered to be the major ports in Palestine, and both were publicly owned and operated by the Government of Palestine. Jaffa was Palestine’s most advanced city in the development of its commercial, banking, fishing, and agriculture industries.

The hospital of Dr. Fuad Ismail Dajani, Jaffa, 1940. Dr. Fuad Ismail Dajani (1890–1940) founded Dajani Hospital in 1933 in Jaffa. Located close to Dr. Dajani’s house, it served as a maternity and surgical hospital for the local population and British officers.

Ikram Budeyri with friend Margaret Donabedian during a piano recital in Swift Hall, Ramallah Friends School, June 30, 1940. Source: Ikram Budeyri. Founded in 1869 by American Quakers, the Ramallah Friends School is one of the oldest educational institutions in Palestine. Many of its graduates have become world-renown academics, researchers, educators, scientists, artists, and musicians.

Mona Hajjar Halaby is a writer and educator. She is the creator of British Mandate Jerusalemites Photo Library, a Facebook community page that posts daily a photo of Jerusalem or Jerusalemites from the late-Ottoman period to the end of the British Mandate. Mona is also one of the researchers who works on Jerusalem, We Are Here, an interactive documentary that takes viewers on tours of the streets of Katamon neighborhood and through the remapping of Jerusalem neighborhoods.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

The Nakba

Reflections on the Silence of the Ruins* By Honaida Ghanim

I The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Yibna

n a small area of a few hundred meters in Wadi Salib, near the sea that carried thousands of people to refugee camps 70 years ago, abandoned homes stand still. Families left their homes in a moment of panic, in hopes that they would return a short while later. Their large arched windows and doors, which were once wide open to life, have been sealed with bricks and concrete. With closed outlets and blocked sunlight, these homes stand by the sea – mute, cold, and grey. They are a graveyard; their closed windows are

Lifta 31°47’43”N 35°11’47” E – 01.1948 In the 1940s, 3,000 inhabitants lived in Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. This village was known to be one of the wealthiest communities in the Jerusalem area. The former villagers of Lifta were driven out during the Arab-Jewish hostilities in January 1948. In 2012, former inhabitants of Lifta won a legal battle to stop plans for the construction of a luxury housing development on the ruins of their village. Photo by Bruno Fert.

tombstones, engraved with the name of the first inhabitant, his date of birth, the names of his wife and children, and their ages when they walked out of the house. When the sun was blotted out, they left their shadows behind and wandered in exile. Tales say they grew up, got old, and died. Still, their shadows that stayed there remained young, waiting for a kiss from the promised returnee.

Hawsha 32°47’33”N 35°08’37” E – 04.1948 Hawsha was a Palestinian village located 13 kilometers east of Haifa. In 1945, it had a population of 580 inhabitants, 400 of whom were Arab Muslims and 180 of whom were Jewish. Hawsha was depopulated on April 16, 1948, during the war, as part of the Battle of Ramat Yohanan, when the Haganah fought against the Arab Liberation Army. The Arab inhabitants who remained in the village following its defeat were evicted, as were those of neighboring villages. Photo by Bruno Fert.

is caught in a trap but does not know how to walk out unscathed. Hence, it is easy for us to turn to literature, to write while we oscillate on the edge between the language of poetics and research. We attempt to write with scientific prudence so as not to be accused of being poetic, prejudiced, or nonobjective. But the mute homes and ruins of the homeland expand further in the echo of writing. This way, words are as heavy as the loss. Language is involved with us in the melancholy of the narrative. It is, then, inevitable to write about the Nakba on the boundaries between literature and sociology. Both are indispensable to catch, touch, and find a sense of meaning.

It is not easy to write about the Nakba. We are the grandchildren of those who remained in this place and witnessed how the country changed its skin, turning into tyrannical estrangement. We write about an experience, the repercussions of which we endure in the form of constant probabilities of a further catastrophe. It is like a bird who 7

your windows? Who kept the air out? Who prevented your inhabitants from returning to you? Who is your new master? Where did he come from? How has he built his sovereignty? What are his claims? Also, I would ask it about pictures of the place: How did time stand still at the time of the Nakba, when it intersected with colonial implantation? At the intersection of shadow and darkness in the house sealed with cement, what was born in your dark rooms?

The ruins tell the story of the dialectic of demolition and construction in a colonization process.

homes of the indigenous people have remained unchanged, but they are now inhabited by the alien invaders. This is not the case with Lifta, which lies at the foot of a mountain at the gateway to Jerusalem: the homes of its displaced families are in place, ruined, abandoned, and cold.

Haifa 32°48’40”N 35°0’0” E – 04.1948 Abandoned houses seen in the Wadi Salib neighborhood of Haifa. Most of the inhabitants of Wadi Salib left or were evicted by Zionist forces during the “Passover Cleaning” operation (Bi’ur Hametz) in April 1948. After the 1948 War, Moroccan Jewish immigrants were housed in the vacant houses of Wadi Salib. In 1959, they rebelled against Israeli authorities to demand better housing. Photo by Bruno Fert.

Not much has remained in the afflicted village of Tantura. But Al-Madhi Palace, with its large arches and vast yard, is still in place. It is an eyewitness to a colorful, jubilant past, well before the Nakba. Of all buildings in the village, it has been left alone. It is not easy to demolish a house as beautiful as AlMadhi’s, even if you are an enemy. A lonely house that survived the massacre perpetrated against the other houses of the village and its fine young people. It is an exception that confirms the rule that has guided Israeli policy towards Palestine: erase as much as you can of the human, physical, and symbolic elements of the Palestinian landscape – the Palestinian human being, the Palestinian home, and Palestinian history and culture. Then, build a new landscape on the rubble, using new Jewish elements.

ground, are scattered around Palestine, which was stricken by the Nakba in 1948. After almost 70 years of displacement, the sites of most of these villages can be located: remains of large stones tell of the houses that were ravaged by the colonizer; cactus grows everywhere – a guard! If a leaf of this cactus dies, three more will bloom in its place. If uprooted by the colonizer, it grows even more abundantly. In the midst of high residential towers in Haifa, abandoned homes lie asleep. On the hills surrounding the kibbutzim near Ramla and Lydda, the ruins of demolished villages spread out. On the Tel Aviv beach, which is chock-full of hotels and bars, Sidna Ali Mosque stands aloft. In Caesarea, ruins were replaced by stone houses. The minaret is still there, but the mosque has been turned into a restaurant and bar. In Talbiya, Qatamon, and Ein Karem,

The ruins of more than 500 villages, most of which were razed to the 8

Thus, the archive of ruins constitutes a discipline that blossoms at the intersection of poetry and sociology. It is reflected by researchers who stand on the periphery of the various experiences of Nakba, wandering between the agony of alienation and exiles, as experienced by those stricken by the Nakba and expressed in poetry on the one hand, and on the other hand the theory of sociological examination of the construction and building of homes – with all their associated meaning in Palestinian society – in light of the major transformations caused by the Nakba! Both poetry and sociological theory are indispensable when we aim to investigate and understand the Nakba.

These scattered remains and ruins are the archive of afflicted Palestine. To write down the history of the Nakba, we must research, monitor, and investigate these ruins. Such history will not be reflected as an incident, but rather as an ongoing, incremental process that constitutes the attempted act of erasure. And it is Israeli policy to maintain and entrench erasure until it turns into a marginal act within the structure of the state. In this context, we can, for example, pose probing questions to investigate the house that was sealed with concrete in Wadi Salib: Who were your inhabitants? Where did they go? How and when did they walk out? Where are they now? What has become of them? We can ask phenomenological questions: How do the inhabitants speak about their home? How do they tell its story? How do they pass its pictures on to their children? How did they experience living in it? We can ask historicalsociological questions: How did they share the rooms? Who built the house and laid the stones? Who designed the corners? Who distributed and took care of the hawakeer (lands)? What types of trees were planted? Why this type, in particular? Then, I would ask it socio-political questions: Who sealed

As Australian researcher Patrick Wolf puts it, ruins are an alibi to the structural relationship between erasure and construction in settler colonial states. The colonizers who wish to shape their new sovereign society on inhabited land seek to eliminate the existing indigenous landscape and replace it with a new one. In this context, removal of Palestinians from the land on which they live remains an irreducible prerequisite to the establishment of Israeli hegemony. The essence of the Zionist project dictated that Israel was to be proclaimed on the land of Palestine after the erasure of Palestine as a culture and nation. On the ground, Palestine was silenced by the destruction of villages, homes, and streets, the removal of humans from 9

the place, and the building of cities, streets, and institutions on the ruins. The colonizers sculpted a history, a discourse, symbolic incubators, and constituent legends. New names and a new map replace the familiar ones. Names are an echo of the intended narrative – Hebraicized, Judaized, and engineered to fit with the imagination that was carefully created to serve as a new starting point on the rubble and ruins of Palestine!

Despite the anguish, destruction, and fragmentation it caused, can the Nakba serve as a condensation point that leads Palestinians from destruction to construction?

Ruins are not a metaphor. Erasure is not an exception but the foundational component in the Zionist project. In Walter Benjamin’s terms, the ethnic cleansing in 1948 was “lawmaking violence” that preceded the declaration of Israel as the new state that was established on Palestinian ruins. Lawmaking violence, in contrast to law-preserving violence, was directed towards the demolition of the current Palestinian indigenous order in order to replace it with a new one that is dominated by Jews. Already in the Mandate era, by applying the ethniccleansing methods of transfer and through the destruction of cultural, political, and social institutions, Zionists prepared the ground for the establishment of the new colonial order that was manifested in the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. Later, “law-preserving” violence was used in the form of denial of the right of Palestinians to return, the recruitment of Jewish immigrants, and the provision of guidance to state institutions and violence agencies, as well as in the drafting of basic laws and other tools that followed the establishment of Israel. It was utilized to maintain the “new” colonial order as a “Jewish nation-state” in a land from which the Palestinian indigenous population had already been removed.

nation-state has, from its inception, combined settler colonial tools. Premised on the dichotomy of erasure and construction, settler colonialism to this day works toward erasing the existing (Palestinian) as a group that aspires to sovereignty, and implanting the new (Jewish) as a sovereign political entity, which is eager to replace the Palestinian. Hence, early Zionist settlements were beyond the law of the indigenous population. Under the protection of Mandate Rule, their own institutions, laws, and regulations were put into effect. In 1948, these were transformed into institutions, legislation, and, more importantly, state sovereignty. In other words, the process of establishing the Jewish nation-state involved implantation of the colony’s sovereignty and vision over all Palestine. Given that its main premise has been to establish the Jewish state on an inhabited land, subjugating the indigenous population and dismantling its national, cultural, and social existence was a structural part of the “sovereignization” project.

whole into geopolitically divided parts, at the same time it provides the main connecting link that lies at the heart of building a collective national identity. In the national culture, the Nakba is present as a common, constituent event that brings together the Palestinian whole, which has been fragmented and atomized by the Nakba!

the experience of the Nakba in terms of how affected persons experienced it. Literary writings of the diaspora revolve around the motif of the lost paradise and the land of the sad oranges. By contrast, inside Palestine, land, perseverance, and survival are the main motifs. Associated with the struggle, a number of sub-symbols develop out of these motifs, such as eulogizing the resister/adversary Palestinian versus the conquered, the lackey, the defeatist, etc.

Not only can we deal with the dual role/meaning of the Nakba as a factor of fragmentation and division of the single entity, we can also use it as a factor of unification and consolidation of the parts, thanks to the knowledge, experience, and various meanings of the common experience itself. In this sense, the Nakba would be transformed from an end to a conclusion that affords new beginnings. It would provide a threshold to rebuild the Palestinian national entity of the people as one conscientious unity, with parallel, but distinctive, political expressions.

Regardless of the specific experiences of each group and the geographical fragmentation of those groups that were born before the Nakba, a large collection of new literary writings were published between 1948 and the early 1970s. These have laid the foundation for a new aspect of our collective Palestinian national culture, which has persevered in spite of the Nakba. While the Nakba is the connecting link, land is the hub of this culture (by being attached to, mourning for the loss of, and yearning to return to the land). The past is the carrier of its dreamed paradise and hidden future until salvation.

Palestinian literary and cultural writings are replete with publications that describe this moment of fragmentation as well as its social, psychological, and collective outcomes. Literature is also rife with descriptions of the ways out. In this context, we can notice the emergence of motifs in Palestinian culture, articulating to varying extents Artwork by Mustafa Bader. Courtesy of Badil.

Notwithstanding all the wounds from the Nakba that tore Palestine apart, we can also think of the Nakba as a connecting link and network that can be used to rebuild a unified Palestinian identity in spite of the state of political schism and fragmentation.

At the intersection of the idea and materialization of the Jewish nationstate on the land of Palestine, which is inhabited by a population who looks for self-determination, building the Jewish

Although the Nakba reflects a moment of split, dismantlement, and fragmentation of the Palestinian 10

In this context, the Nakba is the collective point in time. It is the link that unites threads of the partitioned groups into one narrative with its own elements and motifs. Regardless of the writer’s subsequent physical affiliation, whether inside or outside Palestine, in Haifa or in the diaspora, the Palestinian can be sympathetic, stand in solidarity with, and feel that the Nakba speaks his/her mind. In this sense, the Nakba adds a dynamic that reinforces the collective national

identity whose revival is unified. It is transformed into a field to rewrite what is common among Palestinians and to reinstate Palestine, which has been absent behind the political projects embraced by parallel Palestinian entities.

Dispersed throughout this issue that commemorates Al-Nakba, you will find a number of Bruno Fert’s beautiful yet haunting images of destroyed Palestinian villages. These photos take the place of our “Where to Go” section but are spread throughout the issue to give them the prominence they deserve.

Al-Ghabisiyya

33°00′02″N 35°09′00″E – 05.1948

The Nakba has affected all Palestinians and has left us scattered and deprived of our basic rights. Until today, the Nakba reflects our unified and open wound. It has to be given the right to

WHERE TO GO The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Artwork by Suhad Khatib.

identity and constitutes the grand event that binds us Palestinians ever more strongly together.

be expressed. The ruins will also have the right to dominate the archive… the archive of us all!

Along this vein, the Nakba turns into a connective link rather than a factor of fragmentation. It is transformed into a tool of networking among rippedapart Palestinian entities, thanks to their experience of the event and the sharing of the same pain and loss. It amounts to an anchor of Palestinian

Palestinian sociologist and anthropologist Dr. Honaida Ghanim has published various articles and studies in the fields of political and cultural sociology. Since 2009 she has been the general director of the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies “MADAR.”

Translated from Arabic by Yasseen al-Sayed.

Al-Ghabisiyya was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Like many Arab villages, it had a nonaggression pact with nearby Jewish communities. In the early months of the 1948 War, the villagers provided the Jewish militia Haganah with intelligence and ammunition in return for an agreement not to enter the village or harm the inhabitants. On the other hand, some of the villagers joined in an attack on a Jewish convoy in March 1948. On May 21, 1948, the Zionist forces captured Al-Ghabisiyya. The villagers fled or were expelled to nearby villages, where they remained until the complete Jewish

conquest of Galilee in October of that year. Since then, all attempts by the villagers to return or to renovate the mosque have been prevented by the Israeli authorities. 13

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

Combating the Ongoing Nakba By Amjad Alqasis

he year 2018 marks the 70th commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba. At the beginning of the twentieth century, most Palestinians lived inside the borders of “historical” or “Mandate Palestine,” now the State of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip). Five major periods of forcible displacement transformed Palestinians into one of the largest and the longest-standing unresolved refugee cases in the world today.i

The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Tantura

Zionist leaders established the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century with the aim of creating a Jewish home through the formation of a “…national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.”ii As such, the Zionist enterprise combined Jewish nationalism – which it aimed to create and foster – with the colonial project of transplanting people who came mostly from Europe into Palestine, drawing on the support of European imperial powers. The Zionist movement constructed a specific global Jewish national identity in order to justify the colonization of Palestine. This identity had to be linked to Jewish presence in Palestine during the first century BC. Basically, the movement had to define the “Jewish people” as a national identity. As Ilan Pappe rightly concludes, “Zionism was not… the only case in history in which a colonialist project was pursued in the name of national or otherwise noncolonialist ideals.”iii The task of establishing and maintaining a Jewish state on a predominantly non-Jewish territory has been carried out by forcibly displacing the non-Jewish majority population. Today, nearly 70 percent of the Palestinian people worldwide are themselves, or the descendants of, Palestinians who have 14

Artwork by Sliman Mansour.

been forcibly displaced by the Israeli regime.iv The idea of “transfer” in Zionist thought has been rigorously traced by Nur Masalha in his seminal text Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of “Transfer” in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948, and is encapsulated in the words of Israel Zangwill, one of the early Zionist thinkers who, in 1905, stated, “If we wish to give a country to a people without a country, it is utter foolishness to allow it to be the country of two peoples.”v Yosef Weitz, former director of the Jewish National Fund’s Lands Department, was even more explicit when, in 1940, he wrote, “…it must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples (...) the only solution is a Land of Israel, at least a western Land of Israel without Arabs. There is no room here for compromise. (...) There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries (...) Not one village must be

left, not one (Bedouin) tribe.”vi Rights and ethics were not to stand in the way, or as David Ben-Gurion argued in 1948, “The war will give us the land. The concepts of ‘ours’ and ‘not ours’ are peace concepts, only, and in war they lose their meaning.”vii The essence of political Zionism, therefore, is aptly summarized as the creation and fortification of a specific Jewish national identity, the takeover of the maximum amount of Palestinian land, and the assurance that the minimum number of non-Jewish persons remain on that land while the maximum number of Jewish nationals are implanted upon it. In other words, political Zionism from its inception has necessitated population transfer, notwithstanding its brutal requisites and consequences. The Zionist movement, when setting the scene to colonize Palestine in 1897 under the motto, “a land 15

property.ix In 1953, Israel enacted the Land Acquisition Law to complete the transfer of confiscated Palestinian land, which had not been abandoned during the attacks of 1948, to the state. In the words of former Israeli Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan, its purpose “…was to instill legality in some acts undertaken during and following the war.”x An almost identical process took place in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in the aftermath of the 1967 occupation.xi

A banner hung by some of the 400 Israeli settlers living among 200,000 Palestinians in the city of Hebron. © Patrick Kruse/OPGAI.

without a people for a people without a land,” faced three major obstacles: indigenous Palestinian people were living in the specified territory; Palestinians held property and land rights within this territory; and there was an insufficient number of Jewish people living in this territory. Various strategies were used in order to tackle these obstacles, including privileged migration for persons of Jewish origin, the targeted withdrawal of property rights from Palestinians, and forced population transfer.

they were not born in Israel and have no connection whatsoever to that state. In contrast, Palestinians, the indigenous population of the territory, are excluded from the Law of Return and have no automatic right to enter the country. The Law of Return has aimed to simplify and encourage the immigration of Jewish persons to Israel in order to achieve the exclusive Jewish state envisioned by Zionism. In 1950, Israel legislated and deployed the Absentee Property Law to address the issue of Palestinian property rights, in other words, in order to confiscate Palestinian property legally owned by forcibly displaced Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons. The term “absentee” was defined so broadly as to include not only Palestinians who had fled the newly established State of Israel but also those who had fled their homes yet remained within its borders.viii Once confiscated, this land became state

After the establishment of Israel and in order to augment the number of Jewish people in the territory, Israel legislated the Law of Return (1950). The state created a system of privileged migration by declaring that every Jewish person in the world is entitled to Jewish nationality and can immigrate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship. Thus Jewish nationals enjoy the right to enter Israel even if 16

A solution to the conflict would necessarily include: - Recognition of the rights of all involved parties, in particular the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination; and the right of refugees and internally displaced persons to reparation (voluntary return, property restitution, and/or compensation).

Moreover, the expansion of existing Palestinian localities in Israel and the oPt has been severely curtailed as a result of Israel’s highly discriminatory planning policy. Since the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, Israel has not permitted the establishment of any new Palestinian municipalities, with the exception of the city of Rawabi. Military Order 418 created a planning and building regime which gives the Israeli state full control of all areas related to planning and development in the oPt.xii

- Addressing the root causes of the conflict: most importantly, forced population transfer. - Ensuring rights for all parties and victims without discrimination.

The central obstacle to the Zionist movement, the Palestinian people themselves, has been addressed by various means throughout the last decades, resulting in forced population transfer. More than seven million Palestinians – including the descendants of the 700,000 persons who were expelled in 1948 – have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Israeli laws such as the Prevention of Infiltration Law (1954) and military orders 1649 and 1650 have prohibited Palestinians from legally returning to Israel or the oPt.xiii

- Setting the foundations of peaceful and cooperative relations between people, groups, individuals, and states. This would be an intrinsic component of a just peace and is essential for reconciliation, which in turn would be achieved through implementing transitional justice (both judicial and non-judicial) mechanisms and tools, including criminal prosecution, reparations, institutional reform, and truth commissions.

As illustrated by Nur Masalha, between 1930 and 1948 the Zionist movement planned for the forcible transfer of the indigenous Palestinian population in nine different strategies, starting with the 1930 Weizmann Transfer Scheme and continuing up to Plan Dalet, which was carried out in 1948.xiv However, forced displacement of the indigenous Palestinian people 17

counterparts across and beyond the 1949 Armistice Line (or the 1967 Green Line). The effect of this ruling has been that Palestinians with different residency statuses, such as Israeli citizen, Jerusalem ID, West Bank ID, or Gaza ID (all of which are issued by Israel), cannot legally live together on either side of the 1949 Armistice Line. They are thus faced with the choice to live abroad, to live apart from one another, or to take the risk of living together illegally. This system aims to further diminish the Palestinian population. This demographic intention is reflected in the High Court’s explanation that “… human rights are not a prescription for national suicide.”xvii

A section of the 4.35-kilometer-long wall being built by Israel on the lands of Al-Khader. Once completed, it will separate the town of Al-Khader from 68 percent of its lands and properties. The Israeli military checkpoint that can be seen on the left was constructed on the lands of Al-Khader. No Palestinian residents of Al-Khader are allowed to pass through this checkpoint, even if they obtained a military permit. ©Patrick Kruse/OPGAI.

did not end with the establishment of Israel in 1948, rather it began that year. Since the 1948 Nakba, almost every passing year has witnessed a wave of forced displacement, albeit in varying degrees. While 400,000 Palestinians became refugees in 1967, in 2008, Israel revoked the residency rights of nearly 5,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites.xv

This Israeli policy of silent transfer is evident in the state’s laws, policies, and practices. Israel uses its power to discriminate, expropriate, and ultimately effect the forcible displacement of the indigenous nonJewish population from the area of Palestine. For instance, the Israeli landplanning and zoning system has forced 93,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem to build without proper construction permits because 87 percent of that area is off-limits to Palestinian use; most of the remaining 13 percent is already built up.xvi Since the Palestinian population of Jerusalem is growing steadily, it has had to expand into areas not zoned for Palestinian residence by the State of Israel. All these homes are now under the constant threat of being demolished by the Israeli army or police, which will leave their inhabitants homeless and displaced.

Today, this population transfer is carried out by Israel in the form of the overall policy of silent transfer. This displacement is silent in the sense that Israel carries it out while trying to avoid international attention, displacing small numbers of people on a weekly basis. It is to be distinguished from the more overt transfer achieved under the veneer of warfare in 1948. But the result is nevertheless a silent ongoing Nakba. 18

To secure a way forward that equally respects the rights of all parties involved, this Israeli system must be judged in accordance with international law and standards. In fact, the ongoing disrespect for international law in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict undermines the very legitimacy of this crucial body of legal instruments, in particular human rights, humanitarian law, and international criminal law. Therefore, it is time to ensure that international law is not merely a paper tiger but a legal system that protects

The Israeli Supreme Court bolstered the Zionist objective of clearing Palestine of its indigenous population in its 2012 decision prohibiting family unification between Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and their

A house in northern Jerusalem being demolished because it lacks the necessary construction permit. According to the Israeli land-planning and zoning system, 87 percent of Jerusalem is off-limits to Palestinians, forcing them to build without proper construction permits.

rights, establishes obligations, and, most importantly, creates realities in accordance with its values and principles. A solution to the ongoing Nakba should be found through a strict rights-based approach. Such rights are not guaranteed through political negotiations but through full adherence to and implementation of international law and rights. Simply speaking, peace cannot be achieved when fundamental human rights and freedoms are violated.

settlements constitute a violation of numerous international standards and principles. As such, they represent a manifestation of Israel’s ongoing impunity, and therefore the implementation of international law and standards should not be subject to negotiations but demanded from the outset. Amjad Alqasis holds an LLM in international public law and is a human rights lawyer, legal researcher, and a member of the Legal Support Network of BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. Previously he was the coordinator of BADIL’s international and legal advocacy program. Since August 2014, Amjad has been an adviser at Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law. He has published several articles and research papers on various topics concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In the case of Palestine, this approach would entail solutions based on international law rather than on political negotiations to bring about a long-lasting and just solution. In this light, it should be unacceptable to refer to the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory as “undermining efforts towards peace” – as is regularly the case in political circles – whilst in reality these

Amjad Alqasis and Nidal al-Azza, Forced Population Transfer – The Case of Palestine: Introduction, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, 2014.

ii Mitchell Geoffrey Bard and Moshe Schwartz, 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. iii Ilan Pappe, “Zionism as Colonialism: A Comparative View of Diluted Colonialism in Asia and Africa,” South Atlantic Quarterly 107:4, Fall 2008, p. 612. iv BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Survey of 2013–2015, BADIL, 2015. v

Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of “Transfer” in Zionist Political Thought, 1882– 1948, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992, p. 10.

Benny Morris, 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 121.

vii

Masalha, p. 180.

viii

Geremy Forman and Alexandre Kedar, “From Arab Land to ‘Israel Lands’: The Legal Dispossession of the Palestinians Displaced by Israel in the Wake of 1948,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol 22 (2004), p. 814. ix

See Salman Abu Sitta, “Dividing War Spoils: Israel’s Seizure, Confiscation and Sale of Palestinian Property,” August 2009, available at: http://www.plands.org/store/pdf/Selling%20Refugees%20Land.pdf.

Forman and Kedar, p. 814.

Souad Dajani, Ruling Palestine – A History of the Legally Sanctioned Jewish-Israeli Seizure of Land and Housing in Palestine, COHRE and BADIL, 2005, p. 78.

xii

See Alon Cohen-Liftshitz and Nir Shalev, The Prohibited Zone: Israeli Planning Policy in the Palestinian Villages in Area C, Bimkom, Jerusalem, 2008.

xiii

Al-Haq, “Al-Haq’s Legal Analysis of Israeli Military Orders 1649 & 1650: Deportation and Forcible Transfer as International Crimes,” April 2010, available at: http://www.alzaytouna.net/english/Docs/2010/Al-HaqApril2010-Legal-Analysis.pdf.

xiv

Ibid, p. 140.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jerusalem (OCHA 2011).

xvi

OCHA, Demolitions and Forced Displacement in the Occupied West Bank, OCHA, 2012.

xvii

Ben White, “Human rights equated with national suicide,” Al Jazeera, January 12, 2012, available at http:// www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/20121121785669583.html.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

The Impact of Art

Reflections on the Works of Ismail Shammout

By Faten Nastas Mitwasi

M The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Majdal Yaba

ost probably, everyone in Palestine has heard about Ismail Shammout, the son of Lydda, who, at the age of 18, during the Nakba, was forced to flee from his birthplace and take refuge in a refugee camp in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Today, he is one of the most renowned Palestinian artists. Why is Ismail Shammout considered the pioneering Palestinian artist? Why is he different from others? What art did he create? And what did his art achieve? Even as a child, Ismail was very talented and had a strong belief in the power of art. For this reason, and despite difficult socio-economic circumstances, he left his family and the camp in 1950 to pursue his studies in art at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo. Throughout his studies, he worked perseveringly to express and document the tragedy of the Nakba that had so deeply affected him, his family, his town, and his people. He transformed his painful reality into a potent symbolic icon that reflects important aspects of the Palestinian nationbuilding process and illustrates the history of its most recent development since the Nakba. Studying the titles, dates, and the mood and spirit of his paintings offers a glimpse into how the Nakba was perceived and thus a deeper understanding of the cause of the Palestinian refugees and the mystery behind the strong insistence on the right of return, even after 70 years of exile. Shammout’s documentation of the Nakba is of utmost importance in preserving and imprinting the images of the reality of what happened in 1948 on the minds of future Palestinian generations. In the painting Where to? (plate 1) 22

Shammout records the tragedy as he lived it, how people left their homes, taking nothing with them except their children, thinking that they will be back (plate 2). Any one of the young boys in Shammout’s paintings could be a portrait of himself, and they represent all the youngsters who had to flee with their parents and grandparents. In July 1954, these two paintings were among his graduation exhibition, in which he exhibited more paintings of the same tragedy, together with some artworks by his colleague then and later his wife, Tamam al-Akhal. The fact that the exhibition was inaugurated by Egyptian President Gamal AbdelNasser earned Shammout a good reputation and provided him with great encouragement. Thus, he traveled to Rome, where he joined the Academy of Fine Arts.

Yet this appreciation does not sufficiently reflect the respect he earned among artists and critics of the historic international art scene. Similar to artists

2 23

of the German Expressionism movement, Ismail Shammout succeeded in expressing his own emotional experience in order to evoke moods and ideas, document calamities, and expose injustice. In fact, Shammout’s works bring to mind those of Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), a German artist who depicted the effects of poverty, hunger, and war on the working class at the turn of the nineteenth century and during the two world wars. In 1922, Kollwitz noted, “My art has purpose. I want to be effective in this time in which people are so helpless and destitute.”i Both Shammout and Kollwitz believed that art has a mission as a powerful agent that can have an effect on society; art is superior to agony and calamities, prevails over injustice, and thus can serve as a beacon that points us towards an improved human condition and a better future.

The purpose of resistance art is to oppose despair; its mission is to fight for justice. 3

Both Shammout and Kollwitz employ realism in their works. They depict historical events and document incidents as they happened, without exaggeration. Both excel in expressing subjective emotions and personal responses, showing the suffering of people affected by human tragedy.

represent the Tel al-Zaatar Massacre (plate 7). When comparing these artworks, one cannot disregard how similar they are in depicting the deep sorrow and pain of the women and the fear and confusion of the children. Yet, in these same works one can also feel the steadfastness of the women – mothers who are strong enough to hold their children and continue to live for the sake of their children’s survival. It is worth mentioning that Kollwitz had two sons, the younger of whom, Peter, she lost in October 1914 on the battlefield in World War I, while Shammout lost a young brother while fleeing from Lydda during the Nakba. Both experienced the pain and sorrow of death during war.

Great empathy for the suffering of women and children is conveyed by the work of both Shammout and Kollwitz. After World War I, Kollwitz created Mothers (plate 3) in 1919, and The Survivors (plate 4) in 1923, both featuring desperate mothers holding their surviving children. In 1952, following the Nakba, Shammout painted Where’s my father? (plate 5) showing two children asking a grieving grandmother about their absent father. In 1967, following An-Naksa,ii Shammout painted My Children (plate 6), which depicts an alert woman tightly holding her two children as if she is fearing something on the horizon. And in 1976, Shammout produced several paintings that

Throughout more than forty years of creativity and production, Shammout as well as Kollwitz depicted scenes of people in battle in dramatic and powerful ways, such as in Massacre of Deir Yaseen (plate 8) by Shammout and Outbreak from the series The Peasant War (plate 9) by Kollwitz. Their works documented important historic tragedies that neither photographs nor news could document. But at the same time, they also celebrated love, joy, and beauty, such as in one of Shammout’s latest works, Love and Dreams (plate 10), and Kollwitz’s Mother with Child (plate 11). Above all, I believe that their artworks are remarkable and immortal because

They evoke strong emotions in the viewer because their artworks are simply breathtaking. Their use of lines, light, and shadow – in some cases color – captures the spirit, mind, and heart of the viewer, making their works unforgettable and effective in the long run.

6 24

8 25

Al-Bassa

For additional information or to view more works of Ismail Shammout or Käthe Kollwitz, please visit http://www.ismailshammout.com/ and http://www.kollwitz.de/en.

they both succeeded in expressing what was beyond the tragedy and beyond history; they excelled in capturing the emotions, the passion, and the spirit of the people, which makes their masterpieces effective and valid for any afflicted nation no matter where or when.

Despite the fact that Al-Bassa was inside the territory allotted to the Palestinian state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, it was captured and depopulated by Zionist forces on May 14, 1948. Some of the 3,000 residents were gathered in the village church before being deported to Lebanon. Their descendants still live in Dbayeh Refugee Camp near Beirut. The Orthodox church of the former village of Al-Bassa is today located on an industrial estate in Shlomi, close to the Lebanese border.

Faten Nastas Mitwasi is an artist who works mainly in installation art. She was a key person in developing and establishing Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, where she currently works. Faten is a scholar specialized in Palestinian art and the author of three books, among them Reflections on Palestinian Art: Art of Resistance or Aesthetics (in Arabic, Beit Jala, 2015). She has curated several exhibitions and art projects, including the Palestinian Collection for the “Imago Mundi” project. i ii

WHERE TO GO The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

33°04′34″N 35°08′27″ E – 05.1948

“The most noble of goals are those that take human beings as their focal point and strive to release them from injustice, giving them life and beauty, and opening new horizons for future aspirations.” Ismail Shammout and Tamam al-Akhal

Orthodox church of the village of Al-Bassa.

The Trout Gallery at the Art Museum of Dickinson College, Käthe Kollwitz exhibition brochure, Pennsylvania, 2017. The occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

Searching for the Audiovisual Heritage of Palestine By Bashar Shammout “Huna Al-Quds” (Here’s Jerusalem) Palestine Radio musical band with Mary Akkawi and young Fahed Najjar singing. The photo dates back to 1941 and is from the Palestine Archive.

C The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Al-Qubayba-Ramle

ivilizations that write history are often remembered by the cultural heritage they leave for future generations. Therefore, the preservation of audiovisual heritage should be considered a national duty. Yet, collecting and preserving the collective memory has to be done correctly and requires not only a clear vision for the future but also the technical and legal expertise related to archiving. Whoever controls archives and cultural collections decisively influences the writing of history – a principle that has been in evidence since antiquity. Palestine has always been extremely culturally diverse. Exposed to many foreign influences and subjected to ongoing exploration and study, Palestine fortunately belongs to those places in the world that are well documented. Tens of thousands of pictures were taken around the turn of the century; the first moving picture that was filmed in Jerusalem dates back to 1896; and the first Palestinian commercial music discs were recorded already in the early 1920s. My search for this extremely valuable Palestinian heritage and memory from the very early days of audiovisual documentation revealed that they were to be found outside of Palestine, i.e., not in Palestinian hands! Why? Five significant phases that are strictly linked to political changes mark the audio-visual history of Palestine: From the beginning of audiovisual documentation until 1948; from 1948 to 1965 – a phase without significant Palestinian audiovisual 28

output (except that produced by UNRWA); from 1965 to 1982 – an extremely productive era in the shadow of the PLO; from 1982 to 1993 – a fairly creative phase, especially in the field of music in the occupied territories; and from 1993 until today – a phase marked by a wide spectrum of productions that reflect various cultural and artistic visions.

researched by such scholars as Issam Nassar and the late Bashar Ibrahim, who was one of the experts on the history of Palestinian cinema, along with George Khleifi and others. The auditory heritage of recorded sound before 1948, however, has hardly been researched. Other than the efforts of the Ramallah-based “Nawa” (Palestinian Institute for Cultural Development) and some scholars to search for and collect recordings, there is hardly any archived auditory material. Given my sound-engineering background, it was a real joy for me to go through the Berlin PhonogrammArchiv and find two shellac discs by possibly one of the first Palestinian singers to have recorded their music on commercial gramophone records. In the early 1920s, Rajab El-Akhal (from Jaffa), who happened to be the eldest uncle of my mother, Tamam El-Akhal, apparently recorded several shellac discs with Baidaphon, the only Arab-managed music publishing company at that time with its head

Until the 1940s, Palestine was considered a “cultural junction,” a place that offered a high level of intellectuality and cultural diversity, and that attracted explorers, journalists, musicians, and photographers to come and share their expertise. Even the British administration saw in Palestine a fruitful place to establish its first radio station in the region, the Palestine Broadcasting Service, in 1936, and later the second regional radio, the Near East Broadcasting Station, which became the basis for the Arabic section of the BBC. Photo collections and other visual findings of that time have been fairly well 29

Front label of one of the Rajab El-Akhal shellac discs from around 1925. This disc was part of the cultural goods that were taken by the Soviets as war booty in 1945 and shows Russian Inventory No. 647. The disc was among the goods returned to Berlin in 1991. It now belongs to the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv collection (Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin).

office in Berlin, Germany. Another two musicians seem to have recorded their music at the same time, also with Baidaphon: Thurayya Qaddoura (from Jerusalem) and Nimer Nasser (like ElAkhal, also from Jaffa). Jaffa appeared to be a lively cultural hub that was also the home of the first Palestinian filmmaker, Ibrahim Hassan Sirhan, and hosted the first cinema (Alhambra) in the entire region, as well as the renowned Near East Broadcasting Station. On the cover of the Baidaphon discs, Jaffa is listed after Egypt and Berlin as the third center for music in the Arab World – even before Beirut and Bagdad, which indicates its importance as a cultural center.

newly created Palestinian Museum has launched a project entitled “Family Album,” which aims to digitally preserve private picture collections that have collective cultural value. Some of these can now be seen online. During my research in various international archives, Germany turned out to be a real treasure trove. In addition to the above-mentioned two gramophone records from around 1925 that I found in the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv, I discovered a huge photo collection in the archive of the University of Greifswald, at the Gustaf Dalman Institute, that consists of around 20,000 pictures of Palestine before World War I. Finding these treasures precipitated a mixture of feelings in me! But in the end, I realized that without Europe’s archive expertise, this part of our heritage would have probably been lost forever!

All professionally archived collections of audiovisual materials (mainly photo collections) that refer to Arab Palestine before 1948 are today located in either European, US, or Israeli archives and are partly digitally accessible. There are some smaller collections that still can be found in Palestinian hands here and there, but these are basically private collections, such as various photo collections created by Palestinian and local Armenian photographers. In an attempt to create the first scientifically and publicly accessible Palestiniancontrolled visual history archive, the

The big “cut” was the 1948 Nakba; not only because half the Palestinians were forced to leave their homes, but in fact, because all Palestinians have equally lost political self-determination – a fact that wasn’t less dramatic than the expulsion itself. Overnight, the Nakba put an end to this vivid cultural life and to its audiovisual output. Those Palestinians who had 30

Cover of the Baidaphon shellac discs from the mid 1920s that highlights Jaffa as a musical center in the Arab world.

once lived together in one unified area found themselves again in four different geopolitical zones: within the borders of the Green Line but as Israeli citizens; in Gaza and the West Bank, beyond the Green Line and under non-Palestinian rule; in neighboring countries as refugees; in the diaspora. This unexpected reality truly threatened to rapidly dissolve the common and collective Palestinian memory.

of the PLO, and it became feasible to produce complex audiovisual works, such as films. Some researchers refer to the first PLO film to be the one by Mustafa Abu Ali from 1968, entitled No to the Peaceful Solution. But I learned from my mother that my late father, Ismail Shammout, who made six films for the PLO, had indeed produced his first PLO-sponsored film in 1966. The film was shot in Gaza and dealt with the first days of the creation of the Palestinian Liberation Army (Jaish AtTahreer Al-Filistini).

After 1948, many Palestinian media professionals, especially musicians and radio professionals who had gained their know-how at the BritishPalestinian radio stations and who had left their homes, continued their careers in the neighboring countries and thereby influenced the musical life and media landscape of the entire Arab world until the 1990s – including the Arabic-speaking section of the BBC.

Since its creation, the PLO aimed to employ audiovisual media to communicate with the world and represent the Palestinian cause in a modern and civilized way. Thus, the 1970s and early 1980s became an extremely fruitful period. Thousands of professional pictures were taken, dozens of PLO films were produced, and hundreds of political revolution songs were recorded. Through these means the PLO subconsciously “rescued” a huge part of the musical and also visual heritage, thus reviving our common cultural identity.

Following the Nakba, it took years until the first Palestinian-made audiovisual production saw the light in the mid1960s, when Fateh established its first photography unit in Amman and the PLO its Cultural Arts Section in Beit Hanina – Jerusalem. Soon after, other media and culture departments were established under the umbrella

The second “cut” came in 1982. This huge amount of audiovisual material created in the shadow of the Palestinian political struggle, mainly 31

Bashar Shammout is a Palestinian sound engineer who lives in Germany and works in the field of audiovisual archiving. He contributed to the establishment of the Media Institute at Birzeit University, where he has given several courses and workshops. He recently finished his PhD with a dissertation entitled “Digital Preservation of Audiovisual Heritage – Case Study of Palestine.”

32° 04′ 51″ N, 34° 57′ 24″ E – 07.1948

A bride is photographed in the castle of Mirabel, close to the town of Rosh HaAyin. This Crusader castle is one of the last remnants of the village of Majdal Yaba, which was totally destroyed during the 1948 War. About 1,500 inhabitants fled when the village was captured from Iraqi troops by Zionist forces on July 12, 1948. Majdal Yaba Village was within the territory allotted to the Palestinian state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

32°36′34″N, 34°55′04″E – 05.1948

According to Israeli historian Dr. Rona Sela, almost all the audiovisual PLO material is kept today in the Israeli Military Archive. Israeli law renders most of it inaccessible, including an enormous amount of nonedited original film footage, photographs, music, and other audio recordings that reflect an extremely important part of the PLO era.

Screenshot from the footage of the first film shot in Jerusalem in 1896 by the Lumière Brothers.

Tantura

Alhambra Cinema in Jaffa before 1948.

in Beirut, was systematically targeted and looted by the Israeli army during the 1982 invasion – and there are several reasons for this systematic robbery! Sadly, no Palestinian really knows the specific content of these extremely important collections that were looted from Beirut. There are no lists and no backups, only fragmented aural testimonies from people who were involved in Beirut. Recently, some copies of the PLO films that were publicly shown at festivals in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s were localized (again mostly in Germany) and digitized; they are now available in the archive of the Palestine Broadcasting Corporation.

WHERE TO GO The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Majdal Yaba

The search for our audiovisual heritage remains a neverending story, and every day new treasures are created or old ones rediscovered. Yet, in my opinion, what is urgently needed is the establishment of a national institution to professionally manage the preservation of our audiovisual heritage and provide access to the public. This requires not only technical expertise in archiving but also submission to functional legal archiving regulations. All these collections and foreign archives form a vital part of our common Palestinian history.

A stone seawall facing the site of the former village of Tantura in the current location of Dor Beach, between Caesarea and Haifa. In 1948, Tantura had a population of 1,490. It was captured and depopulated by the Zionist forces on May 9, 1948. 33

Solomon’s Pools City of Cultures and Civilizations

resilience; an attempt to empower local communities as stewards of their heritage in this generation and in all generations to come. By Roubina N. Ghattas

Palestinian heritage sites have played a vital role in sustaining life in a harsh environment and thus must continue to be maintained as a valued asset. Exploring the site of Solomon’s Pools reveals an area of unique archaeological and monumental Palestinian historical treasures, representing significant achievements of the waves of civilization that have swept through the Holy Land for millennia – an area of 245,600 square meters that encompass natural and cultural heritage elements, from the Solomon’s Pools National Museum for history and heratige (the Ottomanera Murad Castle) to the entrance of Artas village. The site is historically and culturally significant to all three religions, and its preservation is meaningful across religious lines. It

eritage has value that is far beyond monuments. It encompasses a world where communities are empowered to view their heritage as precious, appreciate it as a fount of inspiration, and protect it as a pillar of the past and enrichment of the future. Cultural heritage sites are the root of a people’s history and the bedrock of the future. Hence, their preservation is vital for protecting the rich, shared history of humankind. Partnerships and leveraging development as a force for conservation for social good would transform heritage into an economic engine of long-term preservation and

A Story Beyond Monuments is also a place that holds sentimental value for Palestinians, in particular, who can recall its better days as a source of water and a popular swimming and picnic destination.

The pools formed part of an extensive aqueduct system that delivered water to the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem for nearly 2,000 years. Situated among a Mediterranean ecosystem of cypresses, pine trees, and other flora and fauna, the Solomon’s Pools area is a rare sanctuary of undeveloped nature in the West Bank, and it is a unique part of the cultural landscape in one of the most contested parts of the world. The site sits between and is directly connected to two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Battir landscape and the Church of the Nativity. It is a rich habitat with high biodiversity and an intact ecosystem. It is part of the lush Palestinian natural and agricultural valley cluster of Wadi al-Makhrour, Wadi al-Biyar, and Wadi Artas, which all contain fresh-water springs. The abundant water sources make the landscape and its natural components unique and diverse.

The tree-filled grounds that include three pools, a British-Mandate-era pump house, historic canals and drainage system, natural springs, remains of the Roman water distribution system, and vestiges of historic landscape have been identified for cultural and tourism development by the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, and the Bethlehem Governorate, with a focus on preserving the historic and natural beauty of the site. Murad Castle has already been preserved, and folklore and nature museums have been developed, with a state-of-theart convention center and handicraft and Fairground village built nearby to draw visitors to the area.

Solomon’s Pools Complex.

has badly affected the pools over a prolonged period. The separation barrier built by the Israeli government is located a short distance from the site; settlements have been built, and construction continues on adjacent hillsides. Currently the pools remain a potential flashpoint in the conflict due to the unsanctioned regular visits by settlers from Efrat Settlement and the detrimental effect that settlement expansion and development has on water supply.

Murad Castle - The National Museum for History & Heritage.

The Solomon’s Pools area is also of high value at the regional and international levels, as it is located in the Mediterranean Forests, Woodland, and Scrub biome, one of the World Wildlife Fund’s Global 200 priority biomes for conservation.i The area is also part of Conservation International’s Global Biodiversity Hotspot Mediterranean Basin,ii and of the global Centre of Plant Diversity.iii In addition, it is an ecological corridor that connects natural areas along the western side of the West Bank region, which is important for wildlife, including migratory birds, especially the Mediterranean/Black Sea Flyway.vi

It is also known and relatively wellrespected as a natural landscape among local communities that are close to the site. The rapid growth throughout much of the country, however, continues to pose a threat to areas with natural assets through encroachment, unplanned urban expansion, fragmentation, altered hydrology, exotic-species introduction, and most prominently, the political conflict. Since 1967 the pools have slowly deteriorated, but their situation today is worsening at a faster pace. The ongoing conflict between Israel (the occupier) and the occupied Palestinian territory

The Palestinian Tourism Strategic Objective 1: “It is necessary to develop and enhance cultural heritage resources through protecting, rehabilitating, and managing cultural heritage sites, increasing the number of tourism attractions to contribute to the national economy …”

Groundwater from the aquifer and runoff, which have fed the pool for 2,000 years, has decreased, consequently lowering the water levels of the pools. Uncontrolled surface run-off has breached the perimeter of one pool, causing collapse to occur. Uncontrolled foot and vehicle traffic at the site causes damage to the intricate system of canals. Parts of the exposed ancient aqueduct system are no longer functioning. Overall the site is exposed, fences aren’t capable of preventing petty vandalism, and respect for the site is lacking.

irrigation and domestic use. The site is surrounded by a number of Palestinian villages that rely on traditional farming and tourism. The preservation and development of this area would support Palestinian economic growth, enhance publicprivate partnership, contribute positively to the tourism and culture sectors, and improve the capabilities of local communities/institutions. Palestinian institutions would be able to develop the skills and experience necessary for preservation and business development. Achieving World Heritage Status would greatly enhance tourism potential, with

As the pools are connected to natural water sources, their preservation is directly tied to the protection of the scarce water resources in the West Bank. If the pools ensure sustainable quality water storage, then water could be used more efficiently for various purposes, including

Cpalestine Ethnography museum.

which designate the Solomon’s Pools area and the Convention Palace as the “City of Culture and Civilizations of Palestine” and the main center for Bethlehem, the Arab Culture Capital, in 2020.

Dinosaurs and Giant Insects Exhibitions / Childrens Natural History Museum

Heritage Convention, the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Culture and Development, UNESCO, and the Millennium Development Goals.

the knock-on effect of improved employment prospects. The development of the site would also ease the impacts of the political situation in the area as it will secure the site and enhance visitor attraction.

The plan for site preservation also mainstreams with the national policies of the Palestinian Tourism Strategy. Since it responds to Strategic Objective 1,vi any development and investment at the site would ease the obstacles and challenges that face the tourism sector in Palestine through achieving its strategic objectives at both the local and national levels.

It is important also to remember the benefits of the Solomon’s Pools area in terms of the enhancement of Palestinian culture. The Convention Palace, which is built on the lands of Solomon’s Pools, welcomes thousands of people during large music and culture festivals, in addition to conferences and family entertainment events, all with the main aim of preserving and raising awareness about the cultural heritage site. This is in addition to the establishment of the Palestine Philharmonie, The National Museum for History & Heritage, and the Museum of Dinosaurs and Giant Insects that is geared to children, as well as a handicraft center and Fairground.

It is also worth noting that Bethlehem has been selected as The Arab Cultural Capital for the year 2020. “The decision, approved during the meeting of the permanent committee of Arab culture members in Doha, shows the great attention paid by Arab states to Palestinian cities.”vii This site will host events and activities during the entire year of 2020. Moreover, the president of Palestine supports a larger vision for the area and has issued a presidential decree,viii supported by a ministerial resolutionix (issued by the prime minister and the council of ministers),

In conclusion, the Solomon’s Pools area is a place of exceptional cultural and touristic significance for many Palestinians. The site was listed as one of 20 cultural and natural heritage sites of potential outstanding universal value in Palestine.v The site’s preservation and development come in response to the international and national objectives of the World 38

with an MSc degree in the utilization and conservation of plant genetic resources. She has extensive expertise in managerial tasks, project management, research studies, inventory and assessments, networking, seeking funds/grant management, capacity building/ training programs, monitoring and evaluation, building strategies/ management plans, and more.

This site is part of a clearly articulated national strategic plan to develop Palestinian commerce, tourism, and local community participation. Of all the touristic and archeological sites, the Solomon’s Pools area has the greatest potential as a tourist site to have a positive impact on the local economy, culture, and environment. The support and investment in this area and the timeless heritage of the past would provide enormous exposure, generate significant and vibrant benefit to local communities, create lasting positive impacts on heritage assets, and contribute to a brighter future and responsible longterm stewardship.

PCC aims to provide expertise/ services in the fields that would benefit both nature and people in a sustainable manner. It supports efforts that secure effective natural heritage and biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, clean environment and green solutions, and productionconsumption sustainability, in addition to generating economic/educational benefits and empowering local communities mainly through the support of a strong team with diverse backgrounds and high qualifications. For more information, please contact PCC at roubina@uems.ps.

Roubina N. Ghattas is the director general of Pioneer Consultancy Center for Sustainable Development (PCC). She graduated from Birmingham University-United Kingdom in 1998,

Article photos by George N. Bassous, courtesy of SPPD.

Solomon’s Pools City of Cultures and Civilizations Managed by Email: solpools@solomonpools.com | Tel. 00972 2 768250 | Fax: 00972 2 768252 i D.M. Olson and E. Dinerstein, “The Global 200: Priority ecoregions for global conservation,” Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89(2), 2002, p. 199–224. ii Conservation International, Global Biodiversity Hotspots: Mediterranean Basin, 2013, downloaded on September 15, 2013, from http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hotspots/europe_central_asia/ Mediterranean-Basin/Pages/default.aspx. iii WWF and IUCN (1994), Centres of Plant Diversity: a Guide and Strategy for their Conservation, Volume 1: Europe, Africa, South West Asia and the Middle East, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: WWF and IUCN. iv

http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/sowb/flyways/5_Mediterranean_Black_Sea_Factsheet.pdf.

According to “Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention,” as noted in the UNESCO and MOTA inventory of cultural and heritage sites in the West Bank. vi

“Strategy for Tourism and Heritage 2014–2016,” developed by Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

vii

Conference of Ministers in Charge of Cultural Affairs in the Arab World, Arab League Education, Science and Culture Organization ALESCO, Tunisia, December 2016.

viii ix

Council of Ministers’ decision # (30/176/ ‫م‬.‫و‬/‫ر‬.‫ح‬/ 17 ), Palestine, October 2017.

Presidential Decree, Palestine, October 2017.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

A Practical Look The Palestinian Right of Return By Lubnah Shomali

International law and existing treatises on reparations are based on four principles; namely, voluntary reparation in the form of physical return to the place of origin; property restitution; compensation for damages that include benefits lost and nonmaterial damages; and victim satisfaction, which includes guarantees of non-repetition.

This situation is the result of a vicious cycle of ongoing displacement and simultaneous prevention of return â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a cycle that is fueled by a plethora of Israeli policies, practices, and laws that have culminated in a colonial and apartheid regime that perpetrates population transfers to alter the demographic composition of Mandatory Palestine and annexation of its historic lands. Population transfers are prohibited according to international human rights law and international humanitarian law, particularly if perpetrated in order to unlawfully annex territory and/or alter the demographic composition of that territory. Population transfers encapsulate both the implantation of a foreign population into a territory and the forced displacement of the indigenous/habitual residents out of or within that territory.

Once displacement occurs, obligations fall upon the perpetrator and the international community to right this internationally wrongful act through the exercise of the right of return. The right of return is fundamental in the Palestinian context as it is both

The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Kafrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Inan

n this 70 commemoration of the Nakba, it is necessary to take stock of the current realities. One fundamental truth is that the Nakba is ongoing; in other words, the Nakba is not an isolated reality that refers only to the historic events of 1948. It is an ongoing phenomenon. The international community continues to both witness and ignore the ongoing displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people that were initiated during that time. The result is the creation, sustainment, and augmentation of the th

largest and longest-standing displaced population in the world, constituting 66 percent (8.26 million) of the Palestinian people. Today, there are approximately 7.54 million Palestinian refugees,i in addition to at least 720,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).

an individual and a collective right, intrinsically connected to the right of self-determination. It must be noted that any attempt to secure selfdetermination without addressing the right of return of the 8.26 million displaced Palestinians would be futile. In other words, how can Palestinian self-determination be achieved if the majority of the people are not allowed to exercise their right of return? As such, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and IDPs is an elemental facet of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.ii

for the purpose of preventing and addressing situations of statelessness and population transfers. The refugee or IDP condition is created by the commission of human rights violations by states or other actors under its jurisdiction, and/or the failure of states to ensure national protection for people under its jurisdiction. The absence of national protection arising from stateperpetrated human rights violations or the actions of non-state actors leads to a situation in which displacement occurs. Ensuring protection of persons in need of it becomes an international responsibility when the state in question is unwilling or unable to ensure it. In other words, international protection through international intervention is triggered by Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unwillingness to provide and ensure protection for the Palestinian people under its jurisdiction. First and foremost, the task is to prevent the creation of forcibly displaced persons, but if a person or group is forcibly displaced, then the task becomes ensuring the right of return in order to right the wrong committed.

Reparations have implications both in principle and in practice. According to international law, the principal notion of the right of return is founded upon the free will of displaced individuals and groups: it is based on the rights of residency, adequate housing, safety, and freedom of movement. Further, the right of return is independent of refugee status, nationality, or the causes of displacement and was created

With regard to a reparations mechanism, the establishment and/ or maintenance of security and stability are important concerns in deciding how but not whether to implement reparations. Justice and access to legal redress are important components of stability and security. The right to reparations was designed to achieve exactly that: restoring as much as possible what once was, and eliminating apartheid and the colonial practices and/or legislation that caused the internationally considered wrongful act(s) in the first place. It goes without saying that refugee and IDP repatriation must be gradual and orderly. It must be carried out according to tested and established mechanisms, taking into consideration the equitable redistribution of property and ensuring social and economic integration of returnees.

Artwork by Mustafa Akram Bader. Courtesy of Badil.

Artwork by AbdulMohdi Hanani. Courtesy of Badil.

National legislation needs to adequately reflect and address reparation-related issues and not be discriminatory in nature or practice. As such, the question of the nature of the state that will receive Palestinian refugees and IDPs is of the utmost importance. A state that is democratic, participatory, and inclusive can embrace all peoples and ensure rights for all regardless of their religious affiliation. The current Israeli regime, however, employs discriminatory national legislation and practices that constitute colonialism and apartheid.

It is necessary to dismantle the apartheid colonial regime and replace it with a democratic and inclusive one that respects the rights of all peoples. Hence, the nature of the state that is required is one that ensures equality and equity for all regardless of religious affiliation, ethnicity, race, or demographic composition. The right to reparations of forcibly displaced persons, according to the frameworks of international law and other treaties on reparations, consists of four main elements. The first is 43

Artwork by Tayseer al-Battniji. Courtesy of Badil.

for victims of forced displacement and transfer. As such, the elements are indivisible, and a reparations package must include all the elements for it to be successful and effective so that the consequences of forced displacement and transfer can be reversed. Successful reparations mechanisms employ an aggressive property restitution mechanism rather than monetary compensation in order to address ethnic cleansing, racially based spatial segregation, apartheid and/or colonial domination, which are precursors to the refugee or IDP condition. In addition, property restitution requires fewer financial resources than a pure compensation approach.

voluntary repatriation, which is the physical return of the victim(s) to their places of origin. Note that repatriation must be voluntary: this includes the right not to be displaced against one’s will, the right to freely choose to return, and the right not to be forced to return. The second element of reparations is property restitution, which is the reclamation of original properties lost by the victims. The third element is compensation for property damage, for benefits lost by the victims due to the loss/denial of use of their property and for non-material damages (such as pain and suffering of victims). And the last element is victim satisfaction that includes, among other things, guarantees of non-repetition. The elements of reparations were established to ensure the restoration as much as possible to what once was

Property restitution, as a component of reparations, remedies dispossession through reclamation of the original property lost by the original property owner. After 1948, Israel created and implemented the Absentee 44

Property Law that stripped Palestinian refugees and IDPs of their property. Accordingly, Palestinian victims of a state-sponsored discriminatory land regime have the right to property restitution from the state. This means that Israel is responsible for the return of all properties to Palestinian victims who seek property restitution and for the compensation of those who don’t. One of the arguments proposed by Israel is that there is not enough land to accommodate large numbers of returnees and subsequent property restitution. This is not accurate; as a matter of fact, there are significant tracts of land on which Palestinian villages existed that are still not populated, and the land is available for reclamation. According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 92 percent of Israelis live in urban areas.iii It should also be noted that significant amounts of land are in the “public domain”; in other words, 93 percent of the land in Israel (about 4.8 million acres or 19.5 million dunams) is either the property of the state, the Jewish National Fund, or the Development Authority. This land is managed by the Israel Land Authority, whose policy is dictated by the Israel Land Council.iv

Ensuring protection for forcibly displaced persons through the exercise of the right to reparations becomes an international obligation when the state in question is unwilling or unable to provide it.

propertyv), then it is not reasonable to prioritize secondary occupants’ rights over those of the victims. However, either with or without good faith, the state is under an obligation to ensure property restitution and compensation to victims and to secure the rights of secondary occupants with alternative housing. Another point to note with regard to property restitution and the numbers of Palestinian refugees (and their descendants): a mechanism needs to be developed and put in place to equitably reallocate the original property to a larger group of victims. For example, if a Palestinian from XYZ village owned 1,000 dunams of land but he and his descendants now number 120 refugees, a mechanism to distribute the land among the 120 needs to be developed and implemented. This would naturally require the participation and engagement of the refugees and IDPs themselves to determine modes and mechanisms of distribution.

In cases of secondary occupancy, where the original property (whether home or land) is occupied by Israeli Jews, international law and best practice are very clear. Not all property rights are equal: secondary occupancy rights would not block refugee or IDP return and/or restitution. Israel is responsible for ensuring alternative housing for the secondary occupants in cases where refugees and IDPs seek property restitution. Further, if the property was acquired in good faith by the secondary occupant, then he/she is entitled to compensation. However, if the property was not acquired in good faith (where the property was directly confiscated by the secondary occupants or through racially discriminatory allocation of

In summation, reparations go hand in hand with sustainable post-conflict reconstruction – not just political, physical, or structural but legal, ideological, social, and economic reform. Reparations were designed to restore a lost right, to restore the lost physical property (and/or equivalent and/or monetary compensation), to 45

elements within the Israeli regime, and determining and establishing a viable implementer of reparations for the Palestinian people, which includes their active and meaningful participation.

Lubnah Shomali is the executive director of BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights.

While the current conditions are not conducive to achieving just and durable solutions to the Palestinian

i The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2016 cites 5.87 million registered Palestinian refugees and 1.66 million unregistered refugees. See “Ms. Ola Awad, President of the PCBS, reviews the conditions of the Palestinian people via statistical figures and findings, on the eve of the sixty ninth annual commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba,” available at http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/post.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=1925. ii

For more information on the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people, see the report of the United Nations, “The Right of Self-Determination of the Palestinian People,” January 1, 1979.

iii Letter from Israel: Urban and rural life, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2010, available at http://mfa.gov.il/ MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/Looking%20at%20Israel-%20Urban%20and%20Rural%20Life.aspx. iv The chairman of the council is Israel’s vice prime minister, the minister of industry, trade, labor and communications. The council is composed of 22 members: 12 represent government ministries and 10 represent the Jewish National Fund; see About Israel Land Authority, available at http://www.mmi.gov.il/ envelope/indexeng.asp?page=/static/eng/f_general.html.

31°53′41″N 34°46′17″ – 05.1948

Located west of the present-day Israeli town of Rehovot, Al-Qubayba-Ramle was cleared of its 1,720 inhabitants on May 27, during Operation Barak in the 1948 War.

32°30′48.2″N 35°29′34.4″ E – 05.1948

Artwork by Mus’ab Abu-Sall. Courtesy of Badil.

WHERE TO GO The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Al-Qubayba-Ramle

refugee and IDP situation, e.g., the implementation of the right to reparations, we need not wait for these preconditions to be met or a robust peace agreement to be exacted to prepare for Palestinian return. It is paramount that preparations for refugee and IDP reparations begin now in order to be optimally successful. We can start with extensive awareness and education campaigns focusing on the principles and best practices of return; engage Palestinian civil society – especially refugees and IDPs – in developing reparation models and mechanisms, including for property redistribution and compensation; and discuss, debate, and determine the characteristics of the state, its legislation and governance mechanisms. The role of human rights bodies and organizations, in addition to the above, is to continue to document both past and present human rights violations and crimes perpetrated by Israel and to advocate for measures to end impunity and ensure accountability. The role of the international community is to respond with appropriate and practical measures to hold Israel accountable and to provide protection to the Palestinian people from further forced displacement and transfer.

Bisan

promote justice and reconciliation, and to ensure that the process contributes to an economic uplift. However, in order to get to this stage of the process there are certain preconditions that must be met: the recognition of Israel’s historical and continuing role in the augmentation and sustainment of the Palestinian refugee and IDP condition through an ideology – policies and practices embedded in forcible transfer, colonialism, and apartheid; the necessary interventions of the international community to bring Israel into compliance with international law through fulfillment of its obligations, including the dismantling of colonial and apartheid ideology and

For example, the Jewish National Fund acquired a great deal of property through land sales that were illegal (even under Israeli law). This property was then leased to Israeli Jews since “ownership” in Israel refers to a lease contract of 49 or 98 years in duration.

Remains of the Bisan train station are located on the old Jezreel Valley railway that connected Haifa to Darra in Syria between 1905 and 1946. The town of Bisan fell to Zionist forces on May 4, 1948, and was renamed Beit She’an after the creation of the State of Israel.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

Israel at 70 A Darkness unto the Nations By Sam Bahour

The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Al-Bassa

Artwork by Sliman Mansour.

U.S. Letter of Recognition of the State of Israel, with the words “Jewish state” crossed out by President Truman.i

everal years ago, the late Polish mathematician from Youngstown State University (my alma mater in Ohio), Dr. Zbigniew Piotrowski, walked up to me at the Youngstown Arab-American Community Center and shared a bold observation after I delivered a talk on the Palestinians’ desire for freedom and independence. He said the silver lining of the WWII tragedy, and in particular the Jewish loss thereof, was that the world reset how it operates; post-WWII, international law became 48

the order of the day to avert a repeat of history. It was as if all the nations of the world pressed the reset button and rebooted with this new operating system, one that obligated all states to respect a set of collective rules and regulations. Dr. Piotrowski rightly questioned how Israel, which claims to be built on Jewish values, could be so utterly disrespectful of this new reference point.

boldly claimed: “In our country there is room only for the Jews. We shall say to the Arabs: Get out! If they don’t agree, if they resist, we shall drive them out by force.”ii With this theme as the explicit backdrop of the newly established state, it is no wonder that Israel, 70 years later, has had little chance of being a normal member of the community of nations, let alone a light unto anything.

This disrespect was exemplified by one of Israel’s founding ministers of education and culture, Professor Ben-Zion Dinur (1954), when he

Individual Israeli achievements in fields such as science and technology are impressive. However, for all modern intents and purposes, the State of 49

It was totally in the hands of Israel – the occupying power – at the time of the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, as it is today, to end the military occupation of the Palestinian territory and start the bitter process of reconciliation. Artwork by Asad ‘Azzi.

Israel, as a state-building model, is a failed experiment – ideologically, religiously, politically, socially, and, if US-favored-nation status were removed, possibly economically as well. Without immediate and decisive intervention from the international community to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression towards Palestinians, Israel’s intransigence and USequipped regional hegemony will not only fuel another generation of Palestinians willing to sacrifice their lives to achieve their freedom and independence but will also further jeopardize Israel’s future as a state.

The lead-up to the establishment of Israel witnessed the expulsion of well over half the indigenous Palestinian population by May 1948, not to mention the scores murdered in the process. Ever since, Israel has assumed a policy of structural discrimination, political imprisonment, torture, deportations, beatings, collective punishment, political assassinations, settlement building, economic dominance – the list is endless; and measures were intensified after the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in 1967. This “empty” land that was filled with Palestinians overwhelmingly complicated the efforts to implant a Western state in the midst of the Middle East.

Israel was founded on the infamous fallacy of “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Israel’s attempt to persuade the world that this was a valid premise for statehood has been a colossal failure, even among a growing number of Jews worldwide. Given the fact that historical [Britishmandated] Palestine was inhabited prior to Israel’s creation, Israel has gone to great lengths, at huge costs, to bury this racist fallacy.

Since its inception, Israel has arrogantly refused to address the most crucial prerequisite of its establishment as a conventional state: accepting the Palestinians – those people who just happened to be inconveniently living in that “empty” land. As a matter of fact, Israel’s membership in the UN was 50

pre-conditioned on respecting past UN resolutions, including the one calling for Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return home, as well as the one calling for Israel to define its borders.iii To date, Israel has respected neither, to its own detriment.

As recently reported in the Associated Press,vi Israel’s leading demographics expert, Sergio Della Pergola, a demographer at Hebrew University, defended Israeli military figures indicating that the number of Arabs will soon equal that of Jews between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Thus, any Israeli illusion that Palestinians will one day vanish into thin air is merely a hallucination of a people driving drunk on power.

After nearly seven decades of conflict, and after two decades of explicit Palestinian political recognition of Israel on part of their lands, Israel continues to choose to sustain the conflict. The Palestinians, those who were forcefully expelled from their homes in 1948, 1967, and more recently, have ever since been living in squalid refugee camps throughout the region. Those Palestinians who did not flee Israel proper in 1948 are today fourth-class Israeli citizens. The Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem who have lived under Israeli military occupation for 50 years, and counting, will continue to haunt the international community until justice is served and the Israeli occupation is ended, in its entirety.

Today, Israel seems more determined than ever to forcefully prove the original fallacy of its statehood – an Israel with expandable, unilaterally defined borders and a Jewish-only population. Twelve Israeli prime ministers before Netanyahu, six of them after the signing of the Oslo agreements, all failed. If Israel cannot produce a leader to move the country from a rogue state to a member state of the Middle East, no one but JewishIsraeli citizens themselves will be to blame for the consequences, no matter how severe. 51

WHERE TO GO The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

in the world during a Cold War that marred common sense has rapidly digressed into a liability in an age of globalization that the United States alone is spearheading. Today, on the 70th remembrance of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe), Israel must choose between continuing an illegal occupation and preserving itself as a state. To think that both can peacefully co-exist is utter ignorance of history and human development. Also, for Israel to believe that the United States will always be willing to jeopardize its own strategic interests for the sake of fulfilling an Israeli illusion of Palestinian submission is a miscalculation to the nth degree.

Every step of the way, the United States has rewarded Israel as it further entrenched its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory. Israel has been propped up financially, politically, and diplomatically by every single US administration at the expense of US taxpayers. The entire US political system has been fully obedient to the far-reaching Israeli lobby and narrow electoral and commercial interests. What started as a US strategic ally in one of the most sensitive spots

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in Israelioccupied Palestine and is co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994). He blogs at www.epalestine.com and may be found at @SamBahour.

Truman: Timeline, Truman Library Institute, available at timeline/.

Suba

It should be no surprise that the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin rushed to sign the infamous Oslo Peace Accords after calculating the historic ramifications of the political earthquake that took place when the late Palestinian representative, Yasser Arafat, politically recognized the State of Israel. Rabin paid for that signature with his life, which was taken by one of his own citizens, a fanatic Jewish student. This was as close as Israel has ever been to overcoming its neverending birth pangs.

31°47′5″N 35°7′26″ E – 07.1948

Survival-Return, artwork detail by John Halaka.

A hiking path that crosses the former Palestinian village of Suba. Suba was built on the ruins of a Crusader castle that was reconquered by Saladin in 1187. In July 1948, the Zionist forces, which were attempting to reach Jerusalem, had fought a hard battle against units of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, who were defending the place. Suba’s 720 inhabitants were forced to flee. Today, the Tzova kibbutz is located close to the ruins of Suba.

http://www.trumanlibraryinstitute.org/truman/

Cited in Jeff Halper, “Palestinian displacement: a case apart? – The message of the bulldozers,” Forced Migration Review, FMR 26, August 2006, available at http://www.fmreview.org/palestine/halper.html. iii https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/0B3AB8D2A7C0273D8525694B00726D1B unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/83E8C29DB812A4E9852560E50067A5AC.

and

https://

Aron Heller/AP, “Israeli demographer: Arabs nearly equal Jews in Holy Land,” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2018, available at http://www.latimes.com/sns-bc-ml--israel-palestinians-20180327-story.html.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON Empowering Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon through Microfinance By Jamal Haddad

The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Al-Qubayba-Ramle

he Palestine Investment Fund’s Economic Empowerment Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon provides Palestinians with the tools they need – access to finance, in particular – to build a secure and prosperous future.

When Mohammad Khalaf looks out over his thriving vegetable fields in southern Lebanon, an air of pride appears in his eyes. “When I started this farm, we only had five acres. Today, there are one hundred – with ten to twelve workers each day.” Khalaf, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, grows many items typical of the Palestinian cultivator: zahara baladi, the Palestinian cauliflower known for its mustardy hue and irresistible texture, grows by the hundreds in his fields. His produce showers under the mist of a modern sprinkler and generator system, shielded from the harsh summer sun by rows of layered tents. With these modern techniques, Khalaf is able to utilize almost one hundred percent of his rented agricultural land, generating income for his workers while supplying the market with highquality produce. “Now that we are using generators and sprinklers, each acre of land takes 3,500 seedlings,” Khalaf explained. “Using our old-fashioned methods, it used to take 2,500 seedlings. That’s a 1,000-seedling difference – and that difference is yours, it’s your profit.”

Lebanon, Khalaf received two loans totaling some $4,000, which enabled him to purchase his new agricultural tents and sprinkler system. Without such assistance, Khalaf, as well as many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, struggle to create a secure and sustainable economic future for themselves and their families.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon face a variety of challenges, particularly those of an economic nature. A little help goes a long way towards securing their economic futures and encouraging their resilience.

Close to 175,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, with many residing in the country’s 12 refugee camps.i However, they are not entitled to several critical rights – for example, they cannot work in as many as 36 professions.ii Among the five UNRWA fields – Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza – Lebanon has the highest percentage of Palestinian refugees living in abject poverty.

PIF’s Economic Empowerment Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon seeks to do just that. The program alleviates the Palestinian refugee community’s challenges by providing them with access to finance. Since its inception, the program has dispersed over 2,700 flexible-term loans, ranging from $500 to $5,000, that aim to help Palestinian refugees launch new projects or expand existing initiatives.

The number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has grown over the past half decade due the ongoing conflict in Syria. Hundreds of Palestinian refugee families have fled from Syria to Lebanon, heightening the need for programs and initiatives that provide the Palestinian community with relief and opportunity. Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Khalaf’s success was enabled in part by a microfinance loan from the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF). Through PIF’s Economic Empowerment Program for Palestinian Refugees in 54

it.” Ribab used her loan to start a hairdressing shop – but she didn’t stop there. “I wanted to continue to advance my work, so I applied for a second loan from PIF’s program,” Ribab explained. “With this loan, I opened a small perfume shop for my brother. He began to earn a monthly income, and together, we increased our profits.” Ribab went on to apply for a third loan from PIF’s empowerment program, this time using the financing to open a small barbershop for her second brother. “These loans helped me pursue my dreams and chase my ambitions – ones I had deep within me,” Ribab explained. “The loans made my dreams a reality.”

Entrepreneurs who received microfinance loans from PIF’s Economic Empowerment Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon.

Without equitable access to Lebanon’s labor market and financial system, Palestinian refugees struggle to secure financing and support for their companies and ideas. The Economic Empowerment Program has helped to fill that gap by lending to a wide and diverse range of individuals across the Palestinian refugee community; some 42 percent of loan recipients are youth, and 26 percent of all recipients are women.

Further, the program allows Palestinian youth to secure their futures by providing them with the tools they need to advance their careers, pursue education, and achieve their dreams. “Young people in Lebanon work hard to get an education in order to have job opportunities,” explained Alaa Kamal Ghazal, a young recipient who used the loan to expand his family’s supermarket. The expansion helped fund his college tuition. “God knows where I would have been [without the loan]. Maybe I wouldn’t have completed my education.”

PIF’s empowerment program – carried out and funded alongside its donor partners – has had a uniquely positive impact on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. By helping the community secure higher incomes, the program encourages holistic improvements to Palestinian livelihoods – from healthcare to education and beyond.

Other recipients, such as Ribab Abu Rawees, used the loan to start a new business. “I always felt I was capable of starting my own business, but my financial situation wouldn’t allow 56

Microfinance is a critical enabler for the Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon.

capital from local and international donors and investors to improve Palestinian livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Through Ruwwad, PIF maintains social investment programs in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, focusing on areas that include entrepreneurship, SMEs, education, and innovation.

All in all, the Economic Empowerment Program has helped Palestinian refugees improve their livelihoods and secure new job opportunities by providing them with microfinance loans. By the end of 2017, the program had dispersed loans worth more than $4.5 million. PIF’s donor partners in the Economic Empowerment Program are Silatech and the Arab Fund, and its on-the-ground implementation partners include the General Union of Palestinian Women, the Lebanese Association for Development, or Al Majmoua, the Association for the Development of Rural Capacities, and the Association Najdeh.

The Palestine Investment Fund is proud to have launched the Economic Empowerment Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, as well as other social investment initiatives that focus on alleviating the economic pressures facing refugees. PIF is committed to refugee empowerment as one of its core strategic, social principles. Jamal Haddad is general manager of the Palestine for Development Foundation, where he oversees the Palestine Investment Fund’s Ruwwad program for social investment and local empowerment. He also serves as CEO of the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation. With a multi-sector career that spans more than 25 years, Jamal Haddad has been at the forefront of business development, management, marketing, and communications in Palestine. Mr. Haddad obtained his MBA from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, and his BSc in accounting from Birzeit University in Palestine.

The Lebanon program is part of Ruwwad, PIF’s program for social investment. Ruwwad seeks to increase access to finance and spur innovation through capacity building and human capital investment. It focuses on segments that cannot be fully addressed through impact investment and consists of five communityfocused initiatives, including the Lebanon program, which leverage

i Statistic pulled from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ 2017 census: http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/ site/512/default.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=3013. ii

More on Palestinian employment restrictions in Lebanon can be found in UNRWA’s infographic: https://www. unrwa.org/resources/reports/employment-palestine-refugees-lebanon-overview.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON A Vision for Palestinian Economic Rights and Resilience

By Mohammad Mustafa

The Destroyed Villages of Palestine

Iqrit

For Palestinians, the Nakba is an ongoing tragedy – the roots of which were laid in 1948.

he events that surrounded Israel’s creation 70 years ago deprived the Palestinian people of their homeland and dispossessed them of their lands and livelihoods. Countless Palestinian families were forced into exile, fleeing attacks and fears of violence by seeking refuge in neighboring communities and far-off, distant lands. Villages were razed, and private Palestinian land was confiscated, depriving thousands of families of their income and personal security. All in all, some 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees, dismantling the seeds of a vibrant and prosperous nation. The Nakba has had a devastating economic impact on Palestinians. The loss of land did not just entail the loss of homes – it also meant the seizure of orange groves, olive farms, agricultural lands, and the productive base of a nascent Palestinian economy. Established businesses were uprooted and forced off their property, throwing the futures 58

of generations of Palestinians into jeopardy. And Palestine, a country with abundant natural resources and a rich culture and history, was robbed of its vast potential.

and the right of return guaranteed for Palestinians, on only 22 percent of historical Palestine. Today, 70 years after the Nakba, Palestinians remain locked into a political and economic status quo that streamlines and facilitates their exploitation.

Palestine’s dispossession continued in 1967 following Israel’s seizure and military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, which placed severe restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, access to natural resources, and political rights and freedoms. Against this backdrop, a series of Palestinian resistance groups were founded or reorganized, with a focus on securing Palestine’s freedom. The Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, became the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

On the political front, Israel has ignored its commitments under the 1993 Oslo Accords, particularly the dismantling of its occupation of all Palestinian territory seized in 1967. Instead, Israel has continued its policy of Palestinian dispossession, strengthening its settlement enterprise while curtailing Palestine’s independence and exploiting its resources. Israeli economic exploitation of the Palestinian territory that it began to occupy in 1967continued under the Paris Protocol, a 1994 interim agreement that intended to phase out Israel’s economic control of Palestine. The Paris Protocol was supposed to function as a customs envelope, bringing the import, export, and taxation of all goods within a single framework. Instead, the Paris Protocol was used by Israel as a convenient economic supplement to its ongoing occupation. Absent a political settlement, Israel has maintained control over Palestine’s borders and land, leveraging its control over imports and exports to create a captive market for its own products and exploiting land for settlement construction and expansion.

Palestinian refugees continue to this day to suffer from the devastation of the Nakba. Nearly one-third of the Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA live in 58 refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where, stripped of their UN-mandated right of return, they face daily hardships and struggle to build a secure economic future.

Israel applies a number of mechanisms to exert control over Palestinians.

With their backs against the wall, the Palestinian people, through the PLO, fought to secure their legitimate rights and national aspirations. Repeated attempts at a political settlement have failed due to Israel’s intransigence despite the PLO’s acceptance of a compromise to establish a sovereign state, with East Jerusalem as its capital

We must renew our pursuit of an agenda that prioritizes economic rights alongside all other liberties.

Despite these challenges, the Palestinian agenda remains unchanged: self-determination with the liberty to build a prosperous, enduring future in our homeland. To stay vigilant in defense of our future – following over 50 years of occupation, and 70 years after the Nakba – we must renew our pursuit of a political agenda that prioritizes economic rights alongside political, civil, and human rights.

A framework for the future in Palestine requires steps that boost Palestine’s resilience and grant the Palestinian people a new economic agenda. These steps include the pursuit of a new economic agenda, the building and expansion of Palestine’s public infrastructure, the catalyzing of investment in high-growth sectors, the boosting of land-preservation efforts, and investment in Palestine’s human development and innovation.

Economic rights need not take a back seat until political and civil liberties are achieved. Securing our economic rights – and demanding them now – will strengthen our economic resilience and provide us with the momentum we need to sustain our national project. Economic rights include the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to secure energy access, the right to be connected with the world through telecommunications and trade, the sustainable utilization of and access to our natural resources, the right to health and education, and the right to access science and technology. These rights are endowed upon all people through the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and exist alongside political and civil rights.

agreement that places Palestine and Israel’s economic cooperation on equal footing, rather than serving as a cover for Israeli control of Palestine’s economic development and activities. A quick look at the numbers exposes the extent of Israel’s capture of the Palestinian market and the need for a new economic arrangement. Taken together, Israeli restrictions have rendered Palestine an “import economy” – 57 percent of the GDP comes from imports, while exports stand at just 18 percent of the GDP. Further, products to and from Israel account for 63 percent of Palestinian imports and a whopping 79 percent of Palestinian exports.i The restrictions have had a particularly profound effect in Gaza, where the vast majority of farmers and traders are prohibited from exporting their produce and products or reaching the markets of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Palestinians are not powerless in the struggle to assume and defend our economic rights in the face of an occupation that seeks to limit them. Defending our economic rights will enable our economic resilience, making us less susceptible to hostile Israeli actions and reducing our reliance on Israel for products, services, and jobs. There are a number of steps that Palestine must take to boost its political and economic resilience, assume its citizens’ economic rights, and lay the foundations for the future. Palestine must seek the replacement of the Paris Protocol with a new economic 60

A new economic arrangement must grant Palestine control over its import and export polices and trade facilitation infrastructure, as well as remove restrictions on industrial and agricultural development. In order to relieve Palestine’s immediate economic pressures, a new framework must include guarantees that liberate the market to develop its public infrastructure and secure foreign direct investment.

and 64 percent of the total supply in Gaza.ii Expanding local power generation capacity, particularly by developing and expanding power plants, transmission, and solar production, can help wean Palestine off costly Israeli electricity and energy imports while propelling growth and creating jobs. For local power generation to be efficient and secure, Palestine must upgrade its energy distribution network and develop a backbone transmission network across the West Bank and Gaza.

The development of Palestine’s public infrastructure has suffered greatly under Israel’s occupation. Recent years have also seen decreased investment in Palestine’s development, due both to waning donor support and to budgetary constraints of the Palestinian government. Without a productive capital base to tax, or sufficient control over duties and revenues from private-sector activity, the Palestinian government channels most of its available public financing towards high-priority current spending, preventing Palestine from investing in the future. Palestine must break this counterproductive cycle by mobilizing funding and securing international support for the development of critical infrastructure that enables economic resilience. This includes the development of domestic energy and power-generation capabilities, the construction of seaport and airport, modern border crossings, and the development of water resources and innovations. New models and partnerships that prioritize privatesector participation will help to boost the sustainability of Palestine’s infrastructural development while creating employment opportunities.

Artwork by Sliman Mansour.

Public investment in energy infrastructure should be coupled with efforts that strengthen Palestine’s connectivity. Palestine’s outdated telecommunications infrastructure simply cannot support the technological transformation its young innovators and entrepreneurs desire. Public investments are needed to expand and modernize Palestine’s broadband infrastructure and enable

To begin, more resources should be channeled towards local energy and power generation. Palestine relies heavily on foreign energy suppliers, particularly Israel, which in 2017 provided 99 percent of the total electricity supply in the West Bank 61

critical services such as cloud computing, digitalization, and the like.

Alongside public investment, Palestine must focus its efforts on catalyzing private investment in sectors that generate jobs, add value to the economy, and reduce Israel’s capture of the Palestinian market. There are a number of sectors that fit the bill.

Boosting connectivity also means connecting Palestine to the world – particularly through the development of seaports, airports, and modern border crossings. Building Palestine’s transport infrastructure will require significant resources. Developing public-private partnerships will go a long way towards building the economic capital and leverage needed to embark on these strategic projects. Mobilizing domestic and international funding towards Palestine’s ports and crossings will help to convince private investors of the public sector’s commitment to boosting local transport.

In agriculture, private investment is needed to strengthen Palestinian farming communities and reduce the local market’s reliance on Israel for inputs and end-use products. Palestine possesses vast agricultural potential – private investment can help orient the local market towards highvalue crop cultivation which generates supply year-round while producing a consistent return for both farmers and investors. Private investment can also help bring Palestinian agricultural products to market by establishing an aggregator, marketing, and export hub in Palestine. These efforts will boost Palestine’s domestic agriculture industry, reduce Israel’s capture of the Palestinian market, and generate jobs for Palestinians.

Water is another critical component of Palestine’s infrastructure that requires renewed support. Several public projects can help Palestine overcome the water challenges and restrictions imposed by Israel’s occupation. Upgrading Palestine’s water supply and sewage networks, as well as channeling funds towards the government plans for a centralized seawater desalination plant in Gaza and wastewater treatment plants across Palestine, will help to secure and diversify Palestine’s water access. Developing a national water carrier will assist in enabling efficient water usage and regulation, channeling water towards cities and villages alike, and providing agricultural lands with a strategic reserve. Public-private partnerships will help enable these catalytic projects.

Investment is also sorely needed in initiatives that seek to develop Palestine’s natural resources. Palestine possesses natural resources which, with proper private-sector investment, can catalyze impact in the local energy sector. The Gaza Marine Offshore Natural Gas Field, the West Bank Oil Field, and Dead Sea minerals are examples of resources that can meet Palestine’s energy demand for several years and generate sizable revenues for the treasury. These revenues can be reinvested in the development of other public infrastructure projects, education, and healthcare, creating thousands of jobs. Private investment can help to develop these conventional energy resources as well as renewable sources such as solar parks and wind farms.

Catalyzing private investment will help to boost Palestine’s economic resilience and sustain its national project.

Tourism is another critical sector that stands to benefit from private-sector investment. Palestine and Palestinians possess unparalleled tourism assets – 62

Sky Geeks, for instance, a partnership between Google and Mercy Corps, is helping to build an internationally competitive tech ecosystem in Gaza. The Ibtikar Fund is helping to catalyze start-ups in the IT sector by giving young entrepreneurs the tools and resources they need to succeed. More such initiatives are needed. Techfocused investments will go hand-inhand with efforts to bolster Palestine’s connectivity, giving Palestinians the resources and infrastructure they need to embrace the fourth industrial revolution.

Artwork by Abdelqader Hamed. Courtesy of Badil.

In healthcare, critical investments and reforms are needed to build up a reliable, consistent, and modern network of hospitals and health services that reduce dependence on Israel for healthcare. Palestinian health referrals to Israel are a burdensome annual expense that heightens the need for reform in the local Palestinian health insurance system.iii In reducing health referrals to Israel, Palestinians would boost their own resilience by taking ownership of their own health and well-being.

from the Roman ruins of Nablus to the historic beaches of Gaza and the holy cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The private sector can help to maximize the benefit of these assets by developing a productive infrastructure for sustainable tourism in Palestine. Coupled with public investments in airports and border crossings, private investment in Palestine’s tourism sector will transform the local economy and rejuvenate local cities. In real estate and industry, privatesector investment can help boost Palestine’s commercial and residential offerings while building pipelines for manufacturing and exports. As it stands, Palestine suffers from a lack of modern and affordable housing and commercial space, as well as an industrial sector that lacks the capacity to serve Palestine’s growing market. Public-private partnerships can help to unlock and develop key strategic projects, such as the construction of resorts and industrial space along the shores of the Dead Sea and the expansion of domestic industrial parks.

In addition, more efforts must be made to actively engage and build the capacity of refugee communities, both within Palestine and in the diaspora. Ongoing initiatives, such as projects to create employment opportunities for refugees and boost affordable housing options, should be renewed and bolstered. Similarly, refugee employment and education pipelines should be created, with a focus on accelerating community development from Gaza to Lebanon and beyond. These efforts will go a long way towards strengthening Palestine’s human capital development and ensuring inclusive growth.

Palestine must catalyze investment in its technology sector in an effort to improve its technology offer. A variety of investments, from innovation initiatives to venture capital funds, are needed to catalyze impact in Palestine’s technology sector. Gaza

Finally, beyond efforts to boost tech start-ups and entrepreneurship, private investment is needed to improve and sustain Palestine’s small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are the backbone of the Palestinian 63

economy, and the opportunities they generate are a significant source of local employment. Private investment can help Palestinian SMEs from agriculture to energy and IT expand their operations and improve their capabilities while adding significant value to the local economy.

especially in Area C. To ease the process, the Palestinian government in 2016 established the Land and Water Settlement Authority (LWSA), which focuses on expediting land settlement and registration. Since the LWSA’s establishment, 64,000 dunams have been registered, with another 283,000 dunams surveyed in preparation for registration. Forty-three percent of the land surveyed is located in Area C. This is a significant uptick in land registration; between 2002 and 2016, before the LWSA’s establishment, only 54,000 dunams were registered.

Efforts to catalyze investment should be coupled with strengthening local Palestinian institutions, with a focus on measures that encourage private investment in Palestine and build the public sector’s capacity. These efforts should include legal measures that update company registration and IP laws as well as institutional reforms that build the capacity of investment-related institutions, such as the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency and the Palestinian Land Authority. In addition, the establishment of a competent and predictable telecommunications and regulatory body will help accelerate Palestine’s digital future by ensuring effective, longstanding governance.

More efforts are needed to accelerate land registration in Palestine to reduce the risk of seizure. Accelerating public planning and creating spatial plans and land-management information systems will help to take stock of public land and catalyze its development. Further, legal reforms should be implemented which streamline and reduce the cost of land registration. Such efforts will help to ensure the development and productive use of public Palestinian land. With the fourth industrial revolution upon us, Palestine must invest in human capital development to help future generations of Palestinians embrace and engage in changing local and global markets. Boosting innovation and building local skills and capacity – with a focus on education, healthcare, and refugee community development – will help Palestine become a center for innovation and a global example of inclusive economic development.

More efforts are needed to accelerate land registration in Palestine to reduce the risk of land seizure by Israel.

Building resilience requires a holistic approach which, alongside measures to catalyze private investment, strengthens Palestine’s future by preserving land and protecting it from theft and seizure by Israel. Such efforts are critical to support fragile communities – particularly in Area C – and help Palestine establish a productive future on all of its territory.

In education, innovation-focused initiatives can help improve Palestinian graduates’ technical and management skills and ensure their competitiveness at the international level. Such initiatives should feature mentorship, training, exchanges, and hackathons that offer exposure to Palestinian entrepreneurs and give graduates the opportunity to work with multinational

Land registration in Palestine, particularly in the West Bank, is a complex and opaque process, 64

companies – ultimately raising awareness of Palestine’s potential.

private institutions and Palestinian diaspora networks – that we will enable a new future in our homeland. Palestine must be tenacious and relentless in its pursuit of its rights and continue its appeals to governments and multilateral institutions around the world to support human dignity in Palestine and end the Israeli occupation. This effort will undoubtedly require reaffirming current partnerships, but equally as important are efforts expand our network and reach new audiences and constituencies – particularly amongst youth. This will help to ensure that Palestinian rights remain on the agendas of future networks of leaders.

The Palestinian people remain Palestine’s most catalytic asset – we must equip them, particularly young Palestinians, with the tools they need to thrive in a changing global market.

To enable long-term success, Palestine must revamp its education system to weave STEM and IT throughout its curricula and equip students with the skills they need to build successful careers and embrace the fourth industrial revolution. Of course, curricula are only half of the equation – equally as important are efforts to invest in school facilities and teachers, equipping both with adequate resources, funding, and support.

The struggle to sustain our national project will not be fought alone.

As we chart a new course to rejuvenate the Palestinian economy, we must engage donors and impact investors and private-sector partners under a new framework that increases investment incentives and mitigates risks. Impact investment and publicprivate partnerships are ideal instruments for Palestine’s economy, which can offer investors and public institutions alike a tangible human impact alongside a financial return. New credit enhancements, with collaboration from both development banks and state-based private-sector investment institutions, can help mitigate the real and perceived political risks in the Palestinian market.

Investments in innovation should focus on areas that can help address Palestine’s pressing challenges – particularly those imposed by Israel’s occupation. Regarding water, for instance, hackathons and exchanges can bring experts and local startups together to identify ways to alleviate Palestine’s water shortages, discovering avenues to bypass or alleviate the pressures of Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian water access. Such efforts will strengthen Palestine’s economic resilience by finding local solutions to local challenges. The struggle to sustain our national project will not be fought alone. Rather, it is by engaging and collaborating with Palestine’s many passionate supporters – from governments to

The private sector has a critical and unique role to play in strengthening Palestine’s economic resilience. By creating jobs and encouraging long65

of their grassroots activities and secure funding and international support for their various programs.

cutting-edge projects that maximize local impact. From energy and real estate to agriculture and technology, PIF is determined to spur job creation and accelerate private-sector development in Palestine.

More efforts must be made to engage the Palestinian diaspora as partners and sources of expertise, as well as engage Palestinians from the areas of 1948. Palestinians are represented in the world’s leading companies and institutions – particularly in the fields of technology and innovation. We must seek holistic partnerships with these Palestinian innovators that focus on building the private sector’s capacity and developing Palestine’s human capital.

Artwork by Sliman Mansour.

term sustainability, private-sector investment equips Palestine with the tools and wherewithal it needs to satisfy its growing population. Of course, the participation of the private sector must be underpinned by socialrights guarantees for employees that grant them protection from exploitation as well as benefits and job security.

newly established Palestinian Social Security Fund, in addition to serving as a social safety net for all Palestinian citizens, will include in its mandate annual public investment requirements that aim to strengthen Palestine’s public foundations. Taken together with the existing public employee pension fund for banks and insurance companies as well as local institutions such as the Palestine Investment Fund, the Social Security Fund will serve as a productive and sustainable base for Palestine’s development.

The Palestinian private and public sectors are natural partners for potential donors and investors, with significant market knowledge and a growing track record of development success. Palestine possesses a capable and transparent banking and investment sector that can serve as a successful local platform for investors looking to make an impact. Further, by partnering with local institutions and firms across various Palestinian industries, donors and investors alike can help boost Palestine’s economic resilience by building and sustaining its private sector.

Engaging the Palestinian public must go beyond initiatives geared towards the government. Equally as important are efforts to engage civil society and youth as equal and reinforcing partners in Palestine’s development and resilience. Due to its long history of activism both at home and in solidarity with global human rights movements, Palestine possesses one of the richest civil society ecosystems in the world. Civil society organizations – from education-focused groups in Nablus to land-preservation movements in Hebron – are leading the charge on many critical issues in Palestine. More efforts are needed to raise awareness

Further, we must continue to support initiatives that build the Palestinian public sector’s sustainability. Several existing pipelines for public funding and investment come to mind. The 66

PIF operates through three sectordriven impact-investment arms and one asset-management group – each of which is focused on maximizing impact and boosting Palestine’s economic resilience. PIF leverages its capital base to encourage local and global firms, institutions, and funds to invest in Palestine and support the development of its private sector. Partnerships are critical to PIF’s work as a way to bring regional and global firms to Palestine and to expand foreign direct investment.

Finally, and most importantly, we must expand our efforts to empower Palestinian youth – and encourage them to assume positions of leadership within their communities, nation, and economy. Empowering the next generation of Palestinian leaders will help convince local and international partners alike of Palestine’s commitment to a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future.

Dr. Mohammad Mustafa is chairman of the board of directors of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and senior adviser to the president of the State of Palestine on economic affairs. Dr. Mustafa has extensive international experience with the private sector, government, global institutions, and academia. He served as deputy prime minister for economic affairs in 2013 and as deputy prime minister and minister of national economy from 2013–2014. On the international front, he has held senior positions across a variety of sectors at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., for a period of 15 years. Dr. Mustafa was born in Palestine in 1954. He holds PhD and master’s degrees from The George Washington University and a BSc degree from Baghdad University.

After all, the Palestinian people remain our greatest asset. Sustaining our national project means sustaining them – and ensuring that future generations of Palestinians can assume the reigns of their nation. Palestine is already making progress towards building its economic resilience. The Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), which I chair, is proudly among the lead institutions in such efforts. PIF is helping to catalyze investment in many of Palestine’s strategic sectors, with a focus on

i World Bank March 2018 AHLC Report, p. 20, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/324951520906690830/pdf/124205-WP-PUBLIC-MAR14-5PM-March-2018-AHLC-Report.pdf. ii

“Securing Energy for Development in West Bank and Gaza,” World Bank Brief, November 2017, http://www. worldbank.org/en/country/westbankandgaza/brief/securing-energy-for-development-in-west-bank-and-gazabrief.

iii World Bank AHLC Report March 2018 indicates that the main source of high referral rates is Palestine’s “very generous health insurance system,” p. 43, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/324951520906690830/pdf/124205-WP-PUBLIC-MAR14-5PM-March-2018-AHLC-Report.pdf.

AL NAKBA

YEARS ON

70 Years of Nakba A Message from PLO Secretary General Dr. Saeb Erekat

The catastrophe of 1948 was not the end of the Palestinian Nakba since Israel continued its attempts to erase Palestinian identity and national rights. Nakba means the Israeli bombardments of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon during the sixties and seventies, the massacres of Qibya and Kufr Qassem, and the execution of those who tried to return to their land. Nakba means the attempts to deny even the existence of history by criminalizing the commemoration of this day for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Today the Nakba can be seen in the draconian siege against Gaza, in the struggle of the Bedouins in the eastern Jerusalem governorate, in the Old City of Hebron, and also in the Naqab with the so-called unrecognized villages such as Um alHiran. These Palestinians were here before the State of Israel and before the occupation. Nakba means that Palestinian refugees remain in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, as well as in the United States, Canada, and Australia, without being able to exercise their right to return to their homeland. Nakba means that while millions of Palestinians have succeeded in their lives elsewhere, they’re not able to do the same at home: to work, to study, to invest, to play, to dance, to love, to pray, or simply to be... Palestinian.

But the Palestinian people have not obeyed the dictations of our oppressors. We have been able to survive and to turn our case into an international cause for freedom and justice, on par with the liberation movements of the twentieth century – from South Africa to South Asia; from Ireland to South America. I am certain that those who created the first Zionist committees to implement transfer, with the knowledge of British colonialists, would never have expected that 100 years after the Balfour Declaration, the flag of Palestine would be raised in the United Nations and that 138 nations would recognize the State of Palestine. They would never have imagined that civil society organizations from all over the world would adopt the Palestinian cause as their own and that the rights of Palestinian people would be endorsed and recognized by the international community through the United Nations.

here are no words to describe what Nakba means for the Palestinian people. While its literal translation is “catastrophe,” the meaning of our Nakba goes well beyond one particular “catastrophe,” and also beyond a particular date. We are not marking 70 years since the Nakba, but rather we mark 70 years of Nakba. Rather than a particular moment, the Nakba has been an ongoing process of systematically denying individual Palestinians the right to live on their land, and the Palestinian people the right to national and political identity. Nevertheless, no matter how many Nakbas each Palestinian has gone through over the past 70 years, all efforts to eliminate the Palestinian people from this land have failed due to our innate connection here and to the heroism of our proud nation.

Photo courtesy of Daily Sabah.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine began to be implemented in 1948, but its seeds had been planted decades earlier. While early Zionists disagreed about some tactics and how their state would look or function, inherent in the ideology was the necessity to remove the Palestinians from the land. In 1979, 31 years after the Nakba began, an Israeli political censor forbade Yitzhak Rabin from publishing an account in which he, David Ben Gurion, and Haganah member Yigal Allon agreed that the response to the question “What is to be done with the population [of Lydd]?” was “Drive them out.” 68

Some of them expected that by the cowardly assassination in 1948 of Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN mediator who had denounced the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the Palestinian right of return would be eliminated. But, as a result of his reports, the world ended up approving UN General Assembly Resolution 194 guaranteeing the right of return and compensation of Palestinian refugees. Some others thought that by bombarding the PLO in Lebanon, the Palestinian cause would be eliminated. But later on, they saw thousands of Palestinians heroically taking over the streets of the occupied homeland during the first Intifada. Nakba means the attempt to eliminate the existence of Palestine and the Palestinian people. Our collective response to the Nakba has been to strongly embrace our rights as well as our national and cultural identity. Over the past few weeks, the world has witnessed how the criminal Israeli occupation has opened fire against peaceful demonstrations all over occupied Palestine, and particularly in Gaza. The Israeli government is celebrating the Nakba with part of the repertory used in the ethnic cleansing of 1948: the shooting and terrorizing of civilians. But the past 70 years have proven Israel wrong: Palestine hasn’t disappeared from our collective conscience or will. In order to “take Jerusalem off the table,” the Trump administration celebrates the Nakba by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and by moving its embassy to Jerusalem on the very eve of marking 70 years since the beginning of the Nakba. But Palestine, as noted by Patriarch Michel Sabbah, “doesn’t belong to Mr. Trump but to its people first, and we are its people, we are Jerusalem.” The modern history of Palestine has shown that no matter the asymmetry of power, the people of Palestine will never settle for anything less than their legitimate rights. As we mark 70 years of Nakba, we remain committed to a just and lasting peace. President Abbas has presented the Palestinian vision of peace, including the full implementation of international law, the refugee issue, and recognizing the State of Palestine in accordance with UN resolutions. We have invited the international community to assume its responsibility in a productive way, by ensuring accountability and a meaningful process with a clear and limited time frame and terms of reference with one clear goal: The full implementation of the long overdue inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in order to close the dark chapter initiated by the Balfour Declaration, continued by this ongoing Nakba that began with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948. Our objective remains the full realization of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, to live in peace and security side by side with the State of Israel, and to find a lasting solution to all permanent-status issues, including refugees and prisoners. As was beautifully expressed by the martyr Ghassan Kanafani, “Everything in this world can be robbed and stolen, except one thing; this one thing is the love that emanates from a human being towards a solid commitment to a conviction or cause.” Our conviction is to return Palestine to the maps, our cause is freedom and justice. As we mark 70 years of exile since the beginning of the Nakba and over 50 years of occupation, we can say that the path to freedom is difficult but not impossible. As the late Mahmoud Darwish said: “The makers of the Nakba failed to break the will of the Palestinian people and to eradicate their national identity through ‘diasporisation,’ through massacre, through pretending that the mirage was a reality, through the production of a counterfeit history (…) They have failed to push us into absenting ourselves or to cast us into a state of amnesic dementia.” 70

Artwork by Latifeh Yousef.

ersonality of the Month

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh is widely recognized as a philanthropic businessman at the leading edge of change. As founder and chairman of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), he has built an international company that operates out of 100+ offices worldwide as a global provider of professional and educational services. This is the story of a refugee who became a global figure by turning adversities into blessings through understanding suffering and difficult circumstances as gifts for the soul and blessings in disguise. Born in Jaffa in 1938, Abu-Ghazaleh had used to carry a heavy box on my back to flee with his parents to a village in filled with ice cream to sell, and it taught southern Lebanon in 1948. He obtained me the basics of running a business. My a degree in business administration work at a music shop served to develop at the American University of Beirut my passion for classical music – it all on a United Nations scholarship, and paid off,” he explains. this is where he began to consider the His passion for music is unmatched, and sufferings of his early life as blessings in 2013 he received a royal request from that have allowed him to succeed. “I had Her Majesty Queen Noor Al-Hussein to no choice but to study hard in order to revive the Amman Symphony Orchestra, win a scholarship; other students had a mission he passionately accepted. As better lives and better options, but for the patron of the Freunde der Salzburger me the case was different since I had Festspiele, the Lebanese National to spend nights studying under a street Symphony Orchestra, L’Association lamp because we simply did not have pour le rayonnement de l’Opéra National any electricity. But I remember that the de Paris, and other orchestras, Abulight in the street was brighter and better Ghazaleh’s world of music can only be than any light in other houses,” Abudescribed as influential and inspirational. Ghazaleh said with a smile. Believing in the power of technology, Between selling ice cream and offering Abu-Ghazaleh has made it clear that his private lessons, the young Abu-Ghazaleh organization will embrace the fast world tried to make ends meet. “I was forced of high tech to serve his clients and his to study and work at the same time. I employees at any cost. His vision of a 72

better future and his strong belief in the power of youth led him to enter this challenging arena. Intellectual property is another subject that is close to his heart, and since launching Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP), a leading firm among IP-related businesses, he has been recognized as a pioneer in this field. Abu-Ghazaleh has been inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in the United States and has been chairman of the Arab Society for Intellectual Property since 1987. For many years in a row, AGIP was chosen as the best IP firm by Managing Intellectual Property, and in 2000, the firm published The Abu-Ghazaleh IP Dictionary – an industry first. Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh’s vision of establishing an institute that offers world-class education as a human right has led him to create the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University (TAG-UNI), a virtual gateway to the world’s best education, promoting global citizenship and individual responsibility. He also founded the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business (TAGSB) and, in Bahrain, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University College of Business. “Education is what makes this world a better place, and that is why I’m committed to ensuring that education is a right for all,” he said. In 2010, Abu-Ghazaleh launched the “All for Palestine” initiative that aims to highlight Palestinian creativity across the world and promote and support Palestinian achievements in various fields. It reflects the originality and creativity of Palestinians in the diaspora and represents a reliable source for those who aspire to provide a prosperous future for their Palestinian families. As he explains, “All for Palestine tells the story of each Palestinian scientist, writer, actor, official, artist, athlete, and businessman, as well as others who have achieved success in the face of adversity in order to inspire the next generation of Palestinian leaders.”

Abu Ghazaleh’s model for success has been developed upon solid foundations of embracing and adapting to change in order to stay one step ahead of a fastmoving and evolving business world. He has been recognized by the United Nations for his pioneering work and has become a reliable UN partner in his role as chairman of a number of boards and initiatives, including Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), UN Global Compact, United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF), Advisory Committee on Internet Governance, and United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF), among others. Abu-Ghazaleh’s two sons and two daughters are involved with TAG-Org, and the group resembles a traditional global family business. “My grandchildren, who are all grown-ups now, know that happiness, as well as change, starts from the inside,” he stated. There is nothing called free time in the dictionary of Abu-Ghazaleh, and the little time he has he spends reading. “I consider myself a student who has not yet graduated, and that is why I make sure to read everything I can. The subjects that capture my attention today are artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented reality, and virtual reality.”

ook of the Month-1

The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story By Ramzy Baroud Pluto Press, 2018, 280 pages, £14.99 Reviewed by Romana Rubeo

“In The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story, Baroud engages in the crucial reclaiming and decolonization of the Palestinian narrative, or what he calls ‘a history from below’ – the retelling of the Palestinian story from the point of view of its refugees.” Yoav Litvin, Truthout “Tell me, daddy. What is the use of history?” This is the opening sentence of Marc Bloch’s The Historian’s Craft. And this is probably the same question that echoed in Dr. Ramzy Baroud’s mind, inspiring his methodology and his approach to the narration of the historical events contained in this

book. What is the use of Palestinian history, and who is most qualified to render it in the most authentic way possible? The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story contends with these questions, revealing a world of new possibilities, an alternative history, even: a world where the main characters are not

kings, political leaders, or members of the ruling or intellectual elites. In this book, rank, prestige, or clan is of no value whatsoever. A world seen through the eyes of the true protagonists of history, the Palestinian refugees, with one frame of reference in mind, and nothing else: the refugees’ own stories – how they perceive their individual struggles within the larger, more encompassing story of survival and resistance, in an attempt to offer an authentic Palestinian narrative, one that not only challenges the Zionist discourse – ever violent, dismissive, and undeniably racist – but also contests some of the existing narratives that purport to be speaking on behalf of the Palestinian people. The Last Earth is a narrative nonfiction story of modern Palestinian history. It comprises the stories of complex characters whose accounts overlap in terms of the collective experience. To provide a more vivid rendition of emotive personal histories, the author has intentionally taken on the personality of each individual storyteller, internalized (as much as

possible) and retold the stories in a way that aims to respect the dignity of each narrative, while bearing in mind the receptivity of the readers and their ability to engage with the text. The book seems to “destructure” and then restructure the “Aristotelian unities.” The circular timeline allows the reader to follow the characters in different eras, because even the timeline itself is a unique rendition of the perception of time held by the refugees. The final product is closer to the stories of Rosemary Sayigh and Salim Tamari’s documenting of people’s history than to that of the typical narration of Palestine. At times, the narration style may seem somewhat similar to the work of Ghassan Kanafani, Ibrahim Nasrallah, and Abdulrahman Munif, where reality and fiction merge to form a whole new category of literature. The readers learn the stories of several generations of Palestinians in exile, beginning with the Nakba of 1948, in a never-ending journey to find what they perceive as their Last Earth.

ook of the Month-2

Erased from Space and Consciousness Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948 By Noga Kadman Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2015 256 pages, US$ 32.00 Reviewed by Salaam Bannoura

ERASED from SPACE and CONSCIOUSNESS Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948

Noga Kadman

The depopulated Palestinian villages are probably the most powerful element of any commemoration of the 1948 Nakba due to their symbolic relevance to the original inhabitants who were forcibly exiled from their homes to become – along with their millions of descendants – refugees scattered in the diaspora. In Erased from Space and Consciousness, Noga Kadman, an Israeli researcher and licensed tour guide who deals with the hidden layers of the landscape of historical Palestine, critically and thoroughly investigates these villages. She focuses on human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through exploring the encounter between Israelis and Palestinians in the landscape and history of the country. Kadman highlights the aggressive approaches to the process of village depopulation and investigates the reactions and perceptions of Israelis to the act of depopulation – and often erasure – of Palestinian villages after

1948, as well as the strategies used and their justification. Kadman’s vast experience, along with the information she gathered during her extensive research based on official archives, records, and publications, led her 76

to identify several significant aspects of the depopulation process: the destruction of the tangible historical remains of the villages, the politically strategic decision to replace the Arab names of geographical and historical features with Hebrew names after the establishment of the state of Israel, the process of creating new official Hebrew maps, and the way history is presented to visitors of tourist sites that contain remains of Palestinian villages. In addition, Kadman explores the perceptions of Jewish communities that were established after 1948 on top of the ruins of these villages or inside the empty Arab houses. All these factors reveal a pattern of marginalization and erasure, and highlight the complex phenomenon of personal and collective memory and representation. At the same time, Kadman exposes the consequences that this has had on the awareness and consciousness of the Israeli community. The systematic efforts to hide traces of the villages are but a crucial part of the conflict, as they mostly convey political statements through which occupying powers declare ownership of the occupied places. Although the villages were considered undesired elements in the landscape that Israel wanted to create in the newly established state, one can still see remains and traces of the life that once flourished here: walls, glassless windows, water springs, trees, and cemeteries, among others. The countless efforts to erase the past and rewrite history have failed in the face of truth. This valuable work provides a fundamental understanding of the history of the country and the impact of erasure on both the Palestinian and Israeli narratives in the contested land. 77

rtist of the Month

Shehab Issa Kawasmi Born in 1959 in Jerusalem’s Old City, Shehab Kawasmi was tutored by art professors Shibli Kharman and Ibrahim Obeid during the early stages of his artistic development. In 1977, he enrolled at the Artists’ House in Jerusalem to study art, and he completed his studies in Austria and France. Shehab’s first exhibition was held in 1984 at the YMCA in Jerusalem, and in 1985, he held his second exhibition at the Royal Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan. Since then, he has participated in many local and international exhibitions. He is a member of the League of Palestinian Artists, and his work is characterized by historical realism. In 2016, Shehab received the Best Palestinian Artist award given by Al-Quds University for his works that embody Jerusalem. He is the owner of Mishwar, a monthly cultural magazine published in Jerusalem.

from their romanticized perspective. But to the careful beholder, Shehab’s paintings soon reveal their Arab origin and identity. Based on old photographs and prints, they are outstanding for their attention to minute detail and for the ability to use shades and gradation to produce an effect that has been described as similar to a “musical mosaic.” Artistic angles are deliberately selected to highlight the holy sites that embody Jerusalem’s Arab spirit. Thus, they present to the beholder integrated artistic works that draw their beauty from Jerusalem’s glamour and archive the civilization of a people who refuse to be eradicated, embedding them in human memory.

Since 1984, Shehab has been engaged in efforts that aim to record the historical character of Jerusalem, its streets, monuments, and narrations of daily life. His pencil drawings take the viewer back in time to Jerusalem during the Ottoman era and in the early twentieth century, and they document the sites and the social and cultural life of an almost forgotten, glorious past. The artist’s frozen moments offer the viewer images of Jerusalem in its utmost beauty – and may cause us to weep over the relics of the past. From the outset, the drawings may seem reminiscent of Orientalist paintings in which foreign visitors and artists aimed to write the history of Jerusalem 78

Shehab has published several books that contain his works. With his latest output, Kan Yama Kan (Once Upon a Time): Jerusalem 100 Years Ago, he has realized his longtime dream of outlining the history of Jerusalem in a one-volume collection of 100 of his paintings that show Jerusalem as it looked 100 years ago. Currently, he is involved in a project to draw and publish a collection of works that focus on the Haram al-Sharif. Shehab presents his paintings with many contradictory sentiments. Their beauty brings to mind the saddening state of affairs in Jerusalem today yet at the same time entices the viewer to discover a love for Jerusalem that will support efforts to restore its historical, shining elegance and reinstate human justice.

xhibition of the Month

Faces from Erased Places Photographs by John Halaka Al Hoash Gallery, Jerusalem May 10 – June 28, 2018 Presenting the exhibition Faces from Erased Places, as part of the 70th commemoration of the Nakba, is a complicated emotional experience. The commemoration of the Nakba is a mournful remembrance of the beginning of the great catastrophe that displaced the Palestinians in great numbers from their ancestral lands, undermined their relationships to their cultural histories and traditions, and devastated the complex and carefully interlaced fabric of family, clan, and religious affiliations that shaped Palestine’s once-thriving, diverse, and ancient culture. However, the 70th commemoration of

the Nakba must also be seen as a celebration of the survival of the Palestinians, who have repeatedly proven that they are an indigenous people who refuse to be erased from history and who are not willing to be swept away by an ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign that started over 70 years ago.

is the belief that preserving the stories of indigenous Palestinians puts a human face, a living name, and unique sets of experiences on their ongoing occupation and refugee crisis. My artwork is created with the conviction that personal narratives can serve as a powerful catalyst for social and political transformation. The work in the exhibition offers viewers a poetic space to contemplate their personal and collective relationships and responsibilities to the realities of displaced individuals, communities, and populations. The images are constructed of connected pictorial stanzas, conveying incomplete visual narratives that reflect on the fragmented lives and disjointed realities of Palestinians. The portraits individualize Palestinian narratives of displacement, survival, and resistance, making them tangible and irrefutable, and attempt to personalize the abstract notion of the displaced masses, making the individual experiences of Palestinians more real and comprehensible for the viewer. Recording the personal stories of Palestinian survival and resistance helps to ensure that the histories and traditions of Palestinian culture are preserved, and that current and future generations are well informed. Creatively presenting the narratives of an indigenous population facing the threat of cultural annihilation helps to resurrect buried histories, making the unseen seen, and the unheard heard, so that no one can ever say, “I didn’t know.”

The artwork in the exhibition honors the memories, experiences, and cultural survival of four generations of Palestinian men and women who have been geographically divided as a people but psychologically united in their political and national struggle. My overriding objectives in developing this project have been to record, preserve, and present rarely heard personal narratives and life-forming experiences of four generations of Palestinians who are undergoing the agonies of exile and the horrors of occupation. Fueling my motivation to develop this project 80

John Halaka is a visual artist and professor of visual arts at the University of San Diego. A selection of his artwork can be seen at www.johnhalaka.com.

TWiP

itchen

A Taste of Palestine: Menus & Memories, by Aziz Shihabi (1927–2007), features recipes that the author learned from his mother Khadra, who lived to the age of 104 in a Palestinian village to the north of Ramallah. The recipes presented below are for lentil soup, which is one of the main dishes served at Ramadan iftar, the meal that is taken at sunset after a day of fasting. This traditional dish has survived the Nakba and has been cooked in a variety of ways by generations of Palestinian women. We suggest that you take these recipes as an inspiration for your own creativity.

Spinach and Lentil Soup

Shorobat Adas (lentil soup)

•1 lb. fresh spinach

Ingredients •4 tbs butter (or olive oil) •1 large onion, finely chopped

•1 tbs tomato paste (optional)

Put the dry or soaked lentils into a large saucepan. (Soaking the lentils is not necessary, but it reduces the cooking time.) Cover them with about 7½ cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 45 to 90 minutes, according to their quality and size, and whether they’ve been presoaked.

Ingredients •1 cup large brown lentils •7½ cups water or stock (meat or vegetable) or ½ lb. frozen leaf spinach

•1 large onion, finely chopped

Meanwhile, wash fresh spinach carefully and drain well, or defrost frozen spinach in a colander. Cut into •3 tbs oil pieces or ribbons. Fry the chopped onion to a russet color in the oil. •Salt Add the prepared spinach and sauté •Pinch of cayenne pepper over very low heat. It will release a considerable amount of juice. Let it stew in this liquor, covered, for a few minutes, then pour it into the pan with the cooked lentils. Stir in the tomato paste (if it’s to be used), season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper, and simmer until the flavors and colors have blended. Add a little more water if the soup is too thick.

•1 carrot, chopped (optional)ii •1 stalk celery with leaves, chopped •1½ cups lentils •7½ cups water or meat stock •Juice of 1 lemon •Salt and pepper to taste •1 tsp ground cumin (optional) •Garlic-flavored croutons (optional)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the onion, celery, and carrot enough to soften them. Add the lentils and water or stock, bringing it to a boil, and skim if necessary. Simmer gently, covered, until the lentils are very soft. This will take 1 to 1½ hours, depending on the age of the lentils and whether they’ve been presoaked. It should take only about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.

smooth puree. Return the soup to the saucepan and bring to a boil again; add a little water if a lighter soup is desired, or simmer it a little longer to make a thicker soup.

When the lentils are cooked, season the soup with salt and pepper, and if you’d like, add a little lemon juice and cumin. Simmer for a few minutes longer. Rub the soup through a sieve, put it in an electric blender, or squash with a potato masher to make a

(Red, yellow, green, or brown lentils can be used. Small yellow or red lentils will disintegrate, brown ones will not. Although, as with split peas, soaking is often recommended for brown lentils, this is not really necessary.)

Cited here with the kind permission of the author’s wife Miriam Shihab and his daughter Naomi Shihab Nye.

Note from the editor: You can add other vegetables, such as squash or sweet potatoes, which go well with red lentils, or zucchini and potatoes, which go well with green or brown lentils. Top with finely chopped parsley or cilantro.

Serve with small croutons of bread fried in oil to which a clove or two of crushed garlic has been added, just until they begin to turn golden brown. Garlic is not always used, but it enhances the taste of the lentil cream.

Saturday 5 10:00–12:30 Full Presence Mindfulness offers a new vision of what it means to be engaged in life; a way of life beyond the “self” that opens new horizons of meaning and happiness. Organized by Holy Land Trust and Center for Creative Inquiry. Holy Land Trust. Monday 7 – Sunday 13 10:00–19:00 Fair Trade tour organized by the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative.

vents JERUSALEM CONCERTS Thursday 3 20:00–21:30 Wissam Murad, “This is Jerusalem.” The Palestinian National Theatre - El-Hakawati.

BIRZEIT

SPECIAL EVENTS Friday 11 9:00–17:00 “Our Return to the Displaced Villages” is a marathon organized by the Life Makers – Jerusalem. To participate, please register at https://goo.gl/Yv2NEH.

SPECIAL EVENTS Tuesday 8 11:00–14:00 Falling Walls Lab Palestine offers par ticipants the oppor tunity to present an innovative idea in a nutshell (3 minutes) to a distinguished jury from academia and business. Winners qualify for the international Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin on November 8. Organized by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in cooperation with Birzeit University, and supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Birzeit University.

SYMPOSIA Tuesday 1 18:00–19:00 A “tasting conference” as part of French Culinary Week, with the gourmet guide Clémentine Dufour who will talk about a new form of promotion of gastronomic culture in France through guided tours. Organized by L’Institut français de Jérusalem - Chateaubriand and L’Institut français de Gaza Naplouse Ramallah. L’Institut français de Jérusalem – Chateaubriand. Thursday 10 19:00–20:00 “Museums of the 21st Century: Another Model,” presented by Marc Terrisse, who will discuss museum globalization in relation to the establishments inaugurated with great fanfare in the main cities of the five continents. L’Institut français de Jérusalem – Chateaubriand.

RAMALLAH

Saturday 12 15:00–18:00 Dig & Seek Young Excavators, organized by the Palestinian Institute for Training, Teaching, and Innovation (PITTI Academy). The Palestinian Museum.

CHILDREN’S EVENTS Friday 20 13:00–16:00 Fakker o Dawwer Treasure Hunt to find the hidden treasure. Participants will learn new things about their friends and explore knowledge and information. Locked in Ramallah, near Ziryab Restaurant.

TOURS Sundays 6, 13, 20, 27 10:00 Free Heritage Tour in Terra Fidea - Land of Fidelity, a sustainable ecotourism initiative organized by Dar Zahran Heritage Building. Terra Fidea. For more information, please contact info@terrafidea.org.

EXHIBITIONS Saturday 5 10:00–18:00 Spring Market - Shop local artisanal products in the garden. Organized by Mashjar Juthour, Handmade Palestine, and Sunbula. La Vie Café.

NAZARETH LECTURES Friday 11 19:00–20:30 Word of Life is a lecture organized by Focolare Holy Land. Holy Family Center - Opera don Guanella.

SPECIAL EVENTS Friday 4 7:00–12:30 The 6th Al-Bireh Marathon, “Jerusalem Is the Capital of Palestine.” For registration, please visit https://www.facebook. com/events/793567600842443/.

SYMPOSIA Wednesday 9 14:00–15:30 “Museums and Recognition Politics in Settler-Colonial States: Towards Palestinian Alternatives,” by Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod (Columbia University), who will reflect on Palestine’s political impasses in relation to the experiences of other colonized places and peoples, inspired by current debates in critical indigenous and native studies about settler colonialism in such places as Australia and North America. The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit. Wednesday 2 16:30–17:30 Interactive discussion: “The Intifada and the National Dimension of Palestinian Embroidery,” by Dr. Islah Jad who will talk about Palestinian embroidery that was used as an effective weapon and a new means of resistance during the first Intifada. The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit.

BETHLEHEM CONCERTS Wednesday 2 20:00–23:00 Open mic and open jam hosted by Victor Kawwas. Al-Jisser, Beit Sahour. Sunday 6 19:00 Swing dance and concert with Henry and the Mencinis. Hosh Yasmine. EXHIBITIONS Tuesday 1 – Thursday 31 10:00–18:00 Solo exhibition by the self-made artist Bashir Qonqar who currently works and lives in Beit Jala. His artwork is deeply impacted by the death of his father, a martyr during the first Intifada. Bab idDeir Art Gallery.

NABLUS EXHIBITIONS Monday 7 9:00–11:00 Nablus Second Real Estate Development Exhibition. The Palestinian Korean Institute, An-Najah National University.

SPECIAL EVENTS Friday 4, 11, 18, 25 11:00–13:00 Activist Arabic Workshops offers a 5-week workshop, including a Ramadan iftar and field trip, for non-Arabic speakers in the Palestinian solidarity movement. Huriya ArabicEnglish Association, Wadi Fukin.

SYMPOSIA Tuesday 1 10:30–16:00 Women’s Club workshop to discuss various issues that concern Palestinian women. Human Supporters Association.

ccommodation

Caesar Hotel Ramallah

Ambassador Hotel Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, 91196, Tel: 541 2222, Fax: 582 8202 reservation@jerusalemambassador.com, www.jerusalemambassador.com /amb.jerusalem

(118 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)

Al Masyoun, Ramallah Tel: 022979400 Fax: 022979401 info@caesar-hotel.ps, www.caesar-hotel.ps

Carmel Hotel

Christmas Boutique Hotel

Al-Masyoun, Ramallah, Palestine Tel: 2972222 Fax: 2966966, www.carmelhotel.ps

Ali Ben Abi Taleb Street, Jerusalem Tel: 02-6282588, Fax: 02-6264417 christmashotel@bezeqint.net

74 rooms & suites, 20 hotel apartment, Spa, Gym, 2 Bars, 6 conference rooms, 2 restaurants, and indoor parking.

Gloria Hotel

Lavender Boutique Hotel

Latin Patriarch St. 33, Jerusalem Tel 628 2431, Fax: 628 2401 gloriahl@netvision.net.l

Al-Nuzha Street 24 , Ramallah Tel 297 7073 reservation@lavenderboutiquehotel.com, www.lavenderboutiquehotel.com

(104 rooms; mr; res)

Taybeh Golden Hotel

Jerusalem Hotel

15 Antara Ben Shadad St., Jerusalem Tel: 628 3282, Fax: 6283282, raed@jrshotel.com, www.jrshotel.com Jerusalem Hotel

Knights Palace Hotel Freres Street, New Gate, Jerusalem Tel 628 2537, Fax: 627 5390 kp@actcom.co.il

Main Street 100 ,Taybeh (Ramallah District) Tel 289-9440 info@taybehgoldenhotel.com, www.taybehgoldenhotel.com

Sancta Maria Hotel (50 rooms; mr; res)

Dr. Geminer Street, Beyhlehem Tel : 02-2467374/5/6, Fax :02-2767377 info@sanctamariahotel.com, www.sanctamariahotel.com

81 rooms

Pontifical Institute

Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center 3 Paratroopers Road, P.O. Box 20531, Jerusalem, 91204 Tel: 627 9111, Fax: 627 1995, www.notredamecenter.org Pontificial Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center

Seven Arches Hotel Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, 91190 Tel: 626 7777, Fax: 627 1319 svnarch@bezeqint.net, www.7arches.com

Photo courtesy of MOTA

Jericho Resorts Bisan Street, near Hishamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palace, 162 Jericho, Tel: 232 1255, Fax: 232 2189 reservation@jerichoresorts.com, www.jerichoresorts.com Jericho Resort Village

Rawabi Hotel Rental Apartments Rawabi 666, Palestine Mobile: 059 420 4378 rent@rawabi.ps

estaurants

Al Diwan Restaurant Ambassador Hotel

Bab idDeir Cafe & Bar

Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, 91196, Tel: 541 2222, Fax: 582 8202 reservation@jerusalemambassador.com, www.jerusalemambassador.com

Deik Quarter - Manger Square, Bethlehem Tel: 2769222

/amb.jerusalem Middle Eastern, French, and Italian Cuisine

/BabidDeirCB/

Borderline Restaurant Café Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem 97200 Tel 532 8342, contact@shahwan.org Italian Cuisine

Martini Bar AlMasyoun, Ramallah Tel: 2979400 Martini Bar

Martinibar_ramallah

Mates Chocolate n' Coffee House Ramallah- Ain Musbah, Lod St. 022976665 | 0599648648

Mates Choclate n’Coffee House

Cheese & Wine Rooftop Restaurant

(Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center) Tel: 627 9177, rooftop@notredamecenter.org, www.notredamecenter.org Notre Dame Rooftop/Cheese & Wine Restaurant

Jerusalem Hotel Restaurant (Kan Zaman) 15 Antara Ben Shadad St., Jerusalem Tel: 628 3282, Fax: 6283282, raed@jrshotel.com, www.jrshotel.com Jerusalem Hotel

Mediterranean Cuisine

Artoos

The Art of Gelato Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 02 282 5599 https://www.facebook.com/QCenterRawabiOfficial/

Lilac

Pizza, Pasta, & Pastries Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 02 282 5599 https://www.facebook.com/QCenterRawabiOfficial/

Qburger

Pasha's

Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem 97200 Tel 582 5162, 532 8342, contact@shahwan.org Oriental Food

Burger Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 02 282 5599 https://www.facebook.com/QCenterRawabiOfficial/

Shrak

Shawerma & Falafel Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 02 282 5599 https://www.facebook.com/QCenterRawabiOfficial/

Siroter

French Café & Bakery Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 02 282 5599 https://www.facebook.com/QCenterRawabiOfficial/

ttractions

Fun Factory Rawabi Spacious indoor amusement park that offers fun, comfort, and happiness for all ages Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 059 594 9026, https://www.facebook.com/funfactoryrawabi/

Rawabi Extreme Exciting outdoor games in the beautiful nature of Palestine WaDina, Rawabi 666, Palestine Tel: 059 420 4377, https://www.facebook.com/RawabiExtreme

Solomonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pools The City of Cultures and Civilizations Bethlehem +970-2-276-0376, +970-2-276-8250, Fax: +970-2-276-8251 sppd.preservation@gmail.com, solpools@solomonpools.com https://it-it.facebook.com/solomon.pools

Taybeh Brewery Proudly Brewing & Bottling Premium Palestinian Beer since 1994 Near the rotary, Taybeh Village, Ramallah District Tel: 02-289-8868, taybeh@palnet.com, www.taybehbeer.com https://www.facebook.com/taybehbeer/ Opening Hours: Monday- Saturday 8 AM-3:30 PM

Taybeh Winery

Making Boutique Palestinian Wines since 2013

Main Street, Taybeh Village, Ramallah District Tel: 02-289-9440, info@taybehwinery.com, www.taybehwinery.com https://www.facebook.com/Taybehwinery/ Opening Hours: Daily 9 AM-5 PM

Telepherique & Sultan Tourist Center Enjoy the panoramic view of Jericho Elisha's Spring, P.O.Box 12, Jericho Tel: + 972 (2) 2321590; Fax: + 972 (2) 2321598 Info@jericho-cablecar.com, www.jericho-cablecar.com JerichoCableCar

Jericho Resort Resort Village Wishes wishes you happy, Holy holy month you a Happy Month with your Family and Beloved Ones with your family and loved ones Ramadan Kareem Kareem Ramadan 90

Jericho’s Newest Attraction Join the Adventure!

Palestine is lucky to have Jericho. It’s never more than a few hours away, and you can bet it’ll always be warmer than home. This summer, Jericho joins the ranks of global tourism spots with its first state-ofthe-art water park! Built to the highest standards of design and architecture, Safari Aquapark represents a new benchmark of innovation in Palestine’s entertainment and tourism industries and sets a number of regional records and firsts. At 32,000 square meters, Safari Aquapark clinches the title of being the largest water park in Palestine. It holds the honor of having the greatest number of slides in the Middle East, as well as the first artificial beach, the tallest slide, and the largest arcade in Palestine, to name but a few of its many attractions.

Driving along the main road to Jericho’s city center, it’s hard to miss Safari Aquapark’s iconic white tent. Now a notable feature of Jericho’s skyline, this white tent is home to the city’s latest gastronomic marvel. It serves as a gourmet restaurant, which will host some of Jericho’s most memorable Ramadan iftars (meals that break the fast at sunset), weddings, corporate events, and cultural occasions. And then there’s the stage. With a capacity of over 3,000 concert-goers, Safari Aquapark is set to host some of the summer’s most remarkable events. This space will serve as a hub for Palestine’s burgeoning musical scene. Careful consideration has been taken to accommodate every age group – from babies to seniors; and specialized areas will provide something for every individual. A highly trained team of lifeguards ensures that the whole family is in safe hands. Years of adversity have slowed down Jericho’s tourism industry. But the evercharming Moon City stands resilient and readier than ever before to welcome tourists. The oldest city in the world just got its newest attraction – a place to enjoy Jericho’s incomparable climate like never before!

SAFARI AQUAPARK Shinzo Abe St, Jericho - Palestine (02) 231-3232, info@safariaquapark.com, Facebook/SafariAquapark 92

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

ARTLAB

Mob. 0544 343 798, artlabjerusalem@gmail.com

Tel: 627 1711, Fax: 627 1710 info@ncm.birzeit.edu, ncm.birzeit.edu

Al-Jawal Theatre Group

The Magnificat Intstitute

Telefax: 628 0655

Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art Tel: 628 3457, Fax: 627 2312 info@almamalfoundation.org www.almamalfoundation.org

Tel: 626 2626, alruwahtheatre2000@yahoo.com Tel: 234 2005, Fax: 234 2004 info@urmawi.org, www.urmawi.org

Cultural Centre for Child Development

Tel: 626 7111, Fax: 628 3021 information@ps.britishcouncil.org www.britishcouncil.org/ps

Al-Harah Theatre

Centre for Jerusalem Studies/Al-Quds University

Alliance Française de Bethléem

Telefax: 276 7758, alharahtheater@yahoo.com info@alharah.org, www.alharah.org Telefax: 275 0777, afbeth@p-ol.com

Tel: 628 7517, cjs@planet.edu www.jerusalem-studies.alquds.edu

Anat Palestinian Folk & Craft Center

Community Action Centre (CAC)

Telefax: 277 2024, marie_musslam@yahoo.com

Tel: 627 3352, Fax: 627 4547, www.cac.alquds.edu

Arab Educational Institute (AEI)-Open Windows

Educational Bookshop

Tel: 274 4030, www.aeicenter.org

Tel: 627 5858, Fax: 628 0814 info@educationalbookshop.com www.educationalbookshop.com

Artas Folklore Center

Mob: 0597 524 524, 0599 679 492, 0503 313 136 artasfc@hotmail.com

El-Hakawati Theatre Company

Badil Centre

Tel: 583 8836, Mobile: 0545 835 268 f.abousalem@gmail.com, www.el-hakawati.org

Tel: 277 7086

Beit Jala Community-Based Learning and Action Center

French Cultural Centre

Tel: 628 2451 / 626 2236, Fax: 628 4324 ccfjeru@consulfrance-jerusalem.org

Tel: 277 7863

Bethlehem Academy of Music/ Bethlehem Music Society

Issaf Nashashibi Center for Culture & Literature Telefax: 581 8232, isaaf@alqudsnet.com

Tel: 277 7141, Fax: 277 7142

Jerusalem Centre for Arabic Music

Tel: 627 4774, Fax: 656 2469, mkurd@yahoo.com

Bethlehem Peace Center

Tel: 276 6677, Fax: 276 4670 info@peacenter.org, www.peacenter.org

Melia Art Center

TeleFax: 628 1377, Melia@bezeqint.net www.meliaartandtrainingcenter.com

Catholic Action Cultural Center Tel: 274 3277, Fax 274 2939 info@ca-b.org, www.ca-b.org

Palestinian Art Court - Al Hoash

Telefax: 627 3501 info@alhoashgallery.org, www.alhoashgallary.org Tel: 628 0957, Fax: 627 6293, info@pnt-pal.org

Sabreen Association for Artistic Development

Sanabel Culture & Arts Theatre

International Centre of Bethlehem-Dar Annadwa

Telefax: 276 6263, www.inadtheater.com

Tel: 671 4338, Fax: 673 0993 sanabeltheatre@yahoo.com

Tel: 277 0047, Fax: 277 0048 info@diyar.ps, www.diyar.ps

The Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel Tel: 627 9731, Fax: 627 9779 bookshop.americancolony@gmail.com www. americancolony.com

Cultural Heritage Enrichment Center

The Higher Institute of Music

Tel. 237 2863, Fax. 237 8275 arafatn24@yahoo.com

Telefax: 275 2492, highiom@hotmail.com www.thehigherinstituteofmusic.ps

French Cultural Centre

Turathuna - Centre for Palestinian Heritage (B.Uni.)

Tel: 238 5914, Fax: 238 7593 ccfnaplouse@consulfrance-jerusalem.org

Tel: 274 1241, Fax: 274 4440 pdaoud@bethlehem.edu, www.bethlehem.edu

Nablus The Culture

Tel: 233 2084, Fax: 234 5325 info@nablusculture.ps, www.nablusculture.ps

HEBRON (02)

RAMALLAH AND AL-BIREH (02)

Al Sanabl Centre for Studies and Heritage Tel: 256 0280, sanabelssc@yahoo.com www.sanabl.org, www.sanabl.ps

A. M. Qattan Foundation

Beit Et Tifl Compound

Telefax: 222 4545, tdphebron@alqudsnet.com

Tel: 296 0544, Fax: 298 4886 info@qattanfoundation.org www.qattanfoundation.org

British Council- Palestine Polytechnic University

Al Kasaba Theatre and Cinematheque

Children Happiness Center

Al-Kamandjâti Association

Telefax: 229 3717, information@ps.britishcouncil.org www.britsishcouncil.org.ps

Tel: 296 5292/3, Fax: 296 5294 info@alkasaba.org, www.alkasaba.org

Telefax: 229 9545, children_hc@yahoo.com

Tel: 297 3101 info@alkamandjati.com, www.alkamandjati.com

Dura Cultural Martyrs Center

Tel: 228 3663, nader@duramun.org www.duramun.org

Al-Mada Music Therapy Center

Tel: 241 3196, Fax: 241 3197 info@al-mada.ps, www.al-mada.ps

AMIDEAST

Tel: 221 3301/2/3/4, Fax: 221 3305 Mob: 0599 097 531

Al-Rahhalah Theatre

France-Hebron Association for Cultural Exchanges

Al-Rua’a Publishing House

Telefax: 298 8091, alrahhalah@hotmail.com Tel: 296 1613, Fax: 197 1265, Mob: 0599 259 874 akel.nichola@gmail.com

Tel: 222 4811 info@hebron-france.org, wwww.hebron-france.org

Amideast

Hebron Rehabilitation Committee Telfax: 225 5640, 222 6993/4

Tel: 240 8023, Fax: 240 8017 westbank-gaza@amideast.org, www.amideast.org

Palestinian Child Arts Center (PCAC)

ArtSchool Palestine

The International Palestinian Youth League (IPYL)

Ashtar for Theatre Production

Yes Theater

Baladna Cultural Center

Environmental Education Center

Inad Centre for Theatre and Arts

Tel: 238 6290, Fax: 239 7518 nutaleb@hotmail.com, www.nutaleb.cjb.net

Telefax: 274 8726 info@ncm.birzeit.edu, www.birzeit.edu/music

Tel:222 9131, Fax: 229 0652 itv@ipyl.org, www.ipyl.org

Tel: 276 5574, eec@p-ol.com, www.eecp.org

Telefax: 237 5950 information@ps.britishcouncil.org www.britishcoumcil.org/ps

Tel: 274 3071, Fax: 276 7446 tnations@p-ol.com, www.tentofnations.org

Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation

Tel: 532 1393, sabreen@sabreen.org www.jerusalem.usconsulate.gov www.facebook.com/USConGenJerusalem

NABLUS (09)

Tel: 275 0091, Fax: 275 0092 sabreen@sabreen.org, www.sabreen.org

Tel: 222 4813, Fax: 222 0855 pcac@hotmail.com, www.pcac.net

Tel: 276 6244, Fax: 276 6241 info@cchp.ps, www.cchp.ps

Palestinian National Theatre

Tel: 250 3345, info@thefreedomtheatre.org

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

BETHLEHEM (02)

British Council

The Freedom Theatre/Jenin Refugee Camp

Tel: 277 7863

Turkish Cultural Centre

Tel: 626 1045; Fax: 626 1372 yabous@yabous.org, www.yabous.org

Telefax: 582 7218 info@ashtar-theatre.org, www.ashtar-theatre.org

Telfax: 250 4773 center@hakoura-jenin.ps, www.hakoura-jenin.ps

Hakoura Center

British Council- Al Najah University

Yabous Cultural Center

Ashtar for Theatre Productions & Training

Relief International - Schools Online Bethlehem Community-Based Learning and Action Center

Tent of Nations

Tel: 626 0916, www.wujoud.org, info@wujoud.org

http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/americahouse2. html

Tel: 250 2642, 250 2455 info@cinemajenin.org, www.cinemajenin.org

Theatre Day Productions

Wujoud Museum

America House

Cinema Jenin

Telefax: 274 2381, 274 2642 mahasaca@palestinianheritagecenter.com www.phc.ps

Sabreen Association for Artistic Development

Tel: 591 0530/1, Fax: 532 3310 kudustur@netvision.net.il, www.kudusbk.com

Al-Urmawi Centre for Mashreq Music

Palestinian Heritage Center

Tel: 626 6609, Fax: 626 6701 magnificat@custodia.org www.magnificatinstitute.org Tel: 585 4513, Fax: 583 4233 tdp@theatreday.org, www.theatreday.org

Alruwah Theatre

JENIN (04)

Telefax: 274 7945

ultural centers EAST JERUSALEM (02)

Heritage

Tel: 295 9837, info@artschoolpalestine.com www.artschoolpalestine.com Tel: 298 0037, Fax: 296 0326 info@ashtar-theatre.org, www.ashtar-theatre.org Telfax: 295 8435

,Telefax: 229 1559 www.yestheatre.org, info@yestheatre.org

Birzeit Ethnographic and Art Museum

Tel. 298 2976, www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu

JERICHO (02)

British Council

ITIP Center “Italian Tourist Information Point”

Jericho Community Centre

Telefax: 276 0411, itipcenter@yahoo.com

Telefax: 232 5007

Tel: 296 3293-6, Fax: 296 3297 information@ps.britishcouncil.org www.britishcouncil.org/ps

Nativity Stationery Library

Jericho Culture & Art Center Telefax: 232 1047

Carmel Cultural Foundation

Mob: 0598 950 447

Palestinian Group for the Revival of Popular

Municipality Theatre

Tel: 298 7375, Fax: 298 7374

Tel: 232 2417, Fax: 232 2604

Dar Zahran Heritage Building

tamer@palnet.com, www.tamerinst.org

Telfax: 296 3470, Mob: 0599 511 800 info@darzahran.org, www.darzahran.org

The Danish House in Palestine (DHIP)

TeleFax: 298 8457, info@dhip.ps, www.dhip.ps

El-Funoun Dance Troupe

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

Tel: 240 2853, Fax: 240 2851 info@el-funoun.org, www.el-funoun.org

Tel: 295 9070, Fax: 295 9071 info@ncm.birzeit.edu, www.birzeit.edu/music

Franco-German Cultural Centre Ramallah

Tel: 298 1922 / 7727, Fax: 298 1923 info@ccf-goethe.org, www.ccf-goethe-ramallah.org

The Palestinian Circus School

Tel: 281 2000, 0568 880 024 www.palcircus.ps, info@ palcircus.ps

Gallery One

Tel: 298 9181, info@galleryone.ps

The Palestinian Network of Art Centres

Greek Cultural Centre - “Macedonia”

Tel: 298 0036, 296 4348/9, Fax: 296 0326 iman_aoun@yahoo.com

Telefax: 298 1736/ 298 0546 makdonia@palnet.com

The Spanish Cultural Center

In’ash Al-Usra Society- Center for Heritage & Folklore Studies

Tel. 295 0893, chp@panoramacenter.org

Young Artist Forum

Tel: 240 1123 / 240 2876, Telefax: 240 1544 usra@palnet.com, www.inash.org

Telefax: 296 7654, yaf@palnet.com

Zawyeh Art Gallery

International Academy of Arts

Mob. 0597 994 997 anani.ziad@gmail.com, www.zawyeh.net

Tel: 296 7601, info@artacademy.ps

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

Tel: 298 7374, Fax: 296 6820 sakakini@sakakini.org, www.sakakini.org

GAZA STRIP (08)

Mahmoud Darwish Foundation and Museum

Al-Qattan Centre for the Child

Tel: 295 2808, Fax: 295 2809 Info@darwishfoundation.org www.darwishfoundation.org

Tel: 283 9929, Fax: 283 9949 reem@qcc.qattanfoundation.org www.qattanfoundation.org/qcc

Manar Cultural Center

Arts & Crafts Village

Tel: 295 7937, Fax: 298 7598

Telefax: 284 6405 artvlg@palnet.com, www.gazavillage.org

Mazra’a Qibliyeh Heritage and Tourism Centre Telefax: 281 5825, mazraaheritage@yahoo.com /www.geocities.com/mazraaheritage

Ashtar for Culture & Arts

Telefax: 283 3565, atlas9@palnet.com

Nawa Institute

Culture & Light Centre

Tel: 297 0190, info@nawainstitute.org

Telefax: 286 5896, ifarah@palnet.com

Palestine Writing Workshop

Mob: 0597 651 408, www.palestineworkshop.com

Dialogpunkt Deutsch Gaza (Goethe-Insitut)

Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art PACA

Fawanees Theatre Group

Tel: 282 0203, Fax: 282 1602 Telefax: 288 4403

Tel: 296 7601, fax: 295 1849 paca@pal-paca.org, www.pal-paca.org

French Cultural Centre

Tel: 286 7883, Fax: 282 8811 ccfgaza@consulfrance-jerusalem.org

Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE) Tel: 240 7611, Telfax: 240 7610 pace@p-ol.com, www.pace.ps

Gaza Theatre

Popular Art Center

Global Production and Distribution

Tel: 282 4860, Fax: 282 4870 Telefax: 288 4399, art.global@yahoo.com

Tel: 240 3891, Fax: 240 2851 info@popularartcentre.org www.popularartcentre.org

Holst Cultural Centre

Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)

Theatre Day Productions

Tel: 281 0476, Fax: 280 8896, mcrcg@palnet.com Telefax: 283 6766, tdpgaza@palnet.com

Tel: 241 3002

Windows from Gaza For Contemporary Art

Ramallah Cultural Palace

Mob. 0599 781 227 - 0599 415 045 info@artwfg.ps

Tel: 294 5555, Fax: 295 2107 rcpevents@ramallah-city.ps

RIWAQ: Centre for Architectural Conservation

RAWABI

Tel: 240 6887, Fax: 240 6986 riwaq@palnet.com, www.riwaq.org

Itar (Public lectures, workshops and cultural activities) - Rawabi Foundation

Sandouq Elajab Theatre

Tel: 296 5638, 295 3206 sandouqelajab@yahoo.com

Mobile: 0594 204 378 foundation@rawabi.ps Cinema Hall, Q Center, Rawabi 666, Palestine

Sareyyet Ramallah - First Ramallah Group (FRG) Tel: 295 2690 - 295 2706, Fax: 298 0583 sareyyet@sareyyet.ps, www.sareyyet.ps

Sharek Youth Forum

Tel: 296 7741, Fax: 296 7742 info@sharek.ps, www.sharek.ps

Shashat

Tel: 297 3336, Fax: 297 3338 info@shashat.org, www.shashat.org

Tamer Institute for Community Education Tel: 298 6121/ 2, Fax: 298 8160

he Last World

A Gnawing Issue Last week, I shared possibly the most humane 40-second video I’ve ever seen on Facebook. It was about Haj Abu Farouq Shehada, who is currently 90 years old, meeting his sister Rasmia after 70 years of forced separation. Post 1948, Shehada remained in occupied Palestine while his sister ended up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. It took years of coordination and court orders to let the Haj cross into Lebanon to see his sister. The scene was heartbreaking, with Rasmia ululating in typical Palestinian manner and the Haj weeping like a baby. The post was removed by Facebook three hours after I shared it! It was probably my “inciting” comment: “This is what the Palestinian question is ALL about; a story of injustice and dispossession.” When I informed my FB friends about the deletion of the post, many found it on YouTube and reposted it. As they say, even bad publicity is publicity, and the end result was that the post was shared innumerably more times than it would have been had it not been deleted from my timeline! I have to add that I read somewhere that the Haj had seen his sister once in the late eighties, but even so, this is still a very moving story. Indeed, ours is a question of ongoing injustice and dispossession – for 70 years now. Until when? Politics aside, when will those who were forcibly removed from their towns or villages, or even those who fled for safety, be allowed to go back home? When will they be compensated and receive reparation? The question of Palestine is essentially a question of refugees; literally millions of them today. They will not vanish into thin air or be taken care of by the deal of the century that will “transfer” them to Sinai or Mars! All Palestinians know that ending the refugee problem means liquidating the issue of Palestine, and as we see it, the new Palestinian generations are not only more savvy but also more nationalistic than previous generations. According to the +972 blog published on April 18, a number of surveys show that at least a fifth of Israel’s Jewish citizens are open to the idea of Palestinian refugees returning to their homes. If that’s the case, we only have to convince another 31 percent! Only recently, award-winning Israeli author David Grossman was quoted as saying, “If the Palestinians don’t have a home, the Israelis won’t have a home either.” I couldn’t agree more. The question of Palestine will continue to gnaw at Israel and at the whole world until it is resolved and justice restored. Pressure from Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter, and the like will simply not help. As Ramadan is set to begin in mid-May, I would like to wish a blessed Ramadan to all those who will celebrate.

Sani Meo Publisher 98

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