| Lectures and Symposia | |
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Lecture (pre-recorded) Blueprints: Domination and Liberation in the Colonial Context Speakers: Amany Khalifa and Yara Saadi Sunday, 13 June | 18:00-19:00 Language: Arabic Place: Palestinian Museum social media platforms Amid the policies of control over sources of knowledge, and with the methodical erasure and banishment of the Palestinian discourse in relation to defining public space and local geography, there is an urgent need to confront the colonialist discourse and to bolster the Palestinian narrative regarding place; for years, up-to-date official Palestinian maps and blueprints for the city of Jerusalem and Palestine in general have been absent. In this lecture, Amany Khalifa and Yara Saadi discuss maps and blueprints as tools of domination over geography in the colonial context and talk about Palestinian initiatives undertaken to resist this reality. |
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Museum Garden Catalogue Launch A Garden among the Hills: the floral history of Palestine (English and Arabic editions) Speakers: Jamil Harb, PhD; Munir Nasser; PhD; Lara Zureikat Facilitated by: Omar Tesdell, PhD Saturday, 10 April l 17:30 – 18:30 Place: Zoom Language: Arabic Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/91704751441 Available in Arabic and English editions, the book documents the floral variety found in the Palestinian Museum gardens. It provides information about each plant’s history, etymology, biology, medicinal and aesthetic benefits as well as other popular uses. It also details the plants’ national and cultural significance, thus shedding light on their association with Palestinian identity. Like the Palestinian Museum gardens themselves, this catalogue recounts the floral and horticultural history of Palestine across different eras. The English and Arabic editions open with forewords by Omar Tesdell, PhD, and writer and poet Zakariya Mohammad. |
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Book Launch Thorough surveillance: The genesis of Israeli policies of population management, surveillance and political control towards the Palestinians (Arabic Edition) Author: Professor Ahmad Sa’di Facilitated by Honaida Ghanem, PhD Wednesday, 21 April | 16:00–17:30 Place: Zoom Language: Arabic Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/92680643119 Originally published in English, this translated Arabic edition is published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. The book presents a thorough analysis of the Israeli policies that were enforced to manage and control the Palestinian population that remained on the lands occupied in 1948 during the military rule period imposed by Israel from the Nakba until 1966. Sa’di chronicles the living conditions of the Palestinians who remained in in the country while tracking the Israeli discourse towards them and outlining how the four years that followed the Nakba were foundational to the formation and establishment of that discourse. Ahmad Sa’di is a professor at Ben Gurion University’s Department of Politics and Government. He co-authored Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory (2007) with Professor Laila Abu-Lughod. He has published multiple articles in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to works published in English, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and German. Honaida Ghanim is a sociologist, anthropologist and Director of the Palestinian Forum for Israel Studies (MADAR). She holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has published numerous studies on settler-colonialism policies in Palestine and on the role of Palestinian intellectuals in the wake of the Nakba. |
| Printed in Jerusalem Exhibition Events July 2020 - February 2021 |
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| Book Launch Jerusalem Lives Exhibition Catalogue; Jerusalem Lives: Biography and the Convoluted Modernity of Jerusalem; And Jerusalem Lives in the Stories of the City and People. Speakers: Salim Tamari, PhD; Omar al-Qattan Facilitated by Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, PhD Wednesday, 17 March | 18:00–19:00 Place: Zoom Language: Arabic In partnership with Institute for Palestine Studies Organised by the Palestinian Museum in 2017, the Jerusalem Lives exhibition is an exploration of the lived experience of Jerusalemites in the shadow of colonialism. Its catalogue serves as a comprehensive record of the artworks and objects featured in the exhibition. These artworks shed light on various facets of life in the city and on its people’s struggle amid Israeli policies of annexation, displacement and ethnic cleansing. Within the same context, and in partnership with the Institute for Palestine Studies, the Palestinian Museum is concurrently launching two distinct volumes of essays (Arabic and English) selected from the hawliyat al-Quds and Jerusalem Quarterly journals respectively. Edited by Salim Tamari, PhD, The volumes seek to trace the course of Jerusalem’s modernity with a selection of essays that shed light on the lives of Jerusalemites who witnessed pivotal moments in Palestine’s history that transformed the social fabric of the city. |
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| Book Launch dakhel al-soor al-qadeem (Within the Old Walls) Writer Bilal Shalash Facilitated by Johnny Mansour, PhD Wednesday, 10 February | 18:00– 19:30 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The book is a study and critical analysis wherein researcher Bilal Mohammad Shalash examines two unpublished manuscripts written by Qassem al-Rimawi (1918–1982), a prominent leader of al-Jihad al-Muqaddas (Army of the Holy War). The first is a 1949 report on al-Jihad al-Muqaddas, submitted by al-Rimawi to the head of the Arab Higher Committee, Haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini. The second manuscript, written in the early-1950s, is about Abdel-Qader al-Husseini. Shalash investigates the shifts in the discourse as they relate to al-Rimawi’s own shift from al-Jihad al-Muqaddas to political work, and to the regional shifts in alliances and socio-political conflicts over the span of a quarter century. Bilal Shalash is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. His current focus is on Palestinian military action during the 1947–49 war, as part of his broader study of the history of modern Palestinian political movements and Palestinian armed resistance. Johnny Mansour, PhD, was born in Haifa in 1960. He is a historian and lecturer who specialises in Middle East studies. Mansour attained his PhD from St Petersburg University. His research focuses on four areas of study: Modern Islamic and Middle East history; Arab Christians of Palestine and the Middle East; the Arab-Israeli conflict; and Palestinian cities, especially coastal cities. |
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 Honak honak… ba’idan fil-lawn (Way Out there in the Faraway Colour), illustrated by Baraa al-Awour |
Book Launch honak honak… ba’idan fil-lawn (Way Out There in the Faraway Colour) Written by Hana Irshaid, Sarah Zahran, Samar Kirresh Illustrated by Baraa al-Awour Facilitated by Hala Shrouf Monday, 11 January | 17:30–19:00 Age group: children (6–11) and their families Language: Arabic Join us for the launch of honak honak… ba’idan fil-lawn (Way Out There in the Faraway Colour), a collection of illustrated stories for children, published by the Palestinian Museum. Across six stories, Laila and Yazan take us on a journey to colourful worlds filled with wonder and amazement. We’ll see Fatema’s wondrous swans and meet Yazan’s invisible friend, Mr Pillow. We’ll discover how a turtle flipped on its back thousands of years ago and became a fossil. We’ll also journey with Laila and Yazan across Palestine’s towns and villages through their wonderful never-ending book. The event will include a discussion with the story writers and illustrator, followed by a hands-on activity for children. This collection of stories is inspired by the interactive family space accompanying the Printed in Jerusalem: Mustamloun exhibition. The space was organised in collaboration with A.M. Qattan Foundation’s Science Studio to produce two of the space’s six interactive stations: “Tinkering at the Printing Press” and “Journeys”. Watch the book launch, here. |
| Symposium Series Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators: Hind al-Husseini* Speakers: Baha Jubeh; Nasab Adeeb Hussein, PhD; and actress Hiam Abbas Facilitated by Abaher el-Sakka, PhD Monday, 25 January | 18:00–19:30 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom https://zoom.us/j/96714650651 Hind al-Husseini’s sheltering and care for 55 children who survived the Deir Yassin massacre was a testament to her understanding of the scope of the tragedy befalling the Palestinian people. The tragedy, she understood, was not limited to ethnic cleansing; it unfolded as a systematic cultural genocide. Dar al-Tifel al-Arabi was an unconventional school that educated its children by incorporating various subjects drawn from daily life. It was grounded in the children’s experiences as well as their psycho-emotional needs, and in a confidence in their ability to revitalize the Palestinian people. As the tragedies mounted, so did the number of children who found sanctuary at Dar al-Tifel, and so did Hind al-Husseini’s methodology advance and her social-educational project expand. She established the Hind al-Husseini College and the Palestinian Heritage Museum, in addition to purchasing the Isaaf al-Nashashibi estate to transform it into a cultural and research centre. *This is part of a series of symposia titled Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators. |
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We are pleased to host celebrated Palestinian actress Hiyam Abbas as a speaker at the Museum’s ongoing symposium series, Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators: Hind al-Husseini. Actress Hiyam Abbas played the role of Hind al-Husseini in the biographical film Miral, directed by Julian Schnabel. Abbas will shed light on the process of inhabiting the role of Hind al-Husseini, including the actress’s quest for details about al-Husseini’s life and personality. She will also address the human and psychological aspects of al-Husseini’s interaction with the children. Don’t miss it! *This is part of a series of symposia titled Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators. |
| Second Annual Conference Unsettling Jerusalem: Academic Reflections and Societal Engagements Wednesday, 9 December | 09:30–16:00 Language: Arabic (simultaneous English translation) Place: Zoom The Palestinian Museum will hold its second annual conference, which complements its outgoing exhibition, Printed in Jerusalem: Mustamloun. Under the title Unsettling Jerusalem, the conference will examine the centrality of Jerusalem in the Palestinian political, cultural and social imaginaries. Through this conference, the Palestinian Museum appends the research upon which its exhibitions, Jerusalem Lives (2017) and Printed in Jerusalem (2020), were built. In pondering the topics to be addressed, we found ourselves speaking of two Jerusalems or more. One lies here: Jerusalem as manifested in the individual and collective imaginaries. Another is more distant, walled off and sealed with military checkpoints, unattainable to Palestinians living in the diaspora, the West Bank, and Gaza. The conference will address the following questions: How can we read Jerusalem in the collective Palestinian imaginary? How is the centrality of Jerusalem represented in the Palestinian cultural sphere? Is there unanimity with regards to one Jerusalem? Is there one Jerusalemite voice? How does resistance mesh with the acts of ordinary daily life in the city? Does Palestinian discourse reflect the reality of Jerusalem and its features? Speakers include: Issam Nassar; Salim Abu Thaher; Maha al-Samman; Ahmad Asaad; Areej Sabbagh-Khoury; Ghassan Halayqa; Fayrouz Sharqawi; Abdel-Raouf Arnaout; Ali Muwasi; Yasser Qous; Camilio Boano; and Nahed Habiballah |
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Symposium Series* Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators: Khalil Sakakini Second Symposium: Khalil Sakakini: Representations of his pedagogical practice in the Palestinian education sector In partnership with Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre Speakers: Munir Fasheh, PhD; Samer Sharif (Arab Education Forum); Muhannad Abdul-Hamid; and Najeh Shahin, PhD Facilitated by Abaher el-Sakka, PhD Wednesday, 2 December | 17:30–19:30 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The second symposium in the series tracks the impact that Khalil Sakakini’s pedagogical practice has had on the education sector in Palestine. It examines the literature of some of the educational initiatives and institutions that adopted Sakakini’s approach as part of an effort to bolster emancipatory learning in the country. *About Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators symposium series Through this series of symposia, the Palestinian Museum seeks to shed light on Jerusalemite educators who implemented innovative ideas in the realm of education at historical moments rife with calamities for the Palestinian people. Chief among those educators are Khalil Sakakini, Hind al-Husseini, and Husni al-Ashhab. Watch the symposium, here. |
| Symposium Series* Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators: Khalil Sakakini In partnership with Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre First Symposium: Features of Khalil Sakakini’s Progressive Educational and Intellectual Project Speakers: Salim Tamari, PhD; Maher Charif, PhD Facilitated by Abaher el-Sakka, PhD Monday, 16 November | 17:30–19:00 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The first symposium in the series sheds light on Khalil Sakakini’s educational practice at the end of Ottoman rule and during the early British Mandate period. It draws from his own memoirs to present an understanding of Palestinian social history while focusing on the pedagogical principles put in practice by al-Madrasa al-Dusturiyya (Constitutional School). *About Reflections on Jerusalemite Educators symposium series Through this series of symposia, the Palestinian Museum seeks to shed light on Jerusalemite educators who implemented innovative ideas in the realm of education at historical moments rife with calamities for the Palestinian people. Chief among those educators are Khalil Sakakini, Hind al-Husseini, and Husni al-Ashhab. |
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 Photo: The Bir al-Sabi’ Grand Mosque in 1906 and the nearby orange groves and municipal house. The photo appears in the book The Naqab Bedouins: A Century of Politics and Resistance by Mansour Nasasra. |
Book Launch The Naqab Bedouins: A Century of Politics and Resistance Author Mansour Nasasra, PhD Facilitated by Marah Khalifeh Wednesday, 28 October | 17:30–18:30 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The Naqab Bedouins: A Century of Politics and Resistance (Columbia Press, New York) is a thorough critical study and an archival chronicle that presents a historical, political and economic perspective on the Arabs of al-Naqab and Bir al-Sabi’. The book launch event follows a 2019 symposium organised by the Palestinian Museum, titled ‘Urban Planning and Settlements: Al-Naqab as a Model’. Watch book launch, here. |
| Lecture-Discussion Theorizing the Archive, the Archive in the Palestinian Context Salim Abu Thaher, PhD Wednesday, 16 September | 11:00–12:00 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The lecture discusses the philosophy of social history and the sociological and geographical dimensions and transformations witnessed by historical literature. It addresses perspectives and changes associated with the approaches, dissection and analysis of the major historical knowledge structures and narratives and discusses the reflection of these developments on the Global South and their archival manifestations locally. |
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| Panel Discussion Jerusalem in the Palestinian Cultural Imaginary A special session of Wednesday’s Conversation, in partnership with the Arab Culture Association* Suhail Khoury, Rawan Sharaf, PhD, and Mohamad Abu AlFilat Moderated by Salim Abu Thaher, PhD Wednesday, 9 September | 19:00–20:30 Language: Arabic Place: Zoom The discussion examines representations of Jerusalem in the Palestinian cultural imaginary and approaches culture in its broad sense on three levels: Arabic and Palestinian song; Palestinian visual arts; and Arabic literature. It seeks to review how this imaginary was formed in relation to Jerusalem through the above-mentioned elements and their interplay within people’s lives. *Wednesday’s Conversation is a discussion programme created and produced by the Arab Culture Association in Haifa. This special episode is presented in partnership with the Palestinian Museum. |
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| Panel Discussion Curriculum as a Battleground: the Israelization of education in Jerusalem Anwar Qadah, Hanadi Qawasmi, Ahmad Iftaiha Wednesday, 26 August | 18:00–20:00 Place: Zoom The discussion focusses on education in Jerusalem amid persistent Israeli attempts at imposing Israeli curricula on Palestinian schools in the city. The panel will detail the history of Israelisation efforts, ongoing since the 1967 occupation, and the ways in which Palestinian educators have resisted those efforts. It will also consider the implications of those attempts over time. |
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| Discussion Series Writing from and about Jerusalem: a series of discussions with Jerusalemite writers 6, 24 August, 6 September| 18:00–19:00 Place: Zoom In a series of individual discussions with distinguished Jerusalemite authors from different generations, Mahmoud Shuqair, Liana Badr and Maya Abu al-Hayyat, we delve into literature’s relation to Jerusalem’s past and present. We highlight these authors’ works as they reflect the city’s various components in all their complexities. |
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| Writing from and about Jerusalem (1) Novelist Liana Badr Facilitated by Bader Othman Thursday, 6 August | 18:00–19:00 Place: Zoom |
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| Writing from and about Jerusalem (2) Novelist Maya Abu al-Hayyat Facilitated by Bader Othman Monday, 24 August | 18:00–19:00 Place: Zoom |
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| Writing from and about Jerusalem (3) Writer and novelist Mahmoud Shuqair Facilitated by Bader Othman Wednesday, 6 September | 18:00–19:00 Place: Zoom |
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Lecture A Brief History of the Press in Palestine Emad Alasfar and Bilal Shalash Wednesday, 29 July | 17:30–19:00 Place: Zoom The lecture focuses on the history of the press in Palestine from the British mandate period until the Nakba. Through this lens, we can closely examine the social, cultural and political history of Palestine during a period marked by instability on the one hand and by Palestinian efforts at resisting Zionism on the other. |
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Talk Designing Palestine (radio/video) Adele Jarrar, Dennis Sobeh, Abdel-Rahman Shabane Monday, 20 July | 17:30–18:00 Monday, 27 July | 17:30–18:00 Place: Radio AlHara and the Museum Facebook page The talk approaches design from two angles, the first being historical and theoretical, in which the contributors will discuss Palestinian design and its political employment in relation to global design movements. It will also examine the concepts of design and printing and their implementation and politics in the Palestinian context, beginning with the Palestinian revolution and arriving at the present day. The discussion will explore the production and means of distribution of political content, especially during the first Intifada, detailing the consequences meted out by the occupation for the production and dissemination of such content. This brings us to design today. What type of material is being designed? How does the design movement reflect socio-political and cultural reality? How is Palestine produced and re-produced in today’s design practices? Is Palestine present in these practices? |
| Lecture Jerusalem is Beautiful at Night: Jerusalemites’ persistent efforts at reclaiming their city Bashar Abu Shamsieh and Daoud al-Ghoul Wednesday, 15 July | 18:00–19:30 Place: Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/99061476004 The lecture centres on alternative political tours of Jerusalem to counter the Zionist tourism industry’s efforts to promote their narratives on Jerusalem. Young Jerusalemites have taken to organising tours of Jerusalem in a popular initiative to reclaim the city and confront its Israelization. The talk takes us on a vivid journey through which we imagine the ancient alleys of Jerusalem and the people that live there while hearing their suppressed stories. |
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| Intimate Terrains Exhibition Activities April 2019 - January 2020 |
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| Material Heritage in Rural Palestine through a Re-examination of the Traditional Olive Oil Press Maissoun Sharkawi, PhD Wednesday, 16 October, 17:00–19:00 Place: the Palestinian Museum Researcher and lecturer of art history and interior design, Maissoun Sharkawi’s research on cultural heritage is underrepresented in Palestine’s literature. She has sought an industrial revival in the production of olive oil, a historically essential ingredient in the Palestinian economy. On this academic journey, she explores manual olive oil presses in technical detail, in addition to the seasonal features associated with them. In doing so, Sharkawi has reclaimed a wealth of forgotten memory for the benefit of the Palestinian knowledge-base. In her examination of cultural heritage through material findings, she foregoes ancient archeological sites, opting instead to study more recent iterations of manual olive oil presses. |
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| Book Launch and Discussion Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation Author Raja Shehade, discussant Tania Tamari Nasir Sunday, 20 October, 17:30–19:00 Place: the Palestinian Museum The Palestinian Museum will host the launch of Palestinian author Raja Shehadeh’s book Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation. Walking the streets of Ramallah on the fiftieth year of the Israeli occupation, Raja Shehadeh records the changing face of the city he calls home. Strolling along the streets, he visits and remembers the places, people and events in his life and tells their stories and what has happened to them. As he grapples with ageing and the failures of the resistance, Shehadeh notes the ways that the past still invades the present. At times elegiac, Going Home, A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation, like all the best travel writing shows how the personal is also the political. Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian author, lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books including Strangers in the House; Occupation Diaries; Language of War, Language of Peace; and Where the Line is Drawn. In 2008, he won the Orwell Prize for Palestinian Walks, published by Profile. Shehadeh lives and works in Ramallah, Palestine. |
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| Book Launch and Dialogue Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David Ohannessian With author Sato Moughalian and Dr Adila Laïdi-Hanieh Sunday, 25 August, 18:30–20:30 Place: The Palestinian Museum The Palestinian Museum will host the launch of Armenian-American researcher Sato Moughalian’s book Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David Ohannessian. Moughalian explores the life and art of her grandfather, David Ohannessian, who owned and led Jerusalem’s “Dome of the Rock Tiles” workshop in Palestine from 1919 until 1948. The book tells the story of the founding of the art of Armenian ceramics in the city, tracing Ohannessian’s steps from the historic Ottoman ceramics center of Kütahya to his arrival and career in Jerusalem through his artistic work in churches, houses, on the walls of the Old City, and elsewhere. |
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Talk: David Ohannessian: From Jerusalem to the World An exploration of David Ohannessian’s artworks in Jerusalem With author Sato Moughalian and Dr Adila Laïdi-Hanieh In partnership with the Educational Bookshop, Jerusalem Monday, 26 August, 18:30–20:30 Place: American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem The Palestinian Museum will host the launch of Armenian-American researcher Sato Moughalian’s book Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David Ohannessian. Moughalian explores the life and art of her grandfather, David Ohannessian, who owned and led Jerusalem’s “Dome of the Rock Tiles” workshop in Palestine from 1919 until 1948. The book tells the story of the founding of the art of Armenian ceramics in the city, tracing Ohannessian’s steps through his artistic work in churches, houses, in the American Colony complex itself, on the walls of the Old City, and elsewhere. |
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Book Launch and Discussion David Ohannessian: How Artisanal Ceramics Flourished in Palestine With author Sato Moughalian Tuesday, 27 August, 19:30-21:00 Place: the Arab Culture Association, Haifa The Palestinian Museum will hold a launch event and discussion of Armenian-American researcher Sato Moughalian’s book Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David Ohannessian, hosted by the Arab Culture Association, Haifa. In her book, Moughalian explores the life and art of her grandfather, David Ohannessian, who owned and led Jerusalem’s “Dome of the Rock Tiles” workshop in Palestine from 1919 until 1948. She tells the story of the founding of the art of Armenian ceramics in the city, tracing Ohannessian’s steps from the historic Ottoman ceramics center of Kütahya to his arrival and career in Jerusalem through his artistic work in the churches, on the walls of the Old City, and elsewhere. |
| Symposium: Archiving in the Palestinian Context Speakers: Roger Heackok, PhD (via Skype), Yasmin Eid - Sabbagh (via Skype), Abdullah Ghassan, Samar Ozrail, Dia Hroub Monday, 23 September, 12:00–16:30 Place: the Palestinian Museum This symposium examines the relationship between archive and power, and between archive and the people. What is the relationship between archive, power, and colonial hegemony? Why is so much importance lent to archiving? Do we archive that which is living, or that which is dead? Does archiving signify the death of things and their departure from the realm of the living? How do we archive in the Palestinian context, in the absence of a state? How can the archive be used as a tool of power and resistance? What is the relationship between archive and art? |
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| Symposium Urban Planning and Settlements: Al-Naqab as a Model Speakers: Dr. Ahmed Amara, Dr. Safa’a Abu Rabi’a, Mr. Kaid Abulatif, Dr. Mansour Nasasrah, Dr. Sophie Richter-Devroe Thursday, 20 June, 12:00–16:30 Place: the Palestinian Museum This symposium addresses the issue of Zionist settlements in the Naqab, expanding analysis of the Israeli colonial settlement project beyond the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Presenters at the symposium will focus on the following topics: - The history of the Naqab and the legal framework for Israel’s land confiscation practices; - Urban planning, the ‘mixed cities,’ and the Judaization of the Naqab; - Military rule, the unrecognised Palestinian villages, and resettlement schemes; - Women's Memory of Beersheba: How do women narrate the Nakba? - The use of urban planning in the Judaization of the Naqab. The speakers: Dr. Ahmed Amara is a lawyer and academic with a PhD in History and Hebrew and Judaic studies from New York University. He has published a number of studies on the Naqab region, including: "Umm al-Hiran as a model for the displacement and relocation of the Arabs of the Naqab." For more, see: Academia / Palestine Studies Dr. Safa’a Abu Rabi’a is a researcher and academic from Beersheba with a PhD in Anthropology. Her dissertation was on oral history of the Nakba as narrated by Bedouin women in the Naqab. Her published research includes: "Land, Identity and History: A New Discourse on the Nakba of the Bedouin Arabs in the Naqab," which appears in Bedouin of the Naqab and Colonialism: New Perspectives. Dr. Sophie Richter-Devroe is an Assistant Professor in the Women, Society and Development Program of the Faculty of Humanities at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Her research explores issues surrounding women and gender in the Middle East, with a particular interest in women and culture in the Naqab. Among her publications is a 2016 article on “The politics of representation: The case of the Naqab Bedouin.” Mr. Kaid Abulatif is a Palestinian researcher and playwright from the city of Rahat and the director of Rahat Municipal Theater - Mihbash. He has published several studies on cinema and theater. Among his works is a research project on the Arab Bedouin of the Naqab in the context of the Palestinian national project. More of his work can be found at: Romman / Ahewar Dr. Mansour Nasasrah is a researcher and an academic specialized in international relations and political science. He holds a doctorate from the University of Exeter and a research fellowship with the Council for British Research in the Levant in London. He has published several academic books and articles, including the 2014 edited volume, “The Naqab Bedouin and Colonialism: New Perspectives.” Amazon / Cup Columbia |
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Dialogue and Catalogue Launch The Near, the Distant: A Dialogue on Palestinian Art History through the Intimate Terrains Exhibition Speakers: Dr. Tina Sherwell, Dr. Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, Artist Hazem Harb Wednesday, 3 July, 18:00–20:00 Place: the Palestinian Museum At this event, the Palestinian Museum launches the catalogue accompanying the Intimate Terrains: Representations of a Disappearing Landscape exhibition. The catalogue includes the research materials assembled by the exhibition curator, Dr. Tina Sherwell, as well as a rich visual collection of photographs of the artworks that comprise the exhibition. Intimate Terrains explores the changing representation of landscape by Palestinian artists and our relationship to place and location in a spectrum of artworks. The depiction of landscape over the decades has been a prominent subject matter for artists, as its topography holds a central place in Palestinian identity formation. Landscape is at once both a vast site of projection and a deeply layered terrain of remains, memories and histories. The dialogue focuses on the history of Palestinian art and the representation of the landscape through presentations that address the key themes of the exhibition as a whole. These presentations will be delivered by the exhibition curator, Dr. Tina Sherwell, the Palestinian Museum Director, Dr. Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, and a video call presentation by one of the exhibition’s participating artists, Hazem Harb. The speakers: Dr. Tina Sherwell is the curator of the Intimate Terrains: Representations of a Disappearing Landscape exhibition. She holds a PhD from the University of Kent and holds an assistant professorship in the Faculty of Contemporary Visual Arts at Birzeit University. Dr. Adila Laïdi-Hanieh is Director General of the Palestinian Museum. She is a writer and researcher specialised in Palestinian culture, and she holds a doctorate from George Mason University. Hazem Harb is a Palestinian artist born in Gaza. He lives between Rome and Dubai. He holds a master's degree in Fine Arts from the European Institute of Design in Rome, and he has participated in many exhibitions in Arab countries and across the world. |
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Platform Launch of the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive Project Tuesday, 9 July, 11:00–13:30 Place: the Palestinian Museum This event will officially launch one of the Museum’s most important initiatives: The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive. This archive will constitute a major component of the virtual platform of the Palestinian Museum, and will include 70,000 digitised documents in a regularly updated open-access digital archive aimed at making accessible documents, printed materials, photographs, films, audio recordings and other materials, and preserving them against loss, damage or expropriation through digitisation. The platform launch event will include a demonstration of the procedures and workflows of the digitisation project; description and display of some of the main collections that will be made available on the platform; and discussion with the owners of some of the key collections. |
| Film Screening and Lecture: What Can People Do without Geography? With Filmmaker and Artist: Sobhi al-Zobaidi Wednesday, 17 July, 18:00–19:00 Place: the Palestinian Museum In his research project "Tora Bora Cinema," Filmmaker Sobhi al-Zobaidi examines the relationship between Palestinian cinema with geography, memory, and their contradictions in the Palestinian context. Palestinians continually create new forms of memory and remembering through the myriad new and creative cultural outputs that we find in emerging Palestinian poetry, cinema, visual arts, and a host of other forms. In this film screening and lecture, we focus on Palestinian cinema. Sobhi al-Zobaidi will discuss films that reflect cinematic attitudes, situations and images associated with the crumbling of aspirations connected to socio-political movements. al-Zobaidi’s approach aims to raise questions about Palestinians' ability to reassert their identities in relation to Palestine as a space, and to deal with such questions not only through the paradigm of a paradise lost, but by reckoning with the actual reality as lived and experienced in the moments in which memory malfunctions because it is no longer compatible with geography. Al-Zobaidi uses the name "Tora Bora" as a site and metaphor. Tora Bora as nature, corridor, refuge, and cinema offers Palestinians this space in which to find safe passage; where Palestinians can smuggle themselves anywhere (within and beyond Palestine) and can go to every place to which they have been forbidden. |
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 Sliman Mansour, Yaffa, 1979. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Yvette and Mazen Qupty Collection. |
Lecture Palestinian Lost Commons: Lessons in Countering Colonialism Speaker: Dr. Ramez Eid Wednesday, April 10, 16:00 - 17:00 This seminar will highlight the participatory system of land management and ownership and its role in structuring relationships within Palestinian society, refuting the orientalist and colonialist claims that describe this system as backward. The lecture will also focus on the historical, social and economic role of the commons (Mesha’) system under the British Mandate and the Nakba. Ramez Eid, academic and researcher from the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 - PhD in Social Anthropology. |
 Jumana Abboud and Issa Freij, Maskouneh (Inhabited), 2017. Video still Courtesy of the artists. |
Panel Discussion Spatial Politics in Palestine and Beyond In collaboration with Palfest Wednesday, April 10, 18:00 - 20:00 Speakers: Dr. Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, Dr. Samia Henni, Madiha Tahir, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Facilitator: Dr. Reema Hamami This panel will discuss spatial politics and the control of space in Palestine and beyond, with the participation of speakers from Palestine, Algeria, Pakistan and the United States. This seminar is organized in collaboration with the Palestine Festival of Literature which takes public space under colonialism as its main theme in 2019, it is also part of the public programme of the Palestinian Museum’s upcoming exhibition Intimate Terrains: Representations of a Disappearing Landscape to be launched on the 2nd of April. |
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The Palestinian Museum at Dar El-Nimer, Lebanon Friday, April 12, 18:00 - 20:30 Dar El-Nimer for Arts & Culture, Beirut, Lebanon Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture and the Palestinian Museum invite you to a conversation with Zina Jardaneh (Chair of the Board of the Palestinian Museum) about the objectives and vision of the Palestinian Museum. The talk will be followed by a virtual tour of the exhibition 'Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery' and the launch of the Friends of the Palestinian Museum This virtual tour is the second one to take place outside of Palestine following its debut at Darat Al-Funun in Amman, Jordan and it runs at Dar El-Nimer until April 30th, 2019 |
| Labour of Love Exhibition Activities March 2018 – December 2018 |
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 City of Science and Industry in Paris. |
Lecture The 21st Century Museums: Transformations and Proposition for a Sustainable and Inclusive Model Speaker: Marc Terrisse Wednesday, December 19 | 14:00 – 15:30 In collaboration with Institut Français Ramallah and Birzeit University The concepts of Museum and Fine Arts Museum have been constantly questioned since their emergence. The national and archeological museums supplemented the first science museums and art history museums. But it is mainly during the 1970’s that new forms of museums are introduced: the “ecomuseum”, the “interpretive center” or the Centre Georges Pompidou. What is left today from those new ideas: the involvement of the public, the mediation, the multidisciplinary or the introduction of a new museum marketing policy? The museum is now a global phenomenon. This museum globalization presents similarities in establishments that have been inaugurated in great fanfare in mains cities throughout the world. Is there a space left, next to those expensive and ambitious projects, for more modest institutions, locally rooted, that would like to offer an alternative model that would not only be based on cultural consumerism but also on a capacity to turn the visitor into an actor of the museum content through a participative and multidisciplinary approach that would be social, artistic and educational? How is the Mashriq facing this phenomenon? By reviewing the main cities’ national and archeological museums of the area that are following the same trends observed in Europe, we will study, through different projects conducted from Sour to Lebanon, the way in which less solemn experiences can find their place inside medium cities or neighborhoods. Such an approach is led with the intention of making local population more involved and of making those projects sustainable in both cultural and financial aspects. Marc Terrisse is a doctor in History and holds a Master degree in Management of Cultural Institutions from Paris Dauphine University. As a CNRS associate researcher, he published several articles and books about contemporary museum problematics. He defends in particular a multidisciplinary and participative approach of those cultural institutions. He also led researches focusing on the Islamic heritage of Provence and Languedoc and is interested in minorities’ issues and in their role in history and culture. Marc Terrisse founded the association Le Regard de l’Autre (“Looking through someone else’s eyes”) that aims to promote minorities’ history and heritage through the organization of cultural events. |
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Tour and Book Launch Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery Exhibition Thursday, October 4 | 14:30 – 18:30 Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery sheds light on an aspect of Palestine’s material history, exploring the ways in which embroidery—although not traditionally associated with political power—has become a locus of agency for those who make it and wear it. Celebration of Palestinian heritage is often extolled as an act of solidarity, but what forms of solidarity do heritage practices address and produce? How do these intersect the problematics of gender, labour and class that the exhibition examines? The Palestinian Museum is launching the book Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery with curator Rachel Dedman and contributors Dr. Tina Sherwell and Chiara De Cesari. Moderated by Dr. Adila Laïdi-Hanieh. |
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Book Launch and Discussion Nabil Anani: Palestine, Land and People With artist Nabil Anani, Dr. Tina Sherwell Saturday, September 15 | 17:00 – 18:30 Over the past five decades, Nabil Anani built an impressive catalogue of outstanding, innovative and unique art, pioneering the use of local media such as leather, henna, natural dyes, papier-mâché, wood, beads and copper. Anani’s development as an artist has run in parallel with major events in recent Palestinian history. His work reflects the lived Palestinian experience, exhibiting distinctive responses to issues of exile, dislocation, conflict, memory and loss. Anani’s artistic vision restores and celebrates a denied and often-forgotten reality, his work re-igniting memory. Bringing together more than 150 of his works, along with contributions from acclaimed Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti as well as from leading Middle Eastern art historians, Rana Anani, Lara Khaldi, Bashir Makhoul, Nada Shabout, Housni Alkhateeb Shehadeh and Tina Sherwell. |
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Interactive Discussion Portraits of Palestinian Women: Orientalist Versus the Real Perspective Speaker: Dr. Issam Nassar Wednesday, July 4 | 17:30 - 18:30 The pictures left by the Europeans about Palestine in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries portray the then-prevailing European perspective of Palestine, a slanted bias which did not reflect the reality of the Palestinian landscape. Photographic interest in the Orient was approached via the romantic perspective which was spreading among Europeans who viewed the Far East as an exotic place, and this romanticism is evident in the photographs which they produced. Indeed, myriad images exist of women from Palestine wearing extravagant dresses and standing in artificial theatrical poses. Labour of Love features portraits which contain anti-colonial perspectives to counter the prevailing images of Palestinian women in these earlier centuries. The portraits evade the colonial gaze through which most images of Palestinian women were captured. This exhibition displays photos taken in local studios or with family cameras that portray women in traditional or modern embroidered/non-embroidered costumes, photographed in poses that they chose for themselves. Most of the portraits are drawn from the Palestinan Museum’s intimate archive of photographs donated from personal collections. An interactive discussion will be held with a researcher on Palestinian history, Dr. Issam Nassar, in order to both read the history of Orientalism and to behold the transformation of the photographic representation of Palestinian women. |
 Photo by Lena Sobeh |
Interactive Discussion The Intifada and the National Dimension of Palestinian Embroidery Speaker: Dr. Islah Jad Wednesday, 2 May | 17:30 - 18:30 When the first intifada broke out in 1987 Palestinian embroidery was used as an effective weapon and a new means of resistance. In response to the Zionist occupation’s confiscation of Palestinian flags during demonstrations, and its prohibition against the display of the flag’s colours in public spaces, women of the West Bank began to produce “intifada gowns”, adorning their grey, blue and black cloth with embroidered national designs and symbols as visual representations of their resistance. Thus despite the view of embroidery as a distinctly feminine concern, its identification with resistance gave women the opportunity to challenge their traditional roles and assume new ones. Similarly resistance through embroidery offered the opportunity to do away with class distinctions among women, and to turn women with no social or political privileges into active and influential participants in resistance efforts. The intifada gowns and the narratives of the women who embroidered them, presented in the Labour of Love exhibition at the Palestinian Museum, will constitute the starting point of a discussion led by Dr Islah Jad. The discussion will delve into the national dimension of embroidery from a woman’s perspective, and will seek to comprehend the role of women in resistance during the 1987 intifada, and the contradictory effects of that intifada on women and the women’s movement, in addition to understanding the national dimension of the activities of women who continue to embroider professionally in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, women whose narratives are rarely recognised in the context of national struggle. |
 Photo by Lena Sobeh |
Seminar Transformations in the Textile Industry of Gaza and al-Majdal Speaker: Dr. Rashad al-Madani Sunday, 6 May| 11:00 – 12:30 Place: the Islamic University, Gaza/Conferences Hal, Tayba Building Among the many characteristics that distinguish the Gazan embroidered dress from other dresses belonging to different regions in Historic Palestine, the historical value of its textile is what renders it unique. Dr. Rashad al-Madani, a researcher in the fields of oral history and Palestinian heritage, will discuss the developments that the textile industry has witnessed in Gaza and al-Majdal. Such developments manifested in Palestinian traditional customs and the oral history narrated around the textile industry such as Palestinian folkloric songs pre the 1948 Nakbah. The seminar will also shed light on the transformations that occurred to the raw materials used in the textile industry post the Nakbah and how the industry has gradually shifted from al-Majdal to Gaza to ultimately disappear. This declared the end of a craft that not only generated income for many Palestinians but also carried a great historical value. The seminar will be moderated by the Gazan writer, Ghareeb al-Asqalani, and the Collections Registrar at the Palestinian Museum, Baha al-Jubeh via video conference from Ramallah. |
 Photo by Iwan Baan |
Lecture Museums and Recognition Politics in Settler-Colonial States: Towards Palestinian Alter/natives In collaboration with the Master Programme in Israeli Studies and the Bachelor Programme of Contemporary Visual Art at Birzeit University Speaker: Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod Wednesday, 9 May | 14:00 Abu-Lughod will reflect on Palestine’s political impasses in relation to the experiences of other colonized places and people, inspired by current debates in critical indigenous and native studies about settler colonialism in places like Australia and North America. Her lecture focusses on the promises and pitfalls of new imaginations of sovereignty and self-determination that are emerging in indigenous activism and how they relate to the politics of museums. Through a journey that will take us to key museums and to rituals marking recognition and apology around the world, she ends by raising questions about how we might interpret the current emergence of Palestinian cultural projects like the Palestinian Museum. Can the settler colonial framework burst open the Palestinian political imagination? |
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Interactive Talk The Economics of Embroidery Speaker: Dr. Samia Al-Botmeh Sunday, June 24| 14:00 – 15:00 The history of embroidery has always been connected to a market of sale, not least through the trade of textiles and the production of fabrics. In Palestine, however, its labour tended to be personal: historically, embroidery was hand made by a woman for her own wear. The Nakba significantly altered the structure of embroidery’s production. Although there were embroidered items made for the market before 1948, the Nakba split rural women from their self-sufficient livelihoods in agriculture, forcing them to seek waged work instead. After the Nakba, many charities were established to constitute the pillars of political resistance by supporting women and their families through providing them with jobs. However, this was the outcome of integrating women into the labour market, which led in turn to the governing of embroidery’s production through capitalist modes. Nowadays, Palestinian embroidery is prevailing as a commodity for consumption, and this fact stirs complex questions concerning the nature of embroidery as a product. We will discuss with Dr. Samia Butmeh, assistant professor of economics at Birzeit University, the transformations in the production modes of embroidery and the political and social dimensions that resulted from such transformations. The lecture will draw on how these shifts affected both the reality of Palestinian women and the essence of embroidery, taking into consideration that the production of embroidery is time-consuming and requires extraordinary manual skills to generate unique and enduring pieces. The discussion panel will raise questions such as: what is it like to import embroidered pieces from China as opposed to the intimate process of hand crafting them in Palestine? |
Photo by Lena Sobeh |
Interactive Discussion The Intifada and the National Dimension of Palestinian Embroidery Speaker: Dr. Islah Jad Wednesday, 2 May | 17:30 - 18:30 When the first intifada broke out in 1987 Palestinian embroidery was used as an effective weapon and a new means of resistance. In response to the Zionist occupation’s confiscation of Palestinian flags during demonstrations, and its prohibition against the display of the flag’s colours in public spaces, women of the West Bank began to produce “intifada gowns”, adorning their grey, blue and black cloth with embroidered national designs and symbols as visual representations of their resistance. Thus despite the view of embroidery as a distinctly feminine concern, its identification with resistance gave women the opportunity to challenge their traditional roles and assume new ones. Similarly resistance through embroidery offered the opportunity to do away with class distinctions among women, and to turn women with no social or political privileges into active and influential participants in resistance efforts. The intifada gowns and the narratives of the women who embroidered them, presented in the Labour of Love exhibition at the Palestinian Museum, will constitute the starting point of a discussion led by Dr Islah Jad. The discussion will delve into the national dimension of embroidery from a woman’s perspective, and will seek to comprehend the role of women in resistance during the 1987 intifada, and the contradictory effects of that intifada on women and the women’s movement, in addition to understanding the national dimension of the activities of women who continue to embroider professionally in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, women whose narratives are rarely recognised in the context of national struggle. |
 Photo by Lena Sobeh |
Seminar Transformations in the Textile Industry of Gaza and al-Majdal Speaker: Dr. Rashad al-Madani Sunday, 6 May| 11:00 – 12:30 Place: the Islamic University, Gaza/Conferences Hal, Tayba Building Among the many characteristics that distinguish the Gazan embroidered dress from other dresses belonging to different regions in Historic Palestine, the historical value of its textile is what renders it unique. Dr. Rashad al-Madani, a researcher in the fields of oral history and Palestinian heritage, will discuss the developments that the textile industry has witnessed in Gaza and al-Majdal. Such developments manifested in Palestinian traditional customs and the oral history narrated around the textile industry such as Palestinian folkloric songs pre the 1948 Nakbah. The seminar will also shed light on the transformations that occurred to the raw materials used in the textile industry post the Nakbah and how the industry has gradually shifted from al-Majdal to Gaza to ultimately disappear. This declared the end of a craft that not only generated income for many Palestinians but also carried a great historical value. The seminar will be moderated by the Gazan writer, Ghareeb al-Asqalani, and the Collections Registrar at the Palestinian Museum, Baha al-Jubeh via video conference from Ramallah. |
| Lecture Museums and Recognition Politics in Settler-Colonial States: Towards Palestinian Alter/natives In collaboration with the Master Programme in Israeli Studies and the Bachelor Programme of Contemporary Visual Art at Birzeit University Speaker: Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod Wednesday, 9 May | 14:00 Abu-Lughod will reflect on Palestine’s political impasses in relation to the experiences of other colonized places and people, inspired by current debates in critical indigenous and native studies about settler colonialism in places like Australia and North America. Her lecture focusses on the promises and pitfalls of new imaginations of sovereignty and self-determination that are emerging in indigenous activism and how they relate to the politics of museums. Through a journey that will take us to key museums and to rituals marking recognition and apology around the world, she ends by raising questions about how we might interpret the current emergence of Palestinian cultural projects like the Palestinian Museum. Can the settler colonial framework burst open the Palestinian political imagination? |
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