Palestina: erresilientzia (12)

Resilience: the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

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PalMedia@PalBint

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Pelham@Resist_05

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Chay Bowes@BowesChay

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Palestine Highlights@PalHighlight

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Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen_epp

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Saul Staniforth@SaulStaniforth

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Howard Beckett@BeckettUnite

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S.L. Kanthan@Kanthan2030

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Dirk Ehnts@DEhnts

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Thomas Fazi@battleforeurope

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@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu

Salman Abu Sitta

Dr. Salman Abu Sitta in conversation with Ghada Dimashk, live from Beirut

Bideoa: https://www.youtube.com/live/uaiVFViA_LU

We are honored to host renowned scholar and historian, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, Founder and President of the Palestine Land Studies Society (PLS) in London and donor of the Palestine Land Studies Center (PLSC) at the American University of Beirut, in conversation with Ghada Dimashk, PLSC librarian and archivist, for the first installment of Archives & Heritage for Palestine, a series hosted by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar and Tam Rayan, in defense of Palestinian life, land, liberation, and return. Drawing on records, documents and maps from the PLSC collection, our guests will illustrate and explore the role of archives and heritage pertaining to Palestinian history and identity to counter epistemic violence, colonial erasure and the cultural dimensions of genocide.

The Archives & Heritage for Palestine series is a joint initiative of the Middle East Librarians Association (Archives & Heritage for Palestine Advocacy Sub-Group), the American University of Beirut’s Palestine Land Studies Center, Publishers for Palestine, and the Archives & Digital Media Lab; and sponsored by the Lebanese Library Association, CUNY’s Archival Technologies Lab, Library Freedom, and We Here. The series responds to the urgent need to act in solidarity with Palestinian colleagues and institutions in Palestine and the Shetat (Diaspora) to safeguard the heritage, history, and memory of the Palestinian people under settler colonialism and genocide. Through education and advocacy, the series works to surface, connect, amplify, and promote the efforts already underway by Palestinians and supporters in Palestine and around the world in the archives and heritage sectors.

Learn more: https://www.mela.us/2024/05/30/archiv… | https://publishersforpalestine.org/20…

Transkripzioa:

0:17

hello everybody Welcome to archives and Heritage for Palestine our first event

0:24

uh with Dr Salman abua in conversation with r deash i Am Dr jar I’m an

0:31

assistant professor in the department of information science at the University

0:36

dely and Halifax I’m very honored to be your moderator for tonight I would like to

0:44

begin our event with a moment of silence for the martyrs of gazda of Palestine

0:51

all those who have given their lives and Fallen across the region and all around

0:57

the world fighting racism colonialism and oppression thank you

1:11

[Music]

1:32

thank you very much everybody we come here today for a

1:40

solemn and at the same time joyful task of talking about thinking about and

1:47

promoting Palestinian Heritage History culture knowledge in and through the

1:54

archives I would like us to begin uh with a opening remark by the director of

2:02

the Palestine land studies Center here at the American University of Beirut uh

2:07

one of our key partners for this series which I will let you know a bit more about after Dr Ramy Drake speaks please

2:17

Ramy come to the stage thank you very much thank you very much uh um it’s a

2:23

pleasure and an honor to welcome you all here um The House of the palestin land

2:30

studies Center uh I know we are uh numerous in this room and we are even

2:36

more numerous across the Seven Seas I think there are over uh seven or 800 people

2:44

who have registered for this uh this webinar this hybrid event um you know I

2:51

I am the interim director of the Palestine land studies Center let me say a few words about the center uh the

2:58

center was was created by a

3:04

tremendous effort which went on for several years by Dr Salman Abu he took

3:11

the initiative of coming to Au and offering his first his

3:18

experience and secondly his scientific insights into the nakba of Palestine and

3:25

into the evolution of Zionist settler colonialism

3:30

and then he also offered the material that he has used over the years in order

3:37

to develop his understanding and to share with us his extremely profound

3:43

knowledge so we have him to thank for being probably one of

3:50

the few if any I think we may even be the the only ones apart from

3:56

universities in Palestine that have a center that is dedicated to the study of

4:03

Palestine in this study we use archives so when I came to you know when I came

4:09

to be and I’m not going to be a interim director for a very long time it’s been two years we started up at the center

4:17

and we’re Rec we have recruited a new director Dr Zena jalad

4:23

who will be here with us as of September uh but when I came I came from Agri

4:29

culture so Agriculture and land were related and I thought this would be

4:34

something that would bring us together I thought that archives were papers that

4:41

no one could read except a few people have one of them here in the room you know and and are dusty and located in

4:49

Dark Places uh and are really you know just a glimpse of a past that is long

4:56

gone I discovered after I met with Salman I read what he’s done and after I

5:03

started interacting with r and with with the other ladies da and Zab in in the

5:11

center that archives are a very different thing but there is a whole science behind it and more importantly

5:19

and this I found out after I you know I I met with Jamila with Dr

5:26

J I understood that archives are a to resistance that they are not dead that

5:32

in fact they’re alive and that one of our big issues and big problems is that we didn’t archive enough the 1948 neba

5:41

and this is why we’re always trying to unearth everything we know and then as

5:48

this thinking was starting to evolve into the the mind of a s you know a

5:54

simpleton scientist that’s how I would describe myself uh October seven started and we

6:01

thought that this time we were not going to be caught with that and since October

6:07

8 we have been relentlessly documented the Israeli Onslaught on Gaza

6:14

documenting the names of people what they do every single every single shop that sells food

6:22

every single school every single University every single student who has

6:28

died in just with their blood and with their bodies defending their existence on this

6:36

land we have documented this social media today is a tremendous source of

6:42

documentation of you people citizen journalism has done what nothing could

6:48

be done before and under the guidance of Jamila you know we have to thank her for

6:53

that and her experience we are in the process of turning all of this digital

6:59

documentation into true arms for Liberation and resistance and

7:09

this is what the plsc stands for today thank

7:17

you thank you very much Dr I really

7:22

appreciate all the the work that the plsc does and the minute I um came

7:29

across it I knew how important it was for people all over the world to know

7:34

about the plsc and institutions and organizations like it in festine the

7:40

surrounding countries in the region uh this is a series inspired with

7:45

that goal we hear a lot rightly so about the destruction the Looting uh the

7:53

damaging of Heritage and archives and culture in Raza and in Palestine but defin L especially outside

8:01

of the region we hear very much too little about the endless

8:07

Relentless centuries long work that Palestinians and Arabs and their allies

8:12

have done to try to deal with this eraser to try to counter it to build a

8:18

counter archive for Liberation and return so this is one of the aims of the

8:23

archives and Heritage Series this is the first event of the series launched right

8:30

here from Beirut at the venerable jaffet library at the American University of

8:36

Beirut for all of you watching online uh that’s where we’re coming to you from

8:41

and it’s a goal of ours through this series to help surface amplify and

8:47

connect the work of Palestinian and Arab memory workers and archivists with

8:53

people all around the world from the global South to the global North who would like to support and collaborate

9:00

and help counter the archival erasers and the censorship and the disinformation and we’re here to

9:07

Showcase people who are doing this work so that you know who you can connect

9:13

with who you can collaborate with because I hear everywhere I go a a a

9:19

great yearning and Desire by archivists and Heritage and information

9:24

professionals to assist and too little information and networks to do that

9:30

because of the many decades of Silence on the question of Palestine in our Fields as part of that we promise to do

9:37

our best to facilitate those collaborations and Partnerships you can

9:43

always email us and connect with us for that we promise to do our best through this series to provide you the education

9:50

and resources and tools you need anywhere in the world to understand what is the Palestinian archive what is the

9:58

reality facing the Palestinian people dealing with this aspect of their

10:03

history and its preservation and to to provide information and knowledge on um

10:10

what is that the ways in which the Palestinians have given rise to robust

10:17

practices to be able to mobilize archives for Liberation for return as

10:23

part of that we’re going to start today with a few words from our uh partners it

10:29

takes many people to put on this kind of event and I’d like to acknowledge uh our

10:35

partners through having them come and bring some greetings uh and I’ll

10:40

introduce them as we go through we also have a reading of a statement being

10:46

launched by archival Professionals in solidarity with Palestinian archivists

10:51

and memory workers after a 15-week reading group uh that was run by myself

10:57

and Dr James Lowry at the City University New York so we’ll have a few

11:02

members of the reading group come forward announce the statement read it and we will be launching it then for

11:09

signatures so that we can um use that as a way to further bring networks together

11:15

in solidarity and support with Palestinians their archives and their archivists following this brief part of

11:22

the program I promise it will be brief uh we will then get to um the real the

11:29

main part of the program uh with Dr Salman Abu and deash which uh I will say

11:36

now and I will repeat again and again it’s a tremendous honor to have them

11:41

here with us to educate and share and discuss with us this important topic

11:47

that has been um at the center of both their lives for various periods so with

11:53

that said I would like to begin by inviting uh our dear colleague FME from

12:01

the University of the American University of buut libraries to say a

12:06

few words fatme thank you so so so much for hosting us here good afternoon everyone and uh I’m

12:15

speaking today on behalf of the library the library director Dr lman asked me to

12:21

do that and uh I start by welcome you all very warmly and I tell you that it’s

12:29

the privilege and uh it’s our privilege to be hosting this event today in the

12:35

University Library the which is H featuring The archiving Palestine and

12:41

hosting who else than Dr bua Who is a very well-known expert and a well spoken

12:51

activist on the Palestinian nakba uh as Librarians we look up to Dr

12:58

vetta because he is surp surpassed many of us uh he is a brave and tireless AR

13:06

archivist whose work surpassed The Works of many University libraries and research centers trying to document the

13:13

modern history of Palestine personally I see uh Dr Sitta as a hero from Gaza uh

13:21

who amazes us with his ability resist and fight back in his own way uh

13:27

collecting evidence of land dispossession and people expulsion and

13:32

proactively uh formulating a practical plan to return

13:37

for Palestinian refugees uh the university libraries have has and always continue

13:46

to support the work of the Palestine land Society processing the collections donated by uh Dr busetta at the

13:54

University Library saving Palestinian Heritage has always been our our choice

13:59

and our duty in 2011 we have we have worked on processing 1,000 hours of oral

14:07

history interviews with Palestinian refugees around the sub subject of nakba

14:13

today uh these interviews are accessible freely on the internet and could be

14:19

searched and listened to from all over the world H now I thank you again for

14:25

coming and I welcome Dr B and and look forward to uh hear their conversation

14:32

thank you thank you so much basma and again

14:39

thank you so sorry Fatma basma will be coming next so actually why don’t I go

14:44

ahead and call bessma Shabani the president of the lianes Library Association um bessma you’ve been doing

14:51

this work of networking and connecting Professionals for so long and partly why

14:57

we’re here is because of your work so thank you basma go ahead good

15:04

evening I would like to greet you and welcome you in jaffet

15:12

library in the name of the deanes Library Association I’m honored to be

15:18

partner of the series of archives and Heritage for Palestine led by by Dr

15:24

Jamila gadar and Tam ran I’m very glad to attend this important event about the

15:31

conversation with Dr Salman busetta conducted by our

15:38

colleague deash and hosted by Au jaffet Library it’s really a great initiative

15:44

from Palestine land studies Center to invite Dr abusa in solidarity with what

15:50

is happening now in Palestine and in particular in Gaza the Lebanese Library

15:56

Association as an act of solidarity has hosted two weeks ago in its sixth

16:03

conference uh a very interesting session about safeguarding of Palestinian cultural heritage where the speakers

16:10

showcase their project and initiatives to protect tangible and intangible

16:17

cultural heritage of Palestine and in order to document the right of

16:22

Palestinian who are living under occupation and under aperti regime and

16:28

lately subject to ethnic cleansing and genocide when I first met Dr uh abua in

16:38

2022 in jaffet library he tried to explain to me how to take care and how

16:45

to process his collections of books and archives he donated to the Palestine

16:50

land study center in AU he also evoked how he’s claiming the digitization and

16:57

Publishing online of the personal document of Palestine Palestinian

17:02

refugees in Ana leanon he’s not only a scholar uh and author of 400 articles

17:10

and books about Palestine question but also an activist for the right to return

17:17

of Palestinian to their own land they forced to leave after massacr committed

17:23

by Zionist terrorist gangs of hagana andern and some

17:29

Dr abetta is is an archist by Nature uh I would like to Avail myself

17:37

of this opportunity to thank the members of MAA committee above Palestine question and

17:44

LC subject headings the colleague IM Denise Sufi Amal Mory Magda fad Cyrus

17:52

Ford Zen Zang NG Al Gamal and myself for the the great

17:59

uh job they did in adding the subject heading Palestine question in the

18:05

Library of Congress subject heading list after 75 years of the

18:11

NBA thank you all for coming I leave the floor now for the our out our online

18:18

participant and to deas to explore the Treasure of Dr abua thank

18:27

you thank you so much BMA we just had the most incredible conference for the

18:32

Lebanese Library Association uh what a week ago and I want to go on record by

18:38

saying it’s my favorite Library conference I’ve ever attended anywhere in the world and I’ve been too many um

18:44

I’m very honored and pleased to share with everyone that Dr furi the president

18:50

of the American University of Beirut is here I wonder if I could put him on the spot to say a few words if you don’t

18:56

mind Dr hurri please thank you

19:02

thank you very much I’m going to be brief uh because so many appetizers before the

19:07

main course one gets satiated uh I will go back to our first meeting

19:13

wasman about eight and a half years ago shorter shortly after I started when I

19:19

tried to make the case which fortunately eventually with Dr bck was successful that the Palestine land

19:26

studies uh not only are safest at AU but they belong with au and they belong to

19:33

the world but they’re best propagated here I think I used the phrase if memory

19:40

serves me of tagen tagen is the German expression for the Eraser of

19:46

history and uh sadly because it looks quite interesting these days I remember

19:51

saying specifically that even if you put these archives at Columbia University the wrong thing happens an electrical

19:58

fire and they’re gone and I felt they would be not just safest here but they

20:03

would be most widely used here because we will make them available to the

20:08

world one of the most effective ways of changing history is to erase the history

20:16

of others we’ve seen it in the United States with the uh Native Americans and

20:21

the things that we learned as children that the Native Americans and the pilgrims sat down and smoked the Peace

20:29

Pipe and ate something over Thanksgiving and all was good you know you learn by the time you’re in high school this was

20:35

a myth uh and it’s said that the very people who were the subject of tven

20:43

decide to participate in the same process uh many decades later of course

20:49

they had learned the process of the Eraser of History very very well because

20:54

their own history was being erased that’s why it’s a particular honor and a privilege to have this

21:01

Center here we have a conference in a few weeks Dr will be back I think we

21:07

sent a clear message against touch Fen with the selection of this year’s onr

21:13

but I believe that Generations uh to come will realize just

21:19

what an Incredible Gift Dr abua has given them he’s given them the

21:25

foundations for a long long series of studies but also for a message of hope

21:33

so with that I want to say thank you thank you to the committee thank you to Ramy who served selflessly for multiple

21:41

years until we finally found a director of the Palestine land studies that both

21:47

this fairly critical and selective gentleman friend of mine and I and the Provost and everyone are happy with but

21:55

Rami has continued to be occupied day and night by our conference on rebuilding the

22:02

health sector and Gaz is’s actually working with Martin Nim to put together the program and I hope that in that

22:10

conference which is about the future we will recognize the Treasures of the past

22:15

that you have gifted us so thank [Applause]

22:22

you thank you very much Dr huri as you all know this is a hybrid event it was

22:28

originally meant to be a virtual event but we had the great luck that me and R and Dr Salman all happened to be in

22:35

Beirut at the same time so there are hundreds of people watching us online on multiple platforms and pages and just to

22:42

give you a sense of that we’re going to go online in a minute and hear from some of our key Partners one of the key

22:50

partners of the series along with the people you’ve heard from so far is the Middle East Librarians Association and

22:57

I’m very glad to have greetings from the president Heather Hughes so we’re just going to switch to looking online and on

23:05

the TV and for everyone online you just keep doing whatever you’ve been

23:13

doing um hello everyone um let’s see um

23:19

as president of the Middle East Librarians Association um I want to thank uh Professor clar for leading the

23:26

initiative to form the archives and Records Management training and advocacy group um as well as other members of the

23:32

group for holding the archives and Heritage series um I don’t really have

23:37

adequate words to situate um the importance of cultural heritage after recent and ongoing Horrors um but I um

23:47

I’m so grateful to this group for growing Community which I see will create more opportunities to be in

23:54

solidarity with Palestine amongst library and information science um and culture cult Heritage workers um so I’m

24:01

looking forward to hearing from today’s uh speakers and guests and I wish I

24:06

could be with you all in in beir um so thank

24:14

you from our online team that there’s some incredible comments coming in from

24:20

Librarians archists and people from all over the world uh unfortunately it’s hard to see that in person here but

24:27

we’ll try to share some uh now we’re going to go and hear from Dr James Lowry from another key partner

24:33

organization the archival Technologies Lab at the City University of New York

24:38

uh Dr James Lowry uh the virtual floor is yours please go ahead thank you so

24:44

much uh we are really proud to be working with so many accomplished Scholars activists archists and

24:50

Librarians um and I want to express my thanks and deep gratitude to Dr Jamila

24:56

gadar and to Tam Ryan both for organizing this important series but also for bringing me and others uh in

25:03

the US and elsewhere into Community around um uh this topic they are both uh

25:10

Jamila and Tam both leaders in anticolonial thinking in archival science so it’s really an honor to be

25:16

working with them um and of course we are deeply honored by the presence of Dr abua whose work has been foundational to

25:24

so much of what is happening today um I’m sure that we will receive

25:30

an uh education listening to the conversation between Dr abua and G deash

25:37

um so looking forward to that thank you so

25:42

much I also like to acknowledge Publishers for Palestine as a partner in

25:49

the herit The Archives and Heritage series and uh thank them for all their assistance and now uh last but not least

25:57

before we go to the main program we’re going to have a few of the members of

26:03

the documentary neba reading group read the statement this is a statement that’s

26:09

being issued from this event and will be circulating uh with a Google form and

26:14

we’re asking all of you the hundreds of people watching us virtually to please

26:20

uh check the chat and take Comm minute and sign the statement and we will be

26:25

launching uh the signatures uh once we have 100 or more signatures in the coming days so please uh go ahead maram

26:33

Dr maram if you could start us off to do

26:53

that thank you for your patience um we’re going to be reading uh

27:00

a statement titled a call to Archive against genocide archivists and memory

27:07

workers and solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian colleagues the statement begins with an

27:14

excerpt from a poem titled urgent new urgent news of the death of Hiba abuna

27:20

by jaah Melo translated from the Portuguese by Grace

27:25

holler but when I read the last words of Hiba abun before she died I was moved to

27:32

spread this news before her Banner could be censored by those who defend selective

27:40

Liberty and uh he quotes from he abun if we die know that

27:48

we are content and steadfast and convey on our behalf that we are people of

27:54

Truth end quote we are witnessing daily a genocide across Gazza live stream to

28:00

our screens now for over 200 days we are witnessing the mass starvation and

28:07

displacement of an entire population within a besieged territory the vast majority of whom are

28:15

refugees from elsewhere in Palestine after a century of colonization and ethnic

28:21

cleansing we are witnessing the systemic destruction of schools universities

28:27

hospitals churches mosques homes and civilian

28:35

infrastructure we are witnessing the cultural and information dimensions of this horror the wholesale looting

28:42

burning bombing and destruction of archives libraries museums archaeological sites records historical

28:50

documents manuscripts lived environments and other material and immaterial traces of

28:57

Palestinian culture culture and history on the land this archival eraser is not

29:02

an exceptional moment in Palestinian history the recent bombings of the central archives of Gaza City the Raa

29:10

Museum the Omari mosque and Library the Edward S Library the AL AXA University

29:16

Library the Islamic University of Gaza library and countless other memory

29:22

institutions in Gaza take their place in history alongside the khil El Sak

29:28

collection that was moted in 1948 with the Hebrew University the American

29:33

colony Studio archive in Jerusalem that was looted in 1949 the Palestinian archaeological

29:40

Museum that Israel appropriated and renamed in 1967 the Palestinian Research Center in

29:47

Beirut which Israel looted and destroyed in 1982 the Arab study Society archive

29:54

which the Israeli government confiscated in 2001 and the khil AL sakakini

29:59

cultural center that was vandalized in 2002 archival eraa and epistemic

30:07

violence are a colonial tool to reinforce a false perception of Israeli historical legitimacy the destruction

30:14

and looting of archives and Records repositories alongside information censorship historical misrepresentation

30:20

and Heritage destruction aimed to erase the Palestinian people both figuratively

30:26

and literally from their ancestral and unseeded land so it can be claimed by settlers alongside the crimes

30:33

commissioned by the Israeli state and its allies supported by white nationalist and settler colonial states

30:39

and institutions like Canada Australia and the United States we are witnessing the

30:46

crimes of omission The Silence of the majority of archival and Records associations Scholars departments and

30:54

institutions across the global North a term used here to refer to States Elites

30:59

corporations and other powerful actors anywhere in the world characterized by

31:04

or benef or benefiting from exploitation oppression and neocolonial

31:12

relations as professionals Scholars and students of archival studies as well as aligned memory and information

31:18

professions and disciplines we issue this letter first and foremost to express our solidarity and support for

31:25

our colleagues in Gaza and across Palestine and the shatat and for their families friends and communities whose

31:32

suffering courage resilience and commitment has astonished and galvanized the world Palestinian colleagues we have

31:39

lost to Israeli violence include Abdul Karim hasha Bilal jadala da al-masri Dr

31:46

Jihad suan al- masri Iman Abu and marvan tazi in recounting their names we commit

31:53

to remembering them sharing their stories and continuing their work to preserve the Palestinian archival memory

32:00

knowledge history and culture we issue this letter to call out

32:07

the silent complicity of archival professional and academic institutions and spaces and the hypocrisy and racism

32:14

that underpin this silence we call on Educators researchers Scholars

32:20

institutions and power Brokers in the archival and aligned memory and information fields to end the prevalent

32:27

disregard and eraser of Palestine and Palestinians in our spaces for too long

32:33

the archival information and memory field have institutionalized and normalized a tacit policy of ignoring

32:40

and enabling Israeli colonization land theft ethnic cleansing and displacement

32:46

we reject with sadness and anger the hypocrisy of those academic professional

32:51

and governmental institutions and personalities who claim to be working for Equity inclusion decolonization

32:58

ation and anti-racism and social justice while remaining silent or enabling the

33:03

Gaza genocide and the colonization of Palestinian history culture knowledge

33:09

and land as such we call on our professional

33:14

and academic archival information and memory work colleagues departments institutions and associations to join

33:22

the global movement for an immediate ceasefire an end to the genocide on Gaza

33:27

and the liberation of Palestinian people everywhere we insist that we must teach

33:32

and learn about Palestine in our professional and academic training programs educational institutions

33:40

curricula and courses we recognize the urgent need for research and Publications in our fields that Center

33:47

Palestinian experiences perspectives and voices there is also an urgent need to

33:55

correct our predominantly reductive and racist catalog bloging archiving and metadata standards Frameworks and tools

34:01

pertaining to Palestinian geographies people communities culture history and materials we must articulate new

34:08

approaches that are informed by the work of Palestinian memory workers over the last century and beyond and key archival

34:14

functions from acquisition and access to archival Arrangement and description you must make a concerted effort to gather

34:20

and platform materials from Palestinian people organizations and communities in Palestine and the shatat and finally our

34:27

call for increased access fall short if we are not also supporting the return of stolen and displaced archives and

34:32

Records to Palestinian memory workers institutions and communities so that the Palestinian people can exercise

34:38

self-determination over their own material worlds and story it is our responsibility to

34:45

boycott and divest from all academic cultural and other Israeli institutions

34:51

and organizations complicit through acts of commission or omission and then

34:56

genocide including those who refuse to speak out against Israeli war crimes and

35:02

apartheid those that receive funding from or collaborate with the Israeli State and those who work with or have

35:09

relationships with the Israeli military everyone must conduct a

35:14

comprehensive audit in their institutions that discloses prominent vendors and assets from anywhere in the

35:20

world which financially benefit from or contribute to weapons manufacturing and

35:27

deligence collection surveillance illegal Israeli settlements and Israeli

35:32

human rights violations make a commitment to divestment and your complicity in

35:38

Israeli genocide war crimes and other grave violations of human rights and international law by boycotting and

35:44

divesting from all those enabling and profiting from these crimes and

35:53

violations is our responsibility to support colleagues facing ensure an

35:58

Institutional discipline for speaking up for Palestinian rights and against Israeli settler colonialism apartheid

36:04

and occupation we must defend the right of everyone around the world to academic freedom freedom of speech and the right

36:12

to assemble and organize against genocide colonialism and aarth in

36:17

Palestine and Beyond in this urgent moment this is a call to all of our

36:23

colleagues around the world and all those who oppose colonialism and racism to mobilize all our knowledge expertise

36:30

skills resources and privilege to counter the cultural dimensions of the Gaza genocide with the goal of

36:37

preserving Palestinian history and memory and most importantly of stopping the genocide and settler colonialism

36:45

perpetuated on the Palestinian people at its score the statement is a

36:51

call for all of us to practice our profession ethically and archive against genocide

37:01

thank [Applause]

37:08

you thank you very much to everyone please online just remember click in the

37:14

chat sign the statement forward the statement and join the movement to transform archival science and end our

37:21

complicity and genocide

37:27

um and we’ll also be emailing it to everybody who registered and is attend

37:34

in attendance here and we’re also going to blast it across social media and we’re going to keep going and going

37:41

until we make sure that this statement reaches everyone it should reach uh I

37:46

want to thank you all for your patience I know that we’ve been a bit longer than expected but this is an event that’s

37:53

also about mobilizing organizing and working for change uh it’s definitely my

37:59

great great honor uh to be here with you Dr Salman to be here with you R Dr San I

38:06

will just say that you must be cited at least a hundred times in my doctoral dissertation it’s impossible to talk

38:14

about Palestine to talk about the Nea and not end up citing you a hundred times that’s my bi biography of you

38:22

foundational work that you’ve done and you’ve been doing this for a very long time

38:28

well uh first of all thank you very much for arranging this event it’s very

38:34

important that we know all the facts the facts uh set us free the facts make us

38:42

make the right decisions also the truth is the basis of Justice we must always seek the truth

38:50

the enemies of Truth do not seek Justice and I ask always always

38:58

who is afraid of Truth only the criminal is afraid of Truth only the criminal who

39:05

wants to hide that and in my case uh as

39:10

any Palestinian who witness an neba on this faithful day of 13th of May

39:17

1948 we were attacked by 24 armed vehicles in my land Al by the

39:25

hagana and they attacked us they destroyed the school which my father

39:32

built in 1920 they destroyed our houses they destroyed the wells and the flower Mill

39:40

and the bayara they destroyed everything they bent everything and they killed

39:46

everyone in sight and I was as a child of 10 amazed who are these people where

39:54

do they come from the elders told me they come from different countries they

40:00

call them vagabonds of the Earth because they came from so many countries they speak different languages I said what

40:07

have we done to them why did they come to us to destroy our life to destroy our

40:13

houses to destroy everything which brings life to us where we lived in

40:19

thousand of years here and this question grasp my attention or my life

40:27

who are these people why do they want to do that when we were uh expelled on that

40:34

day I became a refugee on that day 14th of May 1948 on the very same day when I became

40:43

a refugee after the destruction of our home a man called David Boron sat in Tel

40:51

Aviv and spoke to his Council of settlers in our land and declared the

40:57

state of Israel state of Israel declared on the same day I became a refugee for

41:03

the very same reason then Fortune took me to all corners of the earth after

41:09

that and this question remained in my mind all my life until

41:16

today one thing we must remember that not only we lost our own homes uh like

41:24

all Palestinians not only we lost our land we lost also our identity as a

41:30

legal identity we lost every record of Palestine government we lost

41:37

certificates of birth and death School certificates medical certificates uh

41:43

Banks um records of of harbors and ports

41:49

records of ownership of land we lost every single trace combines us with with

41:57

geography and history but we have one thing left in our mind until today we

42:04

had the memory and the identity so our job in life all of us is to bring

42:12

documents to prove that we have been there and this is our country and this

42:18

is our life um the robbery which has taken place as I said is not only the

42:26

physical features also the um indirect features of our

42:31

life our geography has been denied that we existed our history says that

42:37

Palestine is a land without people um all this um it’s unbelievable case in

42:45

history there is nothing like it neither in colonization nor in occupation or

42:51

anything like that so the question which uh took my

42:58

well more than my attention uh especially when I did my PhD in London

43:04

in 1961 uh is to go to records of the

43:11

British government because 10 years earlier they just left Palestine so this

43:16

is natural thing to do and then over the years I found a very curious situation

43:24

that we in Palestine and also also in vadam all of it and even in Egypt we did

43:32

not B to document our existence because we don’t need to we had families we had

43:38

grandfathers grandparents and so on we know who we are we know where we live we

43:44

don’t need a piece of paper to prove that we belong to this land and where

43:49

did I find these documents these documents will find in the

43:55

colonization um uh records of the countries which came to colonize us the

44:02

records of our mapping our uh Records um

44:08

were found in London in Berlin in other places because they had their plans to

44:15

take over our land from Napoleon 1801 when he came to Palestine and Egypt um

44:23

they have we had an army of Travelers spies priests Travelers adventurers

44:31

surveyors all kinds of things they came to the document our land um uh by all

44:40

kind of means so it was natural then for me to seek uh these records which we

44:48

have denied to have uh in these countries and it took of course uh many

44:55

years to do that um in in Britain for example there are 20 or 30 places where

45:02

you could find these military archives or political archives and all that there

45:09

is not one place in that but then you go over to Germany for example which has

45:15

been fighting first world war with the Turks where I found first aial photos of

45:22

German air force in Palestine you could go further and you could go Napoleon

45:28

when his he has 76 scientists who came to Palestine and Egypt and recorded uh

45:36

uh um our countries uh for them VY came in

45:42

1785 he made maps of belad sham andas as

45:47

they call them in this time but when we go earlier I mean to recent times you

45:55

would like to find what bord did and why did he do that um you know that the um

46:03

first um commissioner General was a Zionist Herbert samel you know for

46:09

example what happened in 1936 to39 when there was a big revolt against the

46:15

immigration of um Ashkenazi to Palestine and all the records now we find them in

46:21

the military archives um of King’s College for example um then you you you

46:28

see further um that how the um uh

46:34

zionists after 1939 Revolt were sure that they will

46:39

capture all of Palestine so they started planning to invade and take Palestine in

46:46

1942 in a conference of builtmore in which 600 Zionist leaders met to create

46:54

Commonwealth uh Jewish Commonwealth in pistan where the British were there and when

46:59

when we know for example that uh 1945 when um the British um

47:07

uh began to think of leaving the the zist attack them they attack their Earth

47:15

wild benefactors because they don’t need them anymore and then we find for

47:20

example 1948 all the records of uh of the massacres 90 massacres at least uh

47:28

committed by zist against uh Palestinians in which they have attacked

47:34

and depopulated 5 530,000 Villages

47:40

and depopulated them and expel them through massacres we also find when you

47:47

check all these massacres in time you find they were planned by region by time

47:54

in nine brigades attacking these Palestinian is that was a deliberate deliberate plan uh to to expel

48:02

Palestinians we kill many of you if you don’t leave we’ll kill you so the answer

48:07

is very clear ethnic cleansing was created in that and when you actually

48:13

look at that the the records are fantastic because you read them with

48:18

with a new look for example you know the myth that Palestine is a land without

48:24

people which was propagated in the 19 Century it tend to me to be not really a

48:31

myth they knew that Palestine was populated it was a plan to make it uh a

48:38

land without people so the genocide germ was created very early on

48:45

that we would like to make Palestine without people and that’s the definition of genocide and while the British were

48:52

in Palestine 1940 um Joseph whites who the head of colonization Department he

48:59

said we shall not leave one Village alone we should not leave that that was

49:05

in 1940 um so uh when you actually go around you find for example uh in the

49:12

United Nations Library uh a very important documentation about the

49:18

massacres uh uh written by I have the records of them you have them now um the

49:24

United Nations truth observers who are un officers uh mostly Europeans they

49:34

document massacres at that time and they say sorry we have no time to document

49:41

all massacres because there are so many so these records of the United Nations

49:47

truth observers are not known to the public they are hidden from them then

49:52

you see for example the Quakers the first Christian group to come to Palestine they are the one actually who

50:00

built the refugee camps in Gaza when they say these people don’t want food

50:05

they want only to uh return home and then when you look at the uh um series

50:13

of actions by Israel after 1948 they did what we call today or then

50:21

ethnic cleansing what does it mean ethnic cleansing it means I take your land and property and thr y if you don’t

50:28

go I will kill many of you to convince you to leave fine well that happens in

50:34

many countries before but what is different in this case is that these

50:42

Palestinians who were expelled have been chased by the Israelis even in their refugee camps not

50:51

only um while they were in in their country but also Refuge camps for example one of the big massacr happens

50:58

in kanun in 1956 in which every house has lost one young man taken out of his

51:04

home and uh and um and killed uh there are so many cases so what is happening

51:13

in this question of ethnic cleansing it was converted over time into genocide

51:22

because that is the case today in Gaza because these people will not go way we

51:27

have to take their country we have to kill them but they seem coming back we

51:32

will chase them why did they for example um make massacres in saan and Janine if

51:40

you look today or here today the news you see that all the attacks about

51:45

refugee camps in Janine refugee camp in in balata refugee camp in na in

51:53

in refug camps they will chase the very same people whom they have tried to

51:59

expel now therefore documentation is the proof not to us not to us to the world

52:07

who supported them we take the records from the west and tell the West again

52:13

look look the record your record show what I told you all the time didn’t

52:19

believe me now you have that record and therefore you have no excuse if you

52:25

ignore the the truth then you are on the side of the criminal and that is the

52:32

reason we created this archives in this

52:38

Center thank you Dr San thank you so much there’s no doubt that the archives

52:45

of the western powers are full of records and evidence of colonial

52:51

crimes all over the world but something different happens when we get our hands on them

52:57

they don’t just sit there hidden in basements doing nothing they actually

53:02

can be connected to the people they’re about for for the ends you’re talking about so thank you for doing that that

53:09

remarkable work L what do you want to add to this conversation um first Dr Salman I want

53:17

to tell you that I’m so proud and I’m so honored that uh I had the chance to

53:23

learn more about the Palestinian case uh to document the Palestinian case and

53:29

archive the Palestinian case uh through your collection and uh I can say that I

53:35

have learned a lot from you in this uh in this matter um during my cataloging

53:42

And archiving I kept asking myself you are an engineer uh how come you decided to go

53:52

and uh start to become a collect collector archive uh is it because as you said the

53:59

struggle against your identity Erasure of your identity uh how did you deal with the

54:06

Erasure of your identity you faced this many time in London um when you issued a

54:13

card for you and there was that your nationality part uncertain they were they wrote uncertain when you asked

54:20

about the maps and uh you said I need a map about Palestine and they said they

54:27

don’t have they they don’t know what’s Palestine and many more incidents uh

54:33

this is one question my second question is have you ever encountered obstacles

54:39

in reaching archive about a Palestinian archive in the west thank you very much

54:46

um I repeat this story all all the time because it it touches my heart um I was

54:53

doing my PhD at University College London uh from 1961 to

54:59

1964 and uh we at the time were given a card called alien’s card um to allow us

55:07

to stay in and so one day I went to the home office um to renew my card and uh I

55:15

I renewed it and I looked at it after I left and then it said next to

55:22

nationality uncertain so I came back I went back to

55:27

the desk of the officer I said what do you mean I am Palestinian my father is

55:34

Palestinian you know that you are 40 years old you must have served in

55:40

Palestinian government 10 years back you know that said and he looked at me you

55:45

know and said sorry young sorry sorry uh it’s only a formality I am uncertain by

55:53

whom by Britain which made B for and we did that so

56:01

um that was yeah of course a big shock

56:07

um but it did not tell me because um um the the the

56:15

the the search for for this was to me Lifeline Lifeline uh when you when you

56:21

collect all this data um as an engineer you mentioned after some time I said what do we

56:28

collect that data for just for history books no we must make it uh the

56:35

foundation for the future so uh why did

56:40

people in the West Colonial West sent emissaries and surveyors in Prelude to

56:48

occupy our country so if I have this data then I should be able to try to

56:56

cover my country um not to me only but to all the others so when we accumulated

57:03

this data um now of course we have new methods like J and statistics and all

57:10

that which is great effort so um what I

57:16

wanted to do is two things land and people land is Palestine and we the

57:23

people and so the element of land was

57:29

necessary to know land we lost so we made a lot of studies over the time and

57:37

we created the atlas of Palestine 1917 to 1966 because it is the period which

57:44

includes the Mandate the neba and thereafter I said 1966 because I wanted

57:50

to avoid 1967 um and and over time over time

57:57

uh let let me tell you one thing when this uh Atlas appeared in 2010 2010 um

58:05

many Israeli universities uh bought it and got it and I know that and believe

58:12

me not one of them made any um any

58:18

question about its accuracy Ben Morris the historian wrote three reviews of the

58:24

atlas and in the end he said well uh um

58:30

the author wants to reconstruct Palestine thank you very much yes this is what I wanted so but he could not say

58:37

this is wrong or this me and that’s why it appeared thereafter the atlas in Arabic

58:45

for us to know and also in Spanish and recently in Russian uh we we had another

58:54

Atlas um uh it’s called Atlas palestin 1871 1877

59:00

which is to me very important because it really relates to Palestine 1900 in

59:05

which there was uh no Zionist colony in Palestine there were of course Jews in

59:14

as people but there was not a plot of land when it says there is that so um

59:20

that’s important now this is the land now we need to know the people so

59:26

Palestine we have record of Palestine before 1948 but after that um they are

59:32

dispersed but we managed to create a database for Palestinians all around the

59:38

world not necessarily very accurate but not wrong in then the last question of

59:46

this here is the land here is the people of the land who is occupying their land

59:51

so we made a study of the immigration Jewish immigration in pistan we know

59:57

where they come from of course they come ashz from Europe uh before 1948 and then

1:00:04

in from 1950 to 1960 they came from Arab countries and in 1967 they came from

1:00:11

Europe and in 1990 they came from Russia and we tried to locate where they are

1:00:17

located um and the Israel statistics Bureau has enough information that so we

1:00:25

ask the simple question who’s living in my land who’s living in your land who’s living in this we

1:00:31

created that um it’s something indisputable because of the fact and we

1:00:37

found very starting results the Israelis list their localities

1:00:43

954 say 1,000 localities but this is misleading because only 5% of them uh

1:00:51

house 90% of Jews and the other 95 localities are planted in order to

1:00:59

prevent the Palestinians from returning which is the kibuts and the Army the Army and the kibot control 88%

1:01:08

of Israel the Israelis live in 12% of even if you want to calculate it in

1:01:15

terms of kilometers it’s 6,000 kilom they are located basically in three

1:01:22

areas T Aviv area West Jerusalem and so I made a plan that we could

1:01:31

return to uh these places 472 Palestinian Villages have

1:01:38

practically no Jews today they could return and then um uh the the Jews who

1:01:46

are in these areas we can offer them cantones three Canon like Switzerland

1:01:52

and the Canon they can have full cultural and uh religious freedom um and

1:01:59

therefore the application of resolution 194 is absolutely feasible from this

1:02:04

point of view there is of course one condition which everybody knows that there could be no life and no solution

1:02:11

with the existence of Zionism and this is not unusual because in Germany Nazis

1:02:18

has been abolished uh in South Africa

1:02:23

AP U Goa Portuguese Goa was in continent

1:02:29

of India for 300 years and then being foreign body in a homogeneous different

1:02:36

homogeneous has no life maai the Chinese maai Hong Kong was in China land they

1:02:43

could these these are like dimples in your body they cannot really but the

1:02:49

condition for peace is that number one human rights must be applied which means

1:02:56

everyone has the right to return to his property and to have his freedom um then

1:03:02

if people want to live under this umbrella with no Zionism no occupation

1:03:08

no aparti no war crimes no genocide they are like uh anybody else when I give my

1:03:16

talks in London University and other places I say why don’t Jews live in Palestine like Jews live in London they

1:03:23

didn’t kill the Jews the the English people and took their land why don’t they live like that why don’t they live

1:03:30

in Palestine like they live in New York yeah they live by the law of the land um

1:03:35

so uh just one more thing I want to add with this knowledge we we we created um

1:03:44

uh not only we have proven uh and by the way I repeat again I stand to be

1:03:51

corrected but I have not seen anything no Israeli however zist disputed any of

1:03:56

the facts we presented right so if that’s the case why don’t we plan for

1:04:02

this and then well if refugees can come

1:04:07

from places we have their names we can know everyone from which Village he’s now in which camp and where he can go

1:04:14

back and we charted Road road maps never

1:04:19

more than 30 or 40 kilomet people in Lebanon can walk in Gaza literally they

1:04:26

can walk literally they can walk and by the way just in a footnote when people in the west say

1:04:34

hostages should be freed I agree I agree they should be freed but there are

1:04:40

hostages 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza in hostage for 76 years

1:04:50

27,000 days and they come from 247

1:04:55

Villages and cities we have maps of them they should be set free they should

1:05:01

return and and this is the answer we uh uh offer to people when they say uh for

1:05:09

example the um the kibuts um uh some of

1:05:15

them who are hostage in Gaza or held in Gaza they are living on my own land I

1:05:22

was born under the place called this is my father’s land so

1:05:30

uh which we have to take it over uh is when Palestinian return they will find

1:05:37

their Villages destroyed uh all right we have enough engineers and uh for to recreate that so

1:05:47

we started eight years ago a comp competition among young Palestinian

1:05:54

artics for their graduation project and we said we’ll give you one Palestinian

1:06:00

Village your job is to redesign its reconstruction complete we have inventory of

1:06:07

550 uh villages and they pick one and

1:06:12

they have um uh present a design for reconstruction The Village so far we

1:06:20

have 12 universities every year participating uh at the moment total of

1:06:26

270 young palestin arst participated we have international British jury every

1:06:34

year they decide the top three designs and every year we as I said we offer the

1:06:43

best design these young people are marvelous they already finished the

1:06:48

complete reconstruction of 60 Villages uh divided by area from the north

1:06:55

Mountain Area from the coastline and so on and this is done by young people who

1:07:01

have never seen Palestine but they have the Ingenuity they have the data they

1:07:06

have the Heritage and they br jury told me we are amazed how could these young

1:07:13

people redesign Palestinian villages with the same Heritage but with 10 times

1:07:19

more people and with new amenities like internet and all that so so um um to

1:07:28

start this recap on the story the uh not

1:07:34

only they took our land but they took the documentation we can recover this

1:07:39

documentation moreover we can create from this documentation the map of the

1:07:44

future and I hope the young people will carry on on this through your the your

1:07:50

Center and your ability to help them Dr Salman we have the atlas here the one

1:07:57

you were talking about of course you have seen the picture of the Israeli soldier sitting on the bench holding

1:08:04

your Atlas I think mocking what would you say about this and maram can share

1:08:10

this picture with our participants for those who didn’t see it that that picture of uh the Israeli

1:08:19

soldier he actually came into uh a house

1:08:24

of uh a relative of mine uh he he got the

1:08:31

atlas in his house in naaza and when the

1:08:36

soldier came you know to destroy houses and to rob the houses actually he found this Atlas now I don’t know what his

1:08:44

Mees were first of all he was curious about this Atlas and he I was hoping

1:08:51

that when he read that Atlas he would say I am a forign ER and this is their country and that’s the proof uh now

1:09:00

whether he was mocking that he said all right it’s your country but we took it but if he has any in inkling of

1:09:08

intelligence you would know I am taking the land of those people and this in the

1:09:13

Pro I have one last question for this part um I have seen among our your

1:09:20

collection that you have a great interest in maps and uh you have told me

1:09:26

some stories about the way you have collected those Maps uh you told me that

1:09:31

some of those Maps there there is no access uh it’s only you have only a photocopy from it and it’s at plsc now

1:09:39

and no one can access this map um currently uh can you tell us it’s really

1:09:47

important for us as archivists to know uh how did you get these maps have you

1:09:54

ever used unofficial ways uh to uh retrieve uh

1:10:01

some of your some of the Palestinian archive well you are asking me to reveal

1:10:07

something I would like to keep hiding um well for one thing when I

1:10:14

started to collect these Maps I am I’m not a government I cannot order it from

1:10:21

uh any government archives or something I have to go like a reader and so the

1:10:27

first thing you could do uh going to all these libraries uh uh in many countries

1:10:33

is to befriend the librarian so first we make friends with the Lian

1:10:40

us I take them to lunch I give them presents and and that kind of thing so

1:10:46

are you GNA take me to lunch Dr

1:10:52

um there was one case one time in United Nations Library um uh when I was trying

1:11:00

to get the Armistice uh Maps uh which was closed

1:11:06

and so on so um I I connived with a friend who helped me uh and um we

1:11:14

invited the librarian to lunch and he and he was away for hour and we

1:11:20

photocopied the which is yeah

1:11:25

but but there is something more interesting than that um I learned that

1:11:31

the British before they left they took many aial photos of Palestine

1:11:38

1945 and um uh I read about this somewhere and and where is this uh

1:11:44

inventory of aial photographs before they left because British has a sorted

1:11:50

history in Palestine and um they probably decided to take take during the

1:11:56

second world war or after to take aerial photos of all of Palestine and then I

1:12:03

don’t know where they are but find I found them it is in the library the Royal Air Force and where is that it is

1:12:11

in a village somewhere in the country uh West country of of

1:12:17

England um and when I try to reach that

1:12:22

it says Joint Forces which means means uh that the Air Force can only deal with

1:12:29

similar Air Force in other countries they exchange information um so I said well let me let

1:12:37

me sit I wrote a letter uh and I said I need two photographs of some place which

1:12:43

is my birth place um uh there was no

1:12:49

reply and then someone said um uh remind them so I said I’m a planner and I

1:12:58

wanted to know this piece of land as a planner how it was and how it

1:13:05

is uh I just need four photographs only of my land um then I called telephone I

1:13:14

telephone the person a Corporal replied to me and he said why do you want this I

1:13:20

said as said I’m planner I’m comparing the AAL photos before and now he said

1:13:27

I’ll call my Superior officer and um and

1:13:33

U I was waiting it was probably 20 seconds or 1 minute it was like eternity

1:13:39

what’s he going to see uh and um he said yes but we need a letter from the

1:13:47

country um uh controlling this land which is Israel of course I said I said

1:13:54

look look this is has nothing to do with isra this is British aial survey you

1:13:59

took it and you are the owner of this said I’ll consult my Superior and after

1:14:05

a little while he came back and said well we’ll give you these pictures and

1:14:11

then he gave me a reference number um so that I called for this I he

1:14:19

gave me a contract number and from this contract number over several months

1:14:24

after that I obtain 10 pictures 20 pictures 30

1:14:31

pictures 40 pictures there is no need for approval because I have a reference

1:14:37

number till I got 5,000 aial pictures with you

1:14:48

with okay you’ve teased us enough tell us what’s in the collection yeah I have

1:14:55

another idea now I have to document the way you track your archive this is very

1:15:02

important it’s is ongoing process you see we should not we should not stop that we know you have faced a lot of

1:15:09

obstacles right and you you were sometimes unallowed to retrieve your own

1:15:14

archive about your own history about your own land yeah we we find a way we

1:15:20

find a way um we should not tell so many sickness

1:15:26

but but this process is going on right now some people are helping so yeah but

1:15:32

but we we we got what what is sufficient now for to know our situation the

1:15:39

question I I must uh leave with you especially you as archists um it’s

1:15:46

extremely important that you make this information known to be acted upon acted

1:15:53

upon the first step to act upon is to make it research for young people but

1:15:59

more importantly it should be the material for the um decision makers to

1:16:07

uh now we have icj in international court of justice we

1:16:12

have the international Court of um criminal court now all this material is

1:16:17

very useful for them very useful for them for example South Africa is taking

1:16:23

Israel to inter National court of justice and and um the Israeli side say

1:16:30

there is no intent for genocide there is killing but there is no intent of

1:16:36

genocide so I sent bag of documents not bag of documents file like that to South Africa

1:16:43

showing that the intent is definitely in the history in history

1:16:50

and it is never is never not the case it’s always the case so what I’m trying

1:16:55

to say is um I hope through you that the

1:17:00

um uh researcher young people even decision makers make use of the data not

1:17:08

just hide it in shelves so make use of that will to create a better future yes

1:17:15

there is a nice story you have told me once you bought a box I think from the

1:17:21

British government and you said you found a copy book in inside that’s copy

1:17:26

what a copy book that includes the names of villages and uh they haven’t recorded

1:17:34

who is the one who wrote those names of villages it’s like I think it he was a

1:17:40

Syrian cartographer Who the British government with them this story it’s

1:17:45

nice for our participants to hear about it that was that was the story of pistan

1:17:52

expression fund when when um the British sent a survey uh to

1:17:59

Palestine 1871 remain to 1877 and um um they produced 12 volumes

1:18:09

and Maps so about 12 years ago uh I went

1:18:15

to they still have this uh Center called palistine exploration fund established

1:18:21

1865 um and I became member of there then I said I wanted to uh know your uh

1:18:28

your records uh uh they let me I have to

1:18:34

pay uh and I paid to in order to open their boxes which is not open for 100

1:18:42

years the the uh uh surveyors who came to pistan

1:18:48

1877 returned with many papers and documents they picked some of these

1:18:53

documents to make maps but they did not include all the

1:18:59

information uh that they brought back so

1:19:04

over a number of years we produced the atlas of 1871 which is based on these

1:19:10

but with the following Corrections number one we found 4,000 names not

1:19:15

mentioned by the bridge survey we added them two we added Arabic names in

1:19:20

addition to English three there was error in the geography because they

1:19:26

didn’t have satellites we now have satellites so we have this U uh uh

1:19:33

correction of the maps but what is surprising to me they referred to quote

1:19:40

unquote Arab scribe Arab scribe who gave them the

1:19:46

spelling of the Arabic names who is this Arabic scribe and you know and I found a

1:19:56

um a master thesis in University of Damascus about him it tend out his name

1:20:03

is nle he is a a Syrian Christian Syrian

1:20:10

from Damascus recommended by the British Council to the team of the British

1:20:16

surveyors saying that he could help you with the Arabic knowledge it turned out

1:20:22

that this man is a Prof professional geographer he wrote books about

1:20:29

Palestine and about Damascus and about um when I saw his handwriting I compared

1:20:36

it with the records found in England and and it is the same same handwriting and

1:20:43

look at the British uh racism they call him Arab scribe and um and in fact he is

1:20:52

more qualified than some of the officers were doing that so anyway we told them

1:21:00

that in so many words in London you you regist do you have the copy book do you

1:21:06

have the copy book yeah yeah well there are so many

1:21:11

things this is an archivist

1:21:19

question oh my God it’s very difficult

1:21:25

we’ll talk later anyway the end result is that we have it we need to use it we need to use

1:21:31

this when you are going to give it to us I give you I give you a lot of things

1:21:37

yeah yes can I ask uh for you to uh

1:21:43

maybe rather just tell us quickly what is in the collection for people who might want to research and then I’d like

1:21:49

to move to um to thinking about RZA In This Moment to thinking about the

1:21:56

archives the people the land um so maybe you can share with us that and we’ll

1:22:03

turn to Dr Salman and then I think we have time for one more question before this is end so the collection of the it

1:22:11

contains around 5,000 books they are organized and Cate categorized the same

1:22:18

way Dr Salman has done at his own home and it was moved to the LSC will put

1:22:25

them on the same way uh he he is really a real archivist because he thinks like

1:22:32

one and when I started uh basma told me that we cannot add Dey number for the

1:22:39

books we have to keep the call number Dr Salman gave to each book and for a

1:22:45

moment I was wasn’t convinced we know Librarians are sometime sometimes stubborn we want to do things according

1:22:52

to standards and then when I started shelfing the books I found out that he

1:22:58

did it he did it but he’s not using D but those books are gathered together

1:23:04

same topic at the same shelf and uh I have noticed that everything about

1:23:09

Jerusalem are gathered together everything about NBA are gathered together uh we can see the narrative the

1:23:16

Israeli narrative facing the Palestinian narrative in this collection and I

1:23:22

was amazed with this and um I kept it this

1:23:27

way uh while cataloging I found sometimes notes written by Dr Salman in

1:23:33

some books so I kept this and I add notes with this uh with this uh precious

1:23:39

notes and uh we also have uh around like Dr Salman said 5,000 aerial maps

1:23:47

collected from the German air flights British Air flights during the World War II um we have some good periodicals and

1:23:56

we have very good digital archive can I say about the database you gave me

1:24:02

recently yeah so he gave us recently a database about 500 Villages destroyed

1:24:10

Village and uh when I start looking at those uh at this data it was really

1:24:16

amazing because each Village has how many number of Arabs living in this

1:24:22

Village how many number of Jews were living in this Village um the families

1:24:27

were living in this Village the history and the geography of this Village and um

1:24:32

what were they were famous some of them were famous with agriculture other was

1:24:38

uh um hunting for example uh how Israeli

1:24:43

invad the village and committed massacres to to these Villages uh we

1:24:49

also have for each Village maps pictures belongs to these Village is uh we also

1:24:56

have some secret documents uh we have digital secret documents and

1:25:04

um and what else we have I told you a lot and we have Maps uh printed Maps is

1:25:12

a photocopy maps that Dr Salman um had struggled to have a copy of this map and

1:25:19

when I started cataloging this map I found out that there we cannot find the original copy of this anywhere none

1:25:27

single Library have cataloged this map or have a copy of this map and this is

1:25:33

what’s make it a valuable resource at psia I I want to end um it’s a sad

1:25:42

ending actually about Gaza Gaza um as

1:25:47

someone who witness a neba 1948 uh it was of course losing a whole

1:25:52

country but the uh blood uh shed and Gaza at the moment

1:26:00

over 110,000 people done in the view of the whole world in the view of the whole

1:26:08

world to see this in 1948 the story about our neba was closed

1:26:14

to the whole world that now everybody can see it with this little mobile and

1:26:20

you can see everything this is a big change but what is

1:26:25

so tragic that although this picture is known to the whole world although uh the

1:26:32

international court of justice uh made uh sittings on that and the

1:26:37

international criminal court is calling Nan how to be called in in spite of the

1:26:43

fact that the United Nations met three times um and their act was nullified by

1:26:52

us veto and now now there are so many things this is

1:26:57

unbelievable unbelievable that everyone in the world should really stand up for

1:27:04

that uh and you you really can also in

1:27:09

comparison see the f-16s and the tanks and mava and all

1:27:15

that for 200 uh more than 200 days

1:27:20

attacking people who have not even single tank and yet they have not

1:27:27

surrendered and they are causing them damage from time to time and they

1:27:33

have not uh not any Arab country stood more than seven days in their Wars and

1:27:41

they had 220 days so the question is is not only the sacrifice what are we doing

1:27:49

where are the millions of Arabs where are the millions of Islamic world where

1:27:55

are the people in in Europe who have Africa and

1:28:00

Asia um which are on our side and even even in in Germany in Germany which is

1:28:07

really the European branch of Israel I was invited to speak in 12 of April last

1:28:15

uh at conference called Palestine conference organized by Germans including German Jews and two minutes

1:28:22

from my talk the 900 policemen came in pulled the plug and they closed the

1:28:28

whole conference so the Western countries which have been fighting us

1:28:37

all these years in First World War even in the Crusaders times and even today they are

1:28:45

the same people who are attacking us all the time they are the very same people

1:28:52

and they failed all this time in the year 1100 they failed in First World War

1:28:59

they failed and now they will fail but at what price will they not learn will

1:29:04

they not learn and I conclude by one thing one point no matter what happens

1:29:12

it’s our responsibility to fight back it’s our responsibility to be

1:29:18

steadfast to do anything we can never give up never give up never surrender no

1:29:25

matter how long it takes this is the message I’d like to leave with you uh I want to add

1:29:34

Dr I would like to add that in collaboration with Dr Jamila gadar with

1:29:40

the help with my colleague Dan we are documenting this genocide we are

1:29:45

documenting And archiving the social media uh with all its aspects thank you very much thank you

1:29:53

for all your work thank you thank you all of you thank you for coming and

1:29:59

either here or on on screen thank you because

1:30:05

truth I repeat my favorite statement truth set you free and who is afraid of

1:30:13

Truth only the criminal only the guilty and therefore we have to chase this

1:30:18

criminal and Guilty by waving the truth weapon in their face

1:30:24

thank you so much Dr Salman with that uh unfortunately we’ve

1:30:32

run out of time um much as I’d like to continue a conversation that feels like

1:30:37

in some ways it’s just began I will remind everyone out there who’s watching

1:30:43

that we’ve heard what it is to have to go around the world to find your records

1:30:49

your history your information in archives held by institutions who never

1:30:56

had the right to this information to begin with if you hold such records

1:31:01

please let us know if you are willing to make it accessible or to return it to

1:31:08

its rightful owners which is the Palestinian people and their institutions please let us know if these

1:31:16

materials are not accessible or not cataloged we will help you do that just

1:31:22

email us and we will make these connections happen and we are also working very hard to launch and

1:31:30

Implement a series of rescue and Recovery operations for digital and

1:31:36

physical archives in Gaza across palistine and in all these surrounding countries if you think you can help if

1:31:43

you have resources and expertise join our Network by emailing us we are going

1:31:49

to keep fighting for the land for the people and for the archive so join us

1:31:55

and thank you

(Michael Hudson-en bidetik)

… the only way of stopping what’s happening in Gaza happening in the rest of the world is to create an alternative to the United Nations, an alternative to the World Bank, to the IMF, an alternative to all the organizations that the United States has controlled to turn the whole rest of the world into Gaza, …

oooooo

Warren Mosler, maisu eta gidari

“Any school of thought that is not ‘MMT consistent’ is inapplicable

with regards to any actual economy”

“DTM-rekin koherentea ez den edozein pentsamendu eskola

aplikaezina zaio gaur egungo edozein ekonomiari”

(Warren Mosler, 2013)

#LearnMMT