THE INDEPENDENT PERSONAUTY OF THEPALESTINIANS*

Türkkaya ATAÖV

The exodus and the dispersal of the Palestinian peopJe af-ter the occupation of thcir land by the racist Zionist entity cculdnot hinder the tradition of national expression. This expression,linked to thc national question, \Vas cven developed as a reactionto foreign invasion. No doubt, the Palestinian armed strugglc,following the Israeli attack in 1967, has caused an explosion ofapotential energy not only in terms of ınilitary force, but in therealm of eulture and arts. Palestinian eulture, 'in the form ofpoetry, faIk ta les, popular singing, daneing, national eostumes,embroidery, ceramies, earving, glass and metal work or variousother forms of expression, is the vivid proof of the existence ofa homeland and a peopie's ycarning for it.

The Palestinian masses, under oecupation or in exilc, aregathering, safeguarding and developing their own eulture,knowing full well that the preservatiorl' of culture is an effectiyeway ofresistanee to attempts undt>rmining national eonsciousness.The Zionist entity has not only looted the land of the Palestini-ans, but is alsa suppressing their culture and what is more, tryingto usurpe it from them. But tl'!.-ePalestinians are engaged in a .strugglc to obtain. recognition of their independent ı:ersonalityand existence. In spite of Zionist aggression, the 1'oots of a peop-le, deep in the Palestinian soil , cannot be erased.

** *The Palestinians were aware of the dangers posed by Zio-

nist immigration, mueh carlier than generally aceepted. Throug-hoııt many centuries, the Holy Land prospered under the tolerantnıle of Arab and Ottoman Turkish so\creigns, who safeguarded

* This paper was prcpared for an international confcrence in Baghdad (Iraq)in 1979.

72 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVII

the rights cf all faiths. The Zionists, on the other hand, wereplanning to transform this land into an exclusively Jewish state.This drive for immigration, aggression and conquest, often refer-red to as "exclusiveI1ess", was characterized "as a form ofracismand racial discrimination" in Resolution 3379 adopted by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations on November the ıoth,1975.

Nine years after the first wave of Jewish immigration toPalestine, which occurred in 1882, came the first official Palesti-nian protest in the form of a petition to the Ottoman Porte requ-esting prohibition of entry and land purchase by the Zionists.1This reaction did not emanate from naught. Palestine was inha-bited bya people whose sons and daughters were the indigenouslegitimate heirs of successive Arab generations. Nevertheless,Theodore Herzl's report on this visit to Palestine in 1898 did nothave a single word on the Arab population.2 All other Zionist,-leaders pursued the same line of deniai. The former Israeli Premi-er Golda Meir, for instance, had inquired: "Where is this Pales-tinian people?"

The Palestiniaıı peeple have been in Palestine since the Arabconquest of Syria in the Seventh Century A.D. They have beenwaging against Zionist immigration an armed resistance, the signsof which appeared as early as 1886, coupled with certain formsof political protests. The second wave of Zionist immigration,which began in the first deeade of the Twentieth Century, laidthe foundation of the policy of Jewİsh labour, from which theindigenous Palestinians suffered. Arab writcr Naguib Nassarhegan to utilize his paper Al-Carmel (1909) as an instrumentfacing Zionist settlement. Naguib Azuri, an Arab from Jerusalem,had aıready founded (1905) a society in Paris caIIed the Ligue dela Patrie Arabe. He had also published a book entitled La Revei!de la Nation Arabe. Just hefore the break of the First WorldWar, severalorganizations were founded, one heing the Palesti-nian Association at the American University of Beirut (1913).

Neville Mandel, "Turks, Arabs and Jewish Immigrants into Palestine: 1882-1914," Midd/e Eastern Affairs, London, No. 4 (1965), pp. 76-108.

2 Amos Elon, Israe/is: Founders and Sons, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1971, p. 159.

1977) PALESTINIANS 73

However, such assertion of national consciousness did notprevent the Zionist challenge reaching its acme. The BalfourDeclaration (i 917) and the ensuing British occupation facilita-ted the establishment ofa "national home for the Jewish people",which meant for the Palestinians their own uprooting and thedestruction oftheir own organic unity. in spite of the usual Zionistarguments that the Jews were fellow Semites returning homeand that they would respect Arab cuJture,3 all the investigatingcommissioııS sent to Palestine in the wake of every outbreak ofdisturbance concluded that the Arabs were opposed to the es-tablishmcnt of a Jewish national home in Palestine.4

After the United Nations decision to partition Palestine,the people of that land faced a programmed attempt aiming ateliminating its existence and obliterating its national identity.The land was divided betwecn IsraCı and the Hashemite Kingdomof Jordan, the latter receiving the West Bank. In addition, AI-Hammah in the North was to be administered by the Syriansand theı Gaza strip in the South by the Egyptians. A blow wasdealt on the unity of this people, by subjecting part of it to Tsraeliruk and annexing the other half to Jorda'n, in the process ofwhich "refugees" were dispersed to the four corners of the world.The Zionist circles and their friends presented the question toworld public opinion as a "iefugee problem" involving relief,housing, employment, food and compensation.' The questionitself was, for a time, reduced to acconflict between Israel andthe Arab states over borders.

Thus, between the catastrophe of ı948 and the ı960's, thePalestinians sought the revival of their independent nationalidentity. "AI-Fateh" went ahead of all other organizations inthis respect. Its review entitled Our Palestine, issued in Beirut,~trcssed Palestinian thoughts and concepts, based mainıyonPalestinian sources. This also meant rejection of patronage overthe Palestinians by any party. The victory of the Algerians in1962 was another proof for the Palestinians that any peoplethat holds its own cause firmly in hs own hands was capable of

,3 Neville Mandel, "Attempts at an Arab -Zionist Entente: 1913-1914," Midd/eEastem Studies, London, No. 3 (1965), p. 240.

4 For instance: The Government of Great Britain, Pa/estine RoyalCol/ll/lissionReport, London, RM.S.O., 1931,

74 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVII

achieving its national aspif'ations. Hence, the formation of thePalestine Liberation Organization was announced in the firstsession of a conference held in Jerusalem in 1964 and attendedby 388 delegates. The P.L.O. soon completcd its substantialstructures, cnabling the Palestinian personality to assert itself.The first Arab official recognition of the P.L.O. occurred twoweeks after its cstabIishment. The signs of international recog-nition appeared in the conference of the non-aligned states inCairo the same year. The Pcople's Republic of China was thefirst foreign state to recognize the P.L.O. in 1965. And a yearlater, the World Peace Council decided to consider Palestine asone of its members.

Foııowing the Israeli aggression in 1967 and the Karamehvictory in 1968, the freedom fighter became the symbol cf thePalestinian personality. The resistance movement is now the exp-pression of the existence of a peopIe, and the P.L.O. is the mec-hani sm through which the actual embodiment of this pcrsonalitycan and should be attained'. The vote of the U.N. General Assem-bly in i975, granting the P.L.O. an observer's status is anotherassertion of the Palestinian people's unity and representalion.in spite of split, dispcrsion and exile, its national identity is inalie-nable. The "Land Day" uprisings (March 30) of the Palestiniansliving under occupation are glaring proofs of their independent

/ identity, unity and loyalty to unified leadership.

Palestinian Ieadership belicves in the masses as the only forcecapable of achieving victory. The revolutionary war advocat~dhas the clear poJitical objective of restoring to the Palestinianstwo complimcntary means to achieve this objective. Tawfeek Ze-yad, the PaIcstinian poet, expresses the mobilization of the mas-ses in the foIIowing lines: "It is much easier for you / To passan elephant through a needle'seye / Or catch fried fish in ga-laxy / Plough the sea / Or humanize a cracodile / Than to des-troy by persecuticn / The shimmering glow of a bclief / Or checkour march / One single step ... "

* **The Palestinİans now realize that Israel has not only occupied

their own land, but a1so wants to suppress aıı signs of independentnational exİstence and tries to steal away theİr culture in any way

1977] PALESTINIANS 75

it can. The Palestinian peopJe has vreserved an old culture withall forms ofexpression such as b]ue glass work in Hebron, glassblowing in Jerusalem, carpets and rugs in Nazareth and Gaza,embroidery in Bethlehem and Ramallah, wood and pearl carvingin Jerusalem and Bethlehem, cemmics in Gaza and copper andsilverware in other areas. As well known, the whole of Palestinehas an architectural personality peculiar to its own. These ma-nifestations are not confined only to the holy cities; they can befo und in the towns of the Arab coast, Nablus and other places.

But Israel is eager to erase features of national identity. Avariety of popular produce, stamped with the label of "Made inIsrael" and which appear in publicity materia! such as lsrae/-25 Ans or which are sold in the shop s of Batsheva (Tel Aviv),Wizo (Women's International Zionist Organization) and theMaskit, are actually Palestinian handicrafts. These picccs aresimply bought cheaply from the Arab population and sold orexported to foreign markets as Israeli products. A comparisonof such produce with the recent publications on Palestinian po-pular art will reveal the widespread arrogation of a culture thatbelongs to another people. s

Hence, one of the aims of SAMED, or the Palestine Martyrs'Work Society,was to encourage Palestinian production. SAMEDprovides vocational training for the children of the Palestinianmartyrs and also employs other people in associated work-shop s with the purpose of produciııg folkloric objects or any ot-her products needed by those involved in the Palestinian strugglc.Workshops in all Palestinian camps turn out.products associatedwith Palestinian historyand culturc. Twenty-five diffcrcnt styleson national costumes arc being produced and marketcd. SAMEDalso has an agricoltural section, the first project of which is nowunderway in Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. SAMED has perma-nent exhibitions in several Arab countries and. also particiı-'atesin several annual fairs.

* **5 For İnstance: Shelagh Weir, Palestinian Embroidery, London, British Museum,

1970; Solidaritatskomitee der DDR, Palastillensische Volkskunst, Berlin,Ministerium für Kultur, 1978; Yusra Jouhairy Amita, Popular Art in Pal-estine, Beirut, P.L.O., Research Center, 1968.

76 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. xvn

Apart from usurpation of eulture that aetuaııy belüngs toanother people, the Zionists are also guilty on aeeount of a seri-es öfviülations of the ho1y places, such as the fires in the AI-AqsaMosque (Jerusalem), the Convent of St. Catherine (Sinai) andthe Chureh of St. John. Isracı has violated all internationaltextsand eharters on the matter of abstaining from aggressive aetiontowards other national eultures.

Jerusalem has been a holy cityfor Judaism, Christianityand Islam. The fact that it has always been AI-Quds (the Sanctu-ary) is well exemplified in the three major religious shrines wit-hin the Old City-the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy SepuIc-hre and the Harem al-Sharif. The kingdom of the Hebrews.hadmade thiscity a holy place for the Jews. But Christ also left hisprofound imprint on its destiny. And the Moslems regard itas one of the holiest of cities for Islam; it is beIieved that it en-compasses the site of Prophet Mohammed's nocturnal journeyto heaven. it was not by coincidence that Mu'awiyah had him-scIf procIaimed CaIiph there in 661 A.D., when the Arab IslamicEmpire had already engulfed the who le Levant. Arab rule safe-guarded the rights of all faiths and all communities, and throug-hout the period of Ottoman Turkish sovereignty (1517- 1917)the holy land has always been open to aıı men of different reli-gions. The bulk of Iiterature concerning this land testifies tothe correetness of this statement.

Speeific instructions to that effect were incorporated inthe text of the Mandate granted to Britain. When in 1947, theMandatory Power decIared its intention to withdraw from Pa-lestine, the United Nations re-affirmcd the will of the internati-onal eommunity to protect the uniquc character ,of Jerusalem.A "corpus separatum", under international sovereignty, was tobe set up for Jerusalem and its environs. The Arabs of Palestine,then representing the two-thirds majority in Palestine, had refusedthe idea of partitioning their land into Arab and Jewish statesfor reasons valid now as they were then.

The seizure of the whole of Jerusalem was always a portof Zionist stratcgy, and this plan would have succeeded in 1948had it not been for the intervention of the Transjordanian Army.Count Bernadotte, the U.N. Mediator, who reeommendcd thatJerusalem be placed under effeetive United Nations control, was

1977 1 PALESTINIANS 77

assassinated by Tsraeli terrorists in 1948. Three months later, aU.N. General Assembly resolution repeated that Jeıusalem, Beth-lehem and Nazareth be put under U.N. control. In 1959, it reİ-terated its intentİons in even more resolute terrns, instructingthe Trusteeship Council to draw up a Statute of the city., In1950, the Statute was prepared and duly approved by the Trus-teeship Cowıcil, but was never İmplemented. The announce-ment made the same year by the Israeli Government that Jeru-salem was its capital has nevcr been acccpted by the U.N. Infact, it was condemned on several occasions.

The Zi<:mist entity occupied Jerusalem and the rest of theWest Bank in 1967. Within days, the demolition of historic buil-dİngs and the exprol1riation of reIigious and private propertiesbegan. The Arabs became inhabitants, not citizens of Jerusalem.Theyare beingheld in eaptivity, just like the eity itself. The equ-ality and liberty, whieh has marked Arab and Ottornan Turkİshrule, gaye way to Zionist diseriminatİon. The Israe1i authoritieshave been trying ever sinee to modify the traditiona! "faeeand theskyline of Jerusalem, to help change the balance of populationand thus ereate a "new fact" with which they hope to blackany U.N. deeision to do justiee to the cityand its original inha.bitants. Jerusalem, which is one of the oldest eities in the world,now has seetions reminding one of Minnesota or Plansk.

The Zionist;; alsa want to alter the traditional faee of thecity for theologieal purposes of their own. The demolition ofhistoric quarters, the expropriation of Moslem and Christianproperties, and the desecration of eemetaries serve the purpose .of converting Jenısalcm into a Jewish eity. The "restomtion"of the Tcmple of Salomon, whieh is very dose to the great mos-ques of AI-Aqsa and Omar, has aıready seriously weakened thefoundations and the struetur"s of the two last mentioned. A firehas, destroyed a ]argc part of the AI-Aqsa, incIuding the irrep-Iaeable nıinbar, or the pulpit, of Saladin, whieh was one of themost sueeessful specimens of Medieval Arab woodwork.

" Voices of protest against this "massacre" of the holy cityhave been raised throughout the world. First of aıı, a whole se-ries of resolutions taken by the U. N. General Assembly andSeeurity Council since IsraeIi aggression in i967 have eondemncdcontinuing accupatian of Jerusalem and the measures ehanging

78 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. VXII

the status of the city. For instaııce, a Security Council Resolu-tion, taken in 1971 by fourteen to none, once again confirmedthat aıı legislative actions taken by Israel to change the statusof Jerusalem, includiııg the expropriation of l~nd properties, thetransfer of populations and legislation aimed at the incorpora-tion of the occupied section are totaIly nuIl and void and cannotchange that status.6

There have been similar reactions from scholarly personsand interested organizations. Italy's leading urbanist Prof. BrunoZevi, for instance, has described the Zionist attempt to alter theuniversal character of Jerusalem as an example of "ccııective ha-ıakiri".7 Time magazine of March 1, 1971, observed that Israelwas Iiterally buIldozing its way to Jewish controlover the Iimes-tone and sand of Jordanian Jemsalem before the peace negotia-tions could be held. ProCArnold Toynbee and Sir Geoffrey Fur-longe, formerly British Amoassador to Jordan, made the samepoint in aletter published in the London Times of March 15,. 1971. There are many other reports on the desecration of churchproperty in Jsrael. For instance, the celebrated Kütahya tiles,brought especially from Turkey by the Armenian pilgrims inthe Eighteenth Century, were ripped from the waIls of the Churehof St. Saviour, which is traditionaIly the burying-plaee of the Pat-riarchs of the Armenian ehureh in Jerusalem.8 Adjacent the Ar-menian chureh is the Greek Orthodox cemeteryon Mount Sion,in whieh praetically every tomb is smashed. Likewise, FatherAndres published several photographs showing smashed tombsbelonging to the Latin ehurch.9

* **Under the ciıcumstanees, it is no surprise that the Pales-

tinians consider the safeguarding of their culture as a form ofresistance. Hence, the first conference of the General Union ofPalestinian Artists was held in Souk al-Garb, Lebanon on July4-7, 1979, under the foIlowing appropriate slogan: "Art İs a

6 Jerusalem and the World: A Case ofConscience, (London), Middle East Ex-port Press, 1971, p. 23. i

7 The Tablet, London, April ıo, 1971.8 U.N. Document Af 7084 (Apri1 19, 1968).9 R.P. Isaias Andres, "Profonation de Cimetihes il Jerusalem, " La Terre .Sa-

inte, Jcrusalem, Mars 1968.

1977] PALESTINIANS 79

weaponfor Palestine". The Pa1estinian artists have created mas.terpieces fuH of determination to be masters of their own land.No matter what plastic tendencies they may have, they preservewhat is specifically Palestinian. They understand ~rt as a meansfor permanent struggle. The central theme is that of return andlove for the land. Arab artists who are not Palestinians have foundtheir own personalitics in this unifying therne. Mouna Saudi, forinstance, is from Amman (Jordan), who has studied sculpturingin Paris. Feeling like a Palestinian, she now heads the PlasticArts Section of the P.L.O. 10 The Palestinian painters pat ticipatein the struggle through their works. When,Mouna Saudi visitedthe Palestinian camps in 1968, and gaye crayons and paper tothe chi/dren, they produced vivid images of the Israeli planesthrowing napalın bombs and the Palestinian guerillas holdingtheir guns against the invading tanks. These drawings, chosenfrom thousands coııccted from Bagaa' camp in lordan from Pa-lestinian children,aged 5 to 14 years, were later published.l1 Shehad gone to the camp nearly a year after the Zionist aggressionin 1967. She says:

"Spread under the burning sun, thousands of tentssheltered 50,000 of the~ Palestinian refugees who hadsought sheltcr there ... i went to the 'camp with theidea of giying the young Palestinia:ns papers and cra-yons ...to express themselves freely ...What can inno-cence say about unjustified violence, aggression andthe loss of a home? How tcııingly can children play.the game of adults? Those were the guestions 1 hopedthe children's drawings wou1d answer ...Their drawingsbegan to take shape, telling the tragedy in coloursbright as the sun. Watching their hands drawing i f~ltthe crayons had turned into sharp knives. They had anobsessive desire to carve their experience into the paperwith all the density of its fiıll reality ...These dra-wings ... testify that the song of life and its joyfulnesswill overcome oppression ..."ıı

ıo This author has met the artist in Beirut in 1978 while visiting the nucleus ofthe future Palestinian Plastic Arts Museum. For an intervicw with Mrs.'Mona Saudi, see: "The International Art Exhibition for Pa!estine," Pales.tine, Beirut, P.L.O., Vol. IV, No. 6 (1-15 Apri11978), pp. 11-13.

ii Mona Saudi, ed., bı Time of War: Children Testify, Beirut, Mawakef, 1970.12 lbid., pp. 21-23.

80 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVII

Chil d or adult, the Palestinian artist is revolutionary, sincehe rejects imperialist and Zionist injustice without ceasing toaccIaim the beauty of the world. Same of them work under theharsh realities of occupation. The appearance of the Palestinianflag on the canvass is a "erime", and so is the depietian of anykind of violence. Several Palestinians working in one branchof the seven arts have suffered imprisonment, torture or departa-tian. Yet, they continue to express their message, be it the faikcostumes, the solemn faces of the peasant women or simply theland itself.

* **One of the carliest and best-known Palestinian 'painters is

ısmail Shammout13, whose simple but emotional style is verypopular with the masses. Shammout occupies a special placebeeause he has played an effeetive part in creating a whole newsuceession of Palestinian artists. His works have a committedform, whieh appear conneeted to reality. Bom in the Palestiniantown of Lydda in 1930, he showed an early interest in arts, butthe tragedy of 1948 tumed his conceminta anather direction.Although he was bom of middle-cIass parents, he found himselfand his family in a desaiate place far from home, having takenrefuge in a tenf. He eventually bccame a teaeher with the U.N.Relief Ageney for Refugees, and later went to Cairo to studyarts. There he paintcd "The Little Refugee Girı", "Where isMy Father" and "Whither". He had an cxhibition in Gaza in1953, the first one held by a Palestinian in Palestine. He pursuedfurther studies in Rame, where he painted "Memories and Fire"in 1956. Suceessive disasters, such as the wars of Zionist aggres-sion in 1956 and 1967, the Isracli mas saere of 1966 in the Palcs-tinian village ofSammua, the September i970 massacres in Jor-dan and the butehery of Tal aı-zaatar in 1976, foreed him tointerprct the feelings of his people.

ıbrahim Ghanal11l\ bom in 1930 in the viIIage of AI-Ya-jour near Haifa, suddenly found himself a refugee in Lebanon.

13 Nasser AI-Soumi, "[smael Shammout: the Emergefıce of Palestinian PlasticArts," Pales/ine, Beirut, Vol. V, No. 11 (16-30 June 1979), pp. 37-38. Thisartiele was originally published in Al-Katib al - Arabi, No. 7 (1979).

14 "ıbrahim Ghanam: A Militant Pa1estinian Artist," Palestine, Beirut, Vol.IV, No. 20-21 (15-30 November 1978), pp. 42-43.

/'

1977] PALESTINIANS 81

He general1y expresses how happy they were in Palestine."The Harvest", for instance, is a painting depicting the Palesti-nian farmers reaping their wheat. "The Wcdding Feast" showsthe peaceful life that Zionism has deprived them. He also paintsthe gloomy life in the refugee camps, showing the people stan-ding in lines, each waiting to receiye a smaIl quantity o~ flour,rice cr sugar. The al-Zaatar massacre affected Gh,mam, whopainted a naked Palestinian girl,hands tied with a rope, being pul-led by a Ph(lJangist militiaman while other mi1itiamen dancearound.

üne of the leading Palestinian painters living in exile inthe United States is Kamal Boullata. ıs Vladimir Tamari lives inJapan. Moustafa Hallaj told this writer in Beirut that sincei967 the members of his family have not been abIe to gath~raround one table. The leading Palestinian artists in the occu-pied territories like Suleiman Manscur, Kamel AI-Moghanni,Nabil Anani and Tssam Badr revcal an all dominating "Pales-tinianity".16 They foIlow a style rooted in popular art traditions,folklore, handicrafts and calligraphy. The themes are the people:saspirations, problems, needs and work. üpen "political" expres-sions bcing forbidden in the occupied areas, they,often resort tosymbols, such as the use of the national colours in disguise. ThePalestinian artists un.der occupation actively participate in thegrowing struggle of their people to preserve and develop theirculture. Tn spite of all forms of suppressian, they have succcededin furthering the daily symbiosis with Qverall r{;sistance .

. The first Palestinian art exhibition tock place in Amman.Tt reflected the Karamah reality, or the hopes for a future freedfrom the chains of Zionism. The first exhibition abroad washeld in London in 1-976 and a year later in the United States.17

The last mentioned encompassed the works of Mansour, Badrand ıbrahim Saba. In all these exhibitions as well as the nume-ro us oncs that followed the strugglc of the Palestiııian peopkwas embadied, full with pain and bi tterries's, but alsa with hopc

15 Vladimir Tamari, "Canvas Behind Barbed Wire," Palestine, Beirul, Vol. V,No. 7 (15-30 April 1978), pp. 22-23.

16 "Palesıinian Arıists Under Oceupaıion: Rootcd İn Their Peoplc's Resislanec,"Palestine, Beirul, Vol. V, No. 19(16-31 Oetober 1979), pp. 31-34.

17 "Palcstinfan Arı Exhibiı," Palestiııe, Beirur, Vol. III, No. 9 (June 30, 1977),pp. 29-30.

82 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVII

for a just and peaceful future. Some like Abd-cr-rahman ~l-Mu-zayyen portray Palestinian and Canaanite mythology, using his-torical symbols. Others Iike Nassir Assoumi excel in engravings.Stili others like Adnan Asharif deri ve their topic s from storieswritten by the Palestinian writers. As new plastic exhibitions arebeing peld, more and more artists try to re-create scenes of Pa-lestinian life hefore 1948.18 As one of the more recent exhibitions,the one held in Japan, entitled "The Restoration of Human Beingsand Nature", was in fact a cultural exchange between the Pales-tinian Revolution and the Japanese progressive movement.19The Palestinian and Japanese artists have made an agreementto have more mutual friendship programs and also to establishan Int~rnational Art Camp in Beirut.

There has also been an exhibition of Palestinian postersprinted betwee.n 1967 and 1979. With the growth of the Palesti-nian Revolution, such posters appeared on the walls in the Arabcountries and in many capital s and' cities all over the world. Theyhelp to spread the slogans and the symbols of the Palestinians.The exhibition, held in Beirut, was dedicated to the memory ofthe martyr Izzeddin Kalak, P.L.O. 's representative in France,who was working on a book about Palestinian posters whenhe was assassinated by the Israelis in 1978.2o

The Plastic Arts Section of the P.L.O. has also organizedan international exhibition" of solidarity with Palestine.ı1 TheP.L.O. has sent invitations to several artists around the worldto participate in the exhibition and to show their work as anexpression of their solidarity with the Palestinian people in theirjust struggle for self-determination and restoration of their land.This exhibition was for the Palestinians a starting point for amilitant cultural front that would enable them, through artisticexpression, to convey their cause. In this exhibition, 184 artistsfrom 29 countries proclaimed their support for the PalestinianRevolution against the Zionist enemy, which is racist, reactionary

18 "Union of Palestinian Artists: Plastic Arts Exhibition," Pa/estine, Beirut,Vol. V, No. 9 (16-31 May 1979): pp. 33-34.

i9 "From Nagasaki to Jerusalcm: Japanese-Palestinian Artists Friendship."Pa/estine, Beirut, Vol. IV. No. 17 (30 September 1978), pp. 37-38.

20 Exhibitioıı of Pa/estinian Posters: 1967-1979, Beiru!, P.L.O., '1979.21 Internationa/ Art Exhibitionfor Pa/estine: 1978, Beirut, P.L.O., 1978.

1977 J PALESTINIANS 83

and aggressive. All the works were gifts, constituting the nuc1eusof the "Museum of Solidarity with Palestine". Seventeen Pales-tinian.artists-have taken part in this exhibition. There wcre alsocelebrated artists from other Arab countries such as Dhia Az-zawi from Iraq, Hamed ~bdullah from Egypt and Aref Rayesfrom Lebanon. Among them , Azzawi's works are really criesof anguish against injustice and oppression, bursting even fromthe lips of ancient stone heads.22 He has illustrated several books,such as From the Land. of Oranges, a collection of writings bythe martyred hero Ghassan Kanafani.2J Among the other foreigncelebrities the following ought to be mentioned: Joan Miro (Spain),Andre Masson(France), Renato Guttuso (Jtaly), Julio Leparc(Argentine), Cardenas (Cuba) ıand the like. Janet Vennbrown's(Australia) "Zionist Crime", Quanaes Netto's (Brazil) "Neo-Colonialism", Matta's (Chile) trilogyof "Palestinian Martyrs",Claude Larazd's (France) "Daily Life in Occupied Territories",Marc Wirich's (France) "The Bird of Death" and Valentin Sch-midt's (F.R. of Germany) "Death to Fascism" are among thoseattracting the eye.

The Palestinian Revolution has exerted great influence'notonly on Palestinian or Arab plastic arts, but also on the entiredemocratic Arab culture.24 What the Palestinian Revolution hasbrought to the seven art s in the Arab world shows that Arabculture is not a mere "arabesquc" form. Many Arab writers,poets and artists are turning towards the Palestinian resistance.Not only they feel that it is a resistance of their own, but alsothey can express demücratic ideas and revolutionary content intreating the goals of the Palestinian Revolution.

••• ••••••

The struggle for Palestine has enriched arts in the Arabworld. Even the Arab script itself is searching for a new realis-

22 Nizar Salim, Iraq: Colltemporary Art, Vol. I: Painting, Baghdad, Ministryof Information, 1977, pp. 186-190.

23 Drawings for the £o/ld of Oranges, Beirut, Ghassan Kanafani' Commemora'tion Committee, 1973.

24 For an interview with Burhan Karkutli, Arab painter and graphic artist oforigin, see: "The Palestinian Resistance: One Source of Modern Arab Art,"Palestine, Beirut, Vol. VI, No. 1 (January 1980), pp. 134-140.

".

84 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVIJ

tie fornı: The wall posters and the headlines of the publicationsreaetivate the form of the old Arabie script. One ean perceivcthe old lines, but theyare even developed further. The point maybe better iIlustrated by giying the example of Nawaf Abu AI-Haija's latest novel e~titled You Are the Equator.25 This shortnovel treats the dialectical relationship between the Palestineproblem ,and the riational issue as well as the social objectivcsof the Arabs. and the idea of total liberation, linke'd with the de-veloping humanitarian spirit of Arab personality. The eharactersof the novel typify the personalities created as a result of the im-pact of the Palestine Revolution on the Arab mind.

The short stories written by the Palestinians reveal the sameapproach. Those who have prepared the translations or' a selec-ted group of such stories' say:

\

"We Palestinians like to talk about our loved one- Pa-lestine. Many a Palestİnian loved his country and gayethe f10wer of his youth and even his life to redeem her ...The lovers who fell are transformed into candles tolight the way for the heroes who eome after thern ...They seized our land ...ehanged the name ... its featur-es ...They to ok Palestine's heritage - to make it theirown ...We deeided with this seleetion of stories toteıı the world thaL.the Palestinian people are aliveand wiıı never die."26

Take Tawfik Fayyad, for instance. He is a Palestinian no-velist who lived in oceupied Palestine, where he witnessed Zia-nist tcrror and r,ieist practices. H is series of short stories, cntitledThe Yel/ow Road reveal the sufferings and perseverance of hispeople under oceupation. The peasant Abu Hussein in Fayyad's"The Mare" represents aııy other Palestinian whose land, the-only souree of income, is eonfiscated by the Zionis! authorities."The Sea Beeame B1ue", written by Yahia Rabah in the DairAI-B

4ala.n Refugee camp in Gaza , tells cf a life bı.:twe-cnthe sea

(lnd the desert, or between justiee and the impossiblc. The main

25 "Nawaf Abu AI-Haija On Palestinian Literature," Bag/n/ad Ohserrer: Week/ySupp/emellt, Vol. II, No. 8 (January 29, 1980), p. 7.

26 Stars iıı tlıe Sky of Palestine, short stories translatetl by Faris Glubb, Beirut,P.L.O., 1978.

19771 PALESTINIANS 85

character Abu AI-Habbash, whohas to go out fishing, never re-turns from the sea, which the Zionİst authorities deseribe as a"military zone." The rope around the neck of Abd ul Ghani AI-Ayyubi in \Valid Rabah~s "Inscriptions on the Wall of the CeIl"is actually the bondage of a whole people. Yusuf Iraqi and manyothers have unfolded the terrifying massacre on Tal AI-Zaatar.In those writings lives the legendary battle of fifty-three days, İnwhich the eommune of the working people repulsed so many at-tacks. In Rashad Abu-Shawar's "The Ancestors", Mahmoud doesnot lose a second in picking up his rifle after having buried hisfather. Mahmoud Labadi's "The Room on the Roof" is onlyoneof the episodes concerning the dcstruction of Arab dwellings.Faris Glubb's "The Return" is more tIıan an analysis,it is a so-lutian; to the old Jewish man who has, come to Palestine, manyyears ago, as pioneer filled with ideas of conquest and glory butwho now sees what ki~d (if destruction this foolishness has caused,Abu Adnan, hitching his veteran rifle more securely ol! his shoul-der, says: "Palestine is stil! alive, and there is room here for youand us."

i '

Most of the Pakstinian Arab poets now living under Zionistaccupatian were caught up in the tragedy oftheir usurped countryin their chHdhood or adolescent years. The anguish and the prop-hecy in their verses prove that the struggle to liberate Palestinecannot be stopped.27 As expressed in Tawfeek Zeyad's lines, thePalestinİ::tns are like a thousand prodigies spreading everywhere,singing their songs, filling dungeons with pride and spiIling theirdearest blood. In a beautiful long poem, Mahmoud Darweeshdescribes the lover from Palestine: " ... Palestinian are youreyes, your tattoo, / Palestinian is your name, / Palestinian yourthought, your dothes, / Your feet, your form, / Palestinian theword s, / Palestinian the voict', / Palestinian you liye, / Palesti-nian you will die.'" Sameeh AI-Qasem's poem in which the line"1 shall not compromisc" repeats itself refutes the daim. thatthe so-calIed "Israeli Arabs" have been taught to accept the Zia-nist state as a facL As Fadwa TutJ.an noted, when the black floodbroke loose from barbaric shores up on the green good earth,the tree fell, but the roots never die. And we may join Mueen

27 They Claim There is No Resistalice,Kuwait, Kuwaiti Graduate Saciety. 1971.

86 THE TURKISH YEARBOOK [VOL. XVII

Bsayso, in addressing men andwomen of the world: "Be witqus now.":s

•• *The Association for Theater and Palestinian Popular Art

is one of the cultural institutions, that this writer has visited inBeirut. The performers put on stage adance sequence reflectingtheir struggle against the occupying enemy. At the beginning,the Palcstinian peasants plow and plant peacefu1ly. Girls singand dance to the traditional music. Suddenly, there is an explosi-on with discordant sounds, seemingIy having no relation withthe land and the life on it. The Israelis enter with different uni-forms but th.: land rejects them as the flute overwhelms the dis-cordant music at the end.

Likewise, the Palestinian Cinema Institution and the SamedCinema Production are both taking up the issue of a people whoseland was usurped by force. In late 1978, "The Day of the Land",directed by Ghalib Sha'at and describing the enduring resistanceof the Palestinian masses, was awarded the "Golden Prize" atthe Leipzig Film FestivaL. The film on Tal AI-Zaatar figuredout prominently at the Carthage Festival in Tunisia the same ye-ar.29 Another one, done in 1979, in cooperation with the Pales-tinian Red Crescent Society, does not only show the latters' ac-tivities but is also a testimony of Zionist atrocities. Sent to theInternational Film Festival in Varna (Bulgaria), this film was ve-toed by the Americans, West Germans and the Swiss. but wasshown outside the competition and awarded a special prize. "TheChildren of Palestine", showing the bombardment of schools,is another documentary record of Israeli destruction. This film,shown on channel 13in the TVnetwork of New York City, causedcontradicting reactions. While some were shocked by the brutallsraeli attack on the civilians in Southern Lebanon, the Zionistcüdes got the person who had approved of its showing, firedfrom his job. The same film, now circulating almost everywhere.received an overwhe1mingreception at the Internationale Doku-

28 The call of the Palestinian Revolution has kindled many non-Arap poets.For instance: Roger Goto Zomou, Poemes poıır la Revo/hlioıı Palesıi.nienııe, Beirut, P,L.O., 1978. Mr. Zomou is from Guinee.

29 "Palestİnİan Film: Successes in Tunis and Leipzig," Palesıiııe, Beirut,Vol. V, No. 1 (January 1979), pp. 61-62.

1977] PALESTINIANS 87

mentar-und-Kurzfilmwoche in Leipzig. It was awarded the"Special Jury Prize". In Leipzig, another film, dealing with theCuban Youth Festival, had its premiere. Ghalib Sha'ath is pre-sently working on "The Olive Branch". "The Fifth War", on theIsraeli invasion of South Lebanon in early 1978, is a co-prod uc-tion of the Palestinian Cinema Institution and the Samed Cine-ma Production. Another one on nursery schools is being donewith the Palestinian Womcn's Union. Amagazine entitled Al-SurAl-Fa/astiniyya (The Palestinian Image) is being published, withthe aim of reflecting Arab and world-wide revolutionary film-making as well as fighting Zionist film propaganda,

Several productions in Arab couııtries now dwell on the issues ofPalestine. In Iraq, for instance, "The Bitter Winter" (directed byShukri Jamil) <'.nd"The Field" (directed by Sabeeh Abdul Karim)both confirm that the Palestinians cannot give up their land.31

The latter reveals the reaction of a Palestinian farmer who con-fronts the occupiers of his land and observes enemy armour pas-sing over his farm. The farmer, who becomes a fighter, leaves tohis son arifle and the Jand, symboJizing continuity of armed strug-gJe against the racİst enemy. Iraq has done several documenta-ries such as "Zionism: A RaciaJ Movement", "Death in Leba-non", "Road to Victory", "An Event in June", "The Beginning"and the !ike.

*>tc *The Palestinian Revolutian is asserting the unified entity

of the peopJc of Palestine. A Jong protracted struggle is being wa-ged to change several wrong concepts. The Palestinian reality isaıready rooted in the Arab Palestinian conscicnce. it is takingroot in the international thinking as well. Aıı that have been doneto further the political or cultural cntity of this people are proofthat attempts to deface their independent identity have failed.What is more, the Palestinian personality is being promoted.The writers, poets, artists and other intellectuals of this people,scattered aıı over the world, are struggling to bring about realpeace, which can only be based on the restoration of the rightsof the Palestinians. .

30 Riadh al.Khayyat, "The Revolution's Cinema,and the Palestinian Issue,"Baghdad Obsen'er, January 26, 1980, p. 6.