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Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIsrael's 'Great Book Robbery' unravelled
Documentary sheds light on large-scale pillaging of books from Palestinian homes in 1948, when Israel was founded.
Dalia Hatuqa Last Modified: 29 Jan 2013 09:28
Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territories - Rasha Al Barghouti takes a few steps towards one of several large bookcases in her Ramallah home, treading slowly just four months after having hip replacement surgery. She takes out a thick blue book, and opens it to a bookmarked page, allowing her fingertips to trace the words as she reads out loud.
The book was written by her grandfather, the late Omar Saleh Al Barghouti, a leading figure of Palestinian resistance who took part in the national movement against the British occupation. During the 1948 war, when Al Barghouti was forced into exile, hundreds of his books, documents, newspapers and intimate memoirs were looted from his Jerusalem home.
The irreplaceable items representing a slice of Palestinian intellectualism were never located, except for a few - which, to Rasha's surprise, were found in Israel's National Library . "For years, we wondered what happened to my grandfather's books," said the 61-year-old, who works at Birzeit University, just outside Ramallah. "One day my sister and I looked up his name on the website of the National Library and we found two of his books."
Rasha later found out that a whole section of the library was dedicated to her grandfather's books, a revelation that to this day moves her to tears. Al Barghouti's large collection is part of some 70,000 books that were looted just before and during the Nakba (or "catastrophe" of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or forced to flee their homes.
in full: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/01/201312114556875749.html
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Israel's 'Great Book Robbery' unravelled (Original Post)
Jefferson23
Jan 2013
OP
"when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or forced to flee their homes."
R. Daneel Olivaw
Jan 2013
#1
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)1. "when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or forced to flee their homes."
Who knew?
I thought that they just decided to leave one day and left their keys in the front door.
So why aren't these people allowed to return exactly?
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)2. "So why aren't these people allowed to return exactly?"
Well, that would go against the entire point of conducting an ethnic cleansing in the first place, of course.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)3. It seems an effort to bury/rewrite the Palestinian culture pre 1948 to reduce it to the Grand Muft
from the article
The documentary paints a picture of a pre-1948 Palestine that was a hub for intellectuals, literary critics, writers and musicians before entire villages were destroyed, people were exiled or forced to flee, and Palestinian culture was decimated. Once a hub for art and culture aficionados, Palestine had a railway linking Haifa to Damascus and Cairo, and was frequented by acclaimed theatre troupes and poets.
Many renowned Palestinian authors and scholars, such as Khalil Al Sakakini and Nasser Eddin Nashashibi, spoke bitterly of the loss of their books, items of irreplaceable historical and religious significance.
Others, such as Mohammad Batrwai, tearfully recounted having been forced by the Haganah (the Jewish militia that transformed into the Israeli military after 1948) to loot other Palestinians' homes and, in one case, his very own.
Nothing was spared: musical instruments, newspapers and even carpets. In some cases, books that were looted were sold back to Palestinians at auction.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)4. Sounds definitely "Soviet" in nature.
Invade, take and stay.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)6. I know, that excerpt got to me too. n/t
oberliner
(58,724 posts)5. The 1940s were a rough time for a lot of people
Studying that time period provides many useful insights.