Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 33)
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- Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 33)
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The Arab Cultural Movement in the Zionist State
Below we have translated a chapter from the book, The Arab Masses’
Path of Struggle in Israel, written by the famous Palestinian
historian, Emil Tuma, and published in May 1982. Tuma died on
August 27, 1985. He had been prominent in the Committee for the
Defense of the Land and a politbureau member of the Israeli Com-
munist Party (Rakah).
We’ve seen how the Israeli rulers
always wanted the Palestinians to be
only hewers of wood and drawers of
water. These rulers have constantly
obstructed secondary and university
education (for the Palestinians).
They’ve imposed a cultural siege
around the Arab youth, depriving them
of their history, traditions and even
correct Arabic language. In the first
period after the establishment of Israel,
a thick wall was erected to prohibit
contact between the Arab population
and the Arab world, in an attempt to
prevent the infiltration of Arab cultural
works.
These rulers even went so far as to
propose the «creation of Arabic works
(stories, poems, etc.), using the Hebrew
language, as Hebrew works were
created using Arabic and scores of
other languages.» This was suggested in
an article by Iliahu Aghasi in the Israeli
daily, Davar, on May 25, 1956. (Iliahu
is one of the heads of the Histadrut’s
Arab department.)
But the plan to spread national
nihilism among the Arab population
failed, thanks to the efforts of the
Israeli Communist Party and _ its
newspapers and magazines: Al! Ittihad,
Al Jadeed, Al Ghad and AI Darb.
These publications have provided the
Palestinians with an abundance of
Arabic cultural works. They were a
window looking out on literary and
cultural works in the Arab world, as
well as socialist culture in the socialist
world, and progressive culture in the
capitalist world.
Soon the contradictions between the
nihilistic education (in public schools)
and the general atmosphere among the
Arab population became evident.
While being subjected to distorted
education in school, a student could
easily get acquainted with his
Arab/Palestinian culture, thanks to the
Communist Party’s information cam-
paigns. The conflict between the two
Emil Tuma
trends leaned more decisively in favor
of the trend adhering to the progressive
Arab culture. Progressive nationalist
intellectuals have risen up and con-
tributed to enriching the Palestinian
and Arab culture with their literature,
whether poetry, stories or research...
Several good poets have emerged
with poems that harmonized revolu-
tionary contents with an original form.
In the field of literature, works focused
on the themes of defending the land,
staying in the homeland, the Palesti-
nian people’s destiny and the social
struggle. Without reviewing all these
works, we could mention the poetry of
Samih Al Qasem, Tawfiq Zayyad,
Mahmoud Darwish, Salem Jubran,
Nayef Salem, Samih Sabbagh and
others. Their poetry has expounded the
suffering of the Palestinians as a result
of racial discrimination and oppression
in Israel, using different styles and
forms, simple as well as complex. To
this, we could add the two novels of
Emil Habibi, Al Mutasha’el and Laka,
and the short stories of Mohammad Ali.
Taha, Mohammad Naffa’, Hanna
Ibrahim, Afif Salem and others. In
addition to literature, there are the
works by some writers on Arab history
and the Arab-Islamic progressive
cultural history.
It is important to point out some
facts when summarizing the cultural
situation of the Arab population in
Israel:
- The oppressive authorities have not
succeeded in their attempts to sever the
masses’ ties with their Palestinian Arab
cultural heritage.
- On the contrary, Palestinian intellec-
tuals have succeeded in establishing a
bridge between the Palestinians aud the
Arab masses in the Arab world.
- Palestinian Arab intellectuals in Israel
have suffered as did their counterparts
in the Arab world, and even more. Both
have struggled to overcome the
sociopolitical crisis which erupted after
the 1967 war.
Obviously, such a development did
not occur in a vacuum. Rather it went
through the conflict that erupted bet-
ween those Arab ‘intellectuals’ loyal to
the oppressive authorities, and the
patriotic and revolutionary intellec-
tuals. In the course of this conflict,
several intellectuals, who had _ been
loyal to the authorities, moved from
their reactionary position to patriotic
and progressive positions; others joined
the (pan-Arab) nationalist trends. The
contradictions between Palestinian in-
tellectuals in Israel have been decisive in
the social, national and political battles
that intensified during the historical
stages experienced in the country, the
region and internationally. This con-
flict was decided in the form and con-
tents of cultural works.
The cultural works of Palestinians in
Israel have greatly affected the univer-
sities that were forced to take them into
consideration. Secondary schools as
well have decided to include the works
of some Palestinian poets and novelists
in the Arab literature courses. The im-
portance of this should not be
overlooked even though the choice has
been selective. (Only descriptive, sym-
bolic works and those dealing with love
were chosen.) We believe that what has
been going on in cultural circles since
the establishment of Israel shows that
Palestinian poets and novelists in Israel
have participated in the enrichment of
the Palestinian culture, as well as the
overall Arab culture.
The Palestinian cultural movement
that has emerged in Israel has every
right to be proud of its victories, of
having overcome the obstacles erected
by the Jsraeli authorities and all the
frustrations it faced from internal and
external sources. @
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