In the past 24 hours Israeli forces relentlessly bombed Gaza destroying
many buildings and murdering 7 Palestinians including a mother Faslateen
(Palestine in Arabic), her unborn male child Abdullah and her 14 month old
baby Saba (lit yearning or aspiration). Palestinian resistance
usedhome-made missiles targeting Israeli colonies (ex-Palestinian
communities/ethnically cleansed areas) which killed one Israeli settler.
The western media as usually made the indigenous victims look like
aggressors. Eurovision will promote the opperessors. But even official Arab
media (including Palestinain authority) decided to marginalize the ongoing
siege, blockade, and massacre of the two million hapless Palestinians and
speak of irrelevant news. Oppressers know that information is power. That
is why there is a war on people like Jamal Kashogji and Julian Assange.
That is why we do not hear much about the genocide in Yemen and we get a
really distorted view of what is happening in places like Palestine or
Yemen or Venezuela (a US- led attempted coup like happened in Iran in the
1950s or Chile in the 1970s to install corporate friendly dictators). Last
night thinking about this I had to remind myself that WE MUST keep building
even as colonialists continue to destroy. I had to remind myself of my own
speech at last week’s opening of our new Cultural Heritage exhibit
Below is what I said about things we should be ashamed of and things we
should be proud of.
“We must be ashamed of some things and proud of others”
Speech by Prof.. Qumsiyeh at the opening ceremony
We are ashamed that our heritage is being lost.
Villagers even forget how their parents and grandparents lived off the land
We must be ashamed that so many people do not even know what our culture
encompasses: tangible heritage & intangible like music art proverbs
language thoughts and much more
We must be ashamed that young people do not even know what the lentil or
wheat plant looks like
We must be ashamed that young people turn to drugs
They internalize an inferiority complex
The people depend obey orders of occupiers
Mental colonization
We must be ashamed that young people spend more time on facebook looking to
get a like than talking to their grandparents or even communicating socially
We must be ashamed that older people sometimes discourage the young from
being revolutionary
Our schools and universities teach regurgitation
They do not teach or I should say coach critical thinking, questioning
attitude
or how to fish for real information
Why most people do not know that our local words are filled with arameic
the language of jesus
let alone how to change your circumstances
why do we not spend time growing our own food,
proverbs that go to our canaanitic ancestors
why do we not know that our language is full of Aramaic word
نبش نكش نتع سكَر عتيق قرمة شوب تنورة شروال عيب جب بعل ناطور مرتي فلان
درابزون إلو بكير – بكرا برا / براني جوا / جواني دقن / ذقن زريعة وحاكورة
We could spend hours listing all the things we should be ashamed of. But we
here offer solutions & Pride in accomplishments
We are proud of building institutions like this
Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability
The only center that does real scientific research on these things
Student led research on our nature, our heritage, our people
A natural history museum, a beautiful garden, a community garden, and we
are working on a playground
Research center, environmental education and awareness unit
Proud of the thousands of internatrional and local visitors who came here
in the past two years (we opened the museum april 2017) and hopefully
hundreds of thousands who will come in the next few years after we open a
green building
Now I want to tell you of people we are proud of and I want to ask you to
stand up when I mention you
We are proud of researchers like Mohammad Abusarhan, Elias Handal, Aysha
Al-Wahsh, Ruba Anabtawi, Reena Saeed, Ahmed AlOmary, Manal Adawi, Ibrahim
Mashaala, Bassam Almohr, Ameer Sbaihat, and dozens of others who do
research with us
Please stand up and keep standing
We are proud of Jessie who volunteered here for five years seven days a
week and for all our volunteers local and international
We are proud of many of you locally and globally who donated money or items
in kind or sent us encouragement
We are proud of our university and all its staff who helped us
We are proud of partners like the British Counvil, Masar Ibrahim, civic
society organizations, the Environmental Quality Authority, the Ministry of
Culture, the Ministry of tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture,
We are happy you joined us to support us so the few remaining seated stand
up
Now everyone give yourself an applause
You – WE all deserve to be proud of our selves, our team spirit and of our
Palestine
Stay Human and come visit us in Palestine
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
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