Wednesday 18 April 2018

Digital heritage to save an endangered culture: the case of Palestine


Friday March 30 is the day that over 30000 Palestinians embarked on a peaceful protest march to the border area of the Gaza strip to bring the unfulfilled right of return to their family homes inside Israel and to highlight the ongoing plight of living under Israeli occupation to the attention of the international community. Friday March 30 is also the day that these Palestinians were met with lethal force, including deployed troops, drones, tanks and snipers. Friday March 30 is the day that 15 Palestinians were killed, and over 1000 wounded.

http://www.themalaysiantimes.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/free-palestine.jpg


The murderously disproportionate violence against demonstrating Palestinians is only the latest in the continuous maltreatment of the Palestinian people. In the digital age violence exceeds the physical realm and emerges as censorship and the shutting down of websites (More here).The continuous strikes against Palestinians call for acts of preservation and recently several projects have been launched. This article will cover an internationally funded preservation project as well as a locally organized grassroots heritage organization.

How is Palestinian heritage being preserved in the modern world; a minority in a state of constant conflict? While the Palestinian culture is in a fragile state, there are ongoing projects with the aim of preserving Palestinian heritage through digital means. Ramesh et al (2009) writes about modernizing museology by digitizing content. By this, it is meant that “Archaeologists, cultural preservationists, curators, and, critically, indigenous peoples must all interact around the object, and influence its selection, acquisition, classification, and presentation” (Ramesh et al 2009). When speaking of a culture as marginalized as that of the Palestinians, this is important, as misrepresentation is an undeniable risk. Not only is Palestinian culture largely misrepresented, it is also endangered: a substantive amount of Palestinian heritage has been lost or destroyed in the way of conflict.

A lot of Palestine’s heritage was destroyed by Israel during various periods, most notably of course during the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, and during the invasion of Beirut in 1982 where the Palestinian Liberation Organization research center was looted. Furthermore, in 2001 the Bayt al-Shareq institution in Jerusalem was shut down and it’s documents, research and studies were confiscated. So what is left to preserve? As Ramesh et al (2009) states; digitized content should be more than ‘brief educational images’. Given the current state of Palestine and the already considerable loss of historical artefacts and heritage items, the task of heritage conservation is not an easy one.

The Palestinian Museum, located in Birzeit in the central West Bank, has launched a project in order to create a digital archive of historical documents, photos and films that reflect the history of Palestine. According to Zina Jardaneh, chair of the museum’s board, the archive will document, digitize and publish 145000 endangered archival items in both Arabic and English. Jardaneh says the museum’s mission is to connect Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause with Palestine’s history and civilization, which this project will only enhance.

The project will not only recover a large amount of documents, but also make them available to an audience beyond Palestine. The University of California will also publish the digital archives on their website as part of a partnership with the Palestinian Museum. The project relies on historians and academics from inside and outside Palestine for the collection of necessary items and data.

The digital archive project will contribute to the preservation of Palestinian history for future generations to come, following decades during which this history was lost due to the lack of supervision and documentation. The project will also preserve the national and historical narrative and protect it from extinction and provide a database for researchers around the world.

Palestine is endangered of being attacked through shutting down and censoring websites and most Palestinian heritage was demolished during the invasion of Beirut in 1982. As a result, the Palestinian Liberation Organization research center has been robbed. To combat the attacks, the Palestinians have funded to preserve their national heritage through many mediums. Archaeologists, preservationists, curators and indigenous people must in fact have to part take in the movement to display and archive heritage: as it is an endangered one. A mention worthy attempt has been made across linguistic borders: the archives have been uploaded and published in both Arabic and English to attract readers outside and within Palestine. The projects have been reliant on historians and academics and form in the Palestine for the collection of primary sources and will continue to preserve heritage for the future generations as it holds the national and historical identity of the Palestinians


Food for thought: Is digital content a safer way to contain heritage for Palestine?

Written by: Jesse, Marie, Saru and Sandra



Melhem, A. (2018, April 11). Palestinian Museum's digital archive project to preserve heritage. Retrieved April 17, 2018, from https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/palestinian-museum-to-create-digital-archive.html


Srinivasan, Ramesh et al (2009): Digital Museum and Diverse Cultural Knowledges: Moving Past the Traditional Catalogue. In: The Information Society, pp. 265-278.
Silberman, Neil: Collective Memory as Affirmation: People-Centered Cultural Heritage in a Digital Age.