Al-Nakbah: Lest we forget.

By Ebtihal Mahadeen After the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in 1947, the United Nations passed Resolution 181 in that year to divide the British Mandate into two states-one Israeli and the other Palestinian. Israel was granted 55% of the land, although Jews made up only 30% of the population. While the Arabs rejected the partition resolution, Israel claimed independence on May 14, 1984 and the British Mandate was officially over the next day. A war ensued between the Palestinians and Arabs on the one hand, and the Israelis on the other. By July 1949, Israel had extended its control over 78% of historic Palestine. Around 800,000 Palestinians were forced out of their cities and towns, 530 villages were destroyed and 86% of the Palestinians who fell within the armistice lines were displaced. The Arabs had lost the war, and Palestinians had lost their homeland. According to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the number of registered Palestinian refugees has grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 4.6 million in 2008. The tragic events of 1947-1949, known as al-Nakbah (cataclysm) resound in the memories of Palestinians and Arabs everywhere. In Jordan, al-Hannouneh Society for Popular Culture took it upon itself to keep the memory of Palestine alive in the minds of the youth in particular. The Society itself was established in 1993, crafting as its mission the protection of popular culture, customs and traditions from slipping into oblivion. This year, al-Hannouneh organized its second "Guardians of Memory" week from May 9-15 to commemorate al-Nakbah and celebrate Jerusalem as the 2009 Arab Cultural Capital. Bisan Saleh of al-Hannouneh spoke to The Star about al-Hannouneh experience in organizing the week. "This year we have more diversity and more events than last year. This is our second year organizing the Guardians of Memory week, and now we have more experience than before, especially in dealing with the media and publicizing the events," she said. "It is important to note that al-Hannouneh does not believe in geographical borders in the Levant and we want to preserve the memory of the whole area, but we concentrate on Palestine because it is under a ruthless occupation which is systematically robbing it of its popular culture," she added. "These days, many young people do not know about al-Nakbah and don't even know some of the most important dates in our collective history. Al-Hannouneh wants to remind them of these historic dates through this week, even if indirectly," Bisan Saleh concluded. The events of the week ranged from film screenings and discussions to artistic exhibitions and musical concerts. To conclude the week, al-Hannouneh folklore dance group gave a performance at the Arena theater in Amman Ahliyah University on May 14 to a crowd of hundreds. The performance was directed by Khaled Tareefi and prepared by Sa'adeh Saleh and featured a collage of theatrics, dance, and meta-theater. Dr Mousa Saleh, president of al-Hannouneh Society, explained the gist of the performance in his opening speech. "We want to remind the world of the occupation in Palestine. We want to tell the world that it will end and that Jerusalem will return to its earlier glory. In 1913, accounts of locust swarms attacking the Levant were recorded in Hums in Syria and Bait Nabala in Palestine. The locusts stripped the region of its greenery, but they were unable to rob the people of their resistance. Our people were stubbornly determined to survive. Sometimes they won and sometimes they lost their battle against the locusts, but they always resisted." Understandably, the locust invasion was a central theme in the performance. The story was narrated by Tareefi, who stayed on stage throughout the show and interacted with the audience, the actors and the dancers. Tareefi's wit and sense of humor were the highlight of the evening as he read letters from his grandmother. She wrote of locust invasions damaging the crops and crushing people's hopes; she described how the Palestinians resisted and kept hope alive, and how they celebrated weddings in spite of their misery, and all the while these events were played out on stage. A 7-day wedding was another integral part of the plot. Each day had its customs and dances, and each day brought a new challenge. At one point, the locust stole the Palestinian dress in an attempt to steal the people's identity and they fought it back with fire, sometimes scaring it away and at others losing the battle. Tareefi and al-Hannouneh paid tribute to Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish throughout the work by using his poetry to link the various segments together. The locust, a symbol of destruction and occupation, was present in the performance alongside other central symbols. The grandmother was a symbol for "never-ending love, memories, and the homeland," Saleh said. "The fire," he added, was "a symbol for warmth, resistance, and celebrations." The highly symbolic nature of the show was at times difficult to follow and perhaps contrary to the expectations of the audience which responded enthusiastically to dance pieces and folkloric tunes. Many of them had left reviews on al-Hannoueh's facebook page varying between criticism and praise. "At the end of the day, the locust triumphed, but we are still here and we are still resisting, and one day we will return to our homeland, Palestine," Saleh concluded the show to an applauding audience

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