Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2022, pp. 53-54
Music & Arts
THE MUSEUM of the Palestinian People’s latest exhibition, “Dreams Rising: Palestinian Children in Gaza Imagine a Future Beyond Trauma,” opened on May 14. Curator Ahmed Mansour said the children’s original images reimagine a liberated Gaza and challenge adults everywhere to act now for a just future.
With rain forecast, the museum erected tents on the sidewalk to protect food, guests and musical equipment. Composer and oud artist Fuad Foty, aka “DC’s Voice of Palestine,” and his 14-year-old daughter Yasmine, played Palestinian music. Foty noted that tents are a poignant symbol of what refugees have to go through, but this year it also symbolized a funeral tent for the murdered journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Guests shared a moment of silence to remember the latest of too many Palestinian martyrs.
Bshara Nassar, founder and director of the museum, introduced his father Daher, a farmer who is a symbol of non-violent resistance in the West Bank. Nassar said it was fitting to honor Nakba Day by having Palestinian children tell their own stories at the museum.
Chairman of the board, Farshid Hakimyar, urged the crowd to donate to the museum. Board member Ruba Marshood said she wished the museum had existed when she was a child, to help her answer questions like, Why is your country not on a map? “My country was erased from the map but now I can bring my children to the museum so they can get to know my country and my heart,” Marshood said. Another board member, Mohammed El-Khatib, said volunteering at the museum is the most rewarding thing he’s ever done. “We have a space to anchor us,” he said.
—Delinda C. Hanley
