It is not just a matter of a nagging side of mine.
It is not just a matter of finding a topic to scream about … Thi is the last thing I need living in this place. I have to admit that this issue might be distracting me from other not less important matters.
After all a 13-year-old boy was killed in Dheisheh by the Israeli forces, the new Jewish national law is quite an interesting issue to bug on , Gaza’s violations are not stoppable, assassinating two Palestinian researchers in Algeria, the attempted demolition of the Bedouin Khan al Ahmar area, the daily home demolitions in Jerusalem, the Trump exciting news, the Saudi massacres in Yemen, the white Helmets flee and rescue by Israel, domestic violence against women , car accidents ,….
Moreover, I am here thinking about mummified animals that are no longer exist.
Who needs to be interested in extinct animals of terminated people?
Maybe I am worried about me as a result? I do want to die as a Palestinian where my children can visit my burial in the family site in, and I want to be called the Palestinian Nadia. I don’t want to be exhibited in an Israeli museum anywhere and be pointed at as part of the heritage of the great land of Israel!
I need to also, of course, ignore the ” mere” the fact that the Tel Aviv university itself stands on the destroyed Palestinian village of Sheikh Mounis
I am damn serious about this.
This issue is making me furious. It is like theft in daylight.
As I am reading articles about the grand opening of the Israeli nature museum in Tel Aviv University, I cannot but get sicker each time I see photos of what I grew up knowing is mine. Memories that no one should have the right to steal from my childhood. My growing up. Memories I share with my children, and I was preparing myself to share with my children. Memories that ignite my imagination. Memories that increase my ideas of fiction, of telling a story of a place that I always belonged to.
School is more than home for 12 years of memories that shape whom you become. Suddenly, I see an Israeli child, mother, father, anyone touching and watching and playing with a treasure that was not just exclusive to us, but we were limited access to, and never allowed to move.
then they tell us that we don’t know how to preserve our heritage, or even worse, they saved it . ..
As i was reading about the topic, I came across a book written by Mazin Qumsiyeh with the title of “Mammals of the Holy Land, published in 1996. Of course, I did not encounter Mazin Qumisya’s book by chance, this Palestinian scholar and activist have established the Palestinian natural museum to preserve the heritage of Palestine. He was so kind n his book describing it all as the holy land, distinguishing with remarkable cautiousness the importance of the issue that is much bigger than the political conflict. He allowed space for Israel and other countries n the region to be part of what he called the mammals of the holy land. While in a straightforward and naturalistic way of occupation, the Tel Aviv University did not even hesitate in calling the Schmits collection as part of Israel heritage, while in the same institution ten years ago, the research mentioned the group as Palestinian located.
Maybe my voice is nothing more than an irritating fly buzzing noisily. Moreover, I have to admit; I don’t mind being an annoying fly, or a sucking mosquito, or even a biting bee.
The issue of this collection is personal. It tackles what it means to preserve your memories…. not things. Heritage in this sense is what makes me the person I am .. these people sabotaged my mind and forged it in a place that belongs elsewhere.
Reblogged this on Lolathecur's Blog Below are two very important entries from the "Jewish Encyclopedia". Read them VERY CLOSELY..