One of the major consequences of the war of 1967 was the
dismemberment of Palestinian society from its "natural" cultural
terrain in the neighboring Arab countries. Books, newspapers and
journals were no longer available in the West Bank and Gaza.
Because of Israeli restrictions on the movement of people, physical
access to periodic Arab festivals, theaters, universities and
cultural forums became extremely limited. Arabic films from Egypt
and Lebanon - the main suppliers of the regional cinema industry -
were no longer available. Only radio and television programs
continued to reach their audiences in Palestine, but those were,
without exception, state¬-controlled and their cultural fares
of dubious value.
Isolation
Thus Palestine became a segment of a broken whole, left to its own
devices. The result paradoxically was not altogether negative.
Isolated from their historical cultural affinities, local writers,
musicians, poets, and artists took it upon themselves to recreate
setting. Because of Israeli military censor¬ship on
publications and performances throughout the West Bank and Gaza the
initial attempts at cultural creations were based in local colleges
and municipalities. The Ramallah City Council became the sponsor of
a series of summer theatrical festivals in the early seventies,
while the Nablus and Bireh Public Libraries (both administered and
funded by their respective city councils) held weekly sessions of
lectures, poetry readings, and heated discussions on the future
relationship between Palestinian and Arab culture. In East
Jerusalem, where Israeli law was unilaterally extend¬ed in
1968, and the Arab sector was annexed in 1980, a measure of legal
freedom allowed for the limited flourishing of a Palestinian press
and the¬ater - most notably the establishment of al-Hakawati
Theater (later the Palestinian National Theater), al-Wasiti Art
Center, the Sabreen [Music] musical and dramatic groups. Clearly,
cultural isolation became an incentive for creativity and
independence.
This process was galvanized by a military regime that was as
hostile to the articulation of a Palestinian national sentiment, as
it was keen at sup¬pressing its manifestations - both
political and cultural. Restrictions on the performance of plays;
the banning of public assemblies; closure of uni¬versities and
schools; censorship of texts; and the banning of imported books
(which at its zenith in the 1980s reached about 3,000 titles); all
were acts that failed not only to suppress the mushrooming of
creative cultural activities, but gave it a strong nationalist
content. Israeli actions were per¬ceived as aiming at
undermining both the cultural and national ethos of Palestinian
society.
Revivalism and Identity
In reaction, these actions generated a grassroots movement (felt
mostly in the domain of dance and music) that was primarily
folklorist and revivalist. In every township in the West Bank and
Gaza, and in scores of villages, social clubs, study groups, dabke
troupes and local ethnographic publications cele¬brated what
could be termed as an assertion of the suppressed national
spirit.
Throughout the seventies and part of the eighties, these
traditional artis¬tic activities dominated the Palestinian
cultural scene. They were demon¬strative, repetitive, heroic,
highly stylized and mechanical. Occasionally some daring groups
were able to transcend the purely folklorist frame into modernist
adaptations which were able to inject them with an "impure" but
original dimension. Altogether they constituted an important
ideolog¬ical transitional formulation of Palestinian national
identity.
Once this identity began to rest on solid ground, Palestinian
cultural activity (sometime in the late seventies) forged into the
direction of exper¬imental, cosmopolitan, and - tentatively -
internationalist currents. This can be perceived first in the
repertoire of the local theater, thei1 in painting and literature,
and lastly (the least developed) in music and cinema.
Impediments
Palestinian cultural productions today suffer from two major
impedi¬ments: one is the institutional constraints, such as
weak infrastructure, lack of funds, absence of equipment and
performance arenas, lack of special¬ization and the
predominance of amateurism. The second impediment is likely to be
more formidable. It has to do with the uncritical and "heroic"
image with which Palestinian art and literature are received in the
Arab world and among local audiences. It has the effect of
reinforcing a spirit of false achievement and self-assurance. It
also stifles the atmosphere of com¬petitiveness within a wider
circle of artistic performances that is essential for healthy
cultural development. In effect, it sets unique and separate
standards for judging Palestinian art which elevate it beyond
critical assessments.
Now that Palestinian society is about to enter the community of
"nor¬mal" nations, this feature of exceptionalism is likely to
come to an end. Young artists will have to define their vision
within the needs and vision of a new and altered society. One that
is neither "heroic" nor begging for international aid. Relations
with neighboring Arab societies, as well as with the international
cultural networks, will hopefully be based on parity and mutual
creative exchange.
This is the foreword to an inventory of cultural institutions in
Palestine to be published in late 1995 in Arabic and English.