1998
APRIL
- The Centre hosted the exhibit of Syrian artist Marwan Qassab Bashi. Marwan
is one of the most important Arab artists working today, and enjoys great
fame in Europe. This exhibit, organized in cooperation with the Ramallah
Goethe Institut, was held as a result of Marwan's wish to bequeath to "the
children of Palestine" a collection of 75 etchings of great value on
the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nakba. These were distributed
between the Sakakini and Bir Zeit University.
Professor Jorn Merkert, director of the Berlin Museum of Modern Art and
chief expert on Marwan's work, attended the opening, commented a short
documentary film on Marwan after the opening, and gave a lecture and slide
show at the Bir Zeit opening.
This important gestures underscores the solidarity of international artists
with the struggle of the Palestinian people, and the gift will serve as
the nucleus for a museum of contemporary art works donated by international
artists, in solidarity with the people of Palestine, that the Sakakini
will try to establish in Ramallah.
- Finally, among the Center's Nakba 50th anniversary commemoration activities:
Historian and educator Dr. Ibrahim Abu Lughod spoke about Arab-Americans
within the "Palestinian Intellectuals & the Nakba Lecture Series",
3 testimonies by eyewitnesses to the Nakba were organized: Three survivors
of the Deir Yassin massacre, one survivor of the Haifa exodus, and participants
in the Qastal and Bab El Wad battles of April 1948. Finally, the ARTE
TV 1998 documentary film: "Al-Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe",
was screened to very mixed reviews.
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