Abstract

Our folk heritage is the heart beats of our identity

Prof. Dr. Ihsan al-Deek

An-Najah National University

It is not the occupation of the land that is the most important threat to the Palestinians today, because Palestine stands still in its place and has been occupied many times and has remained the same. The extermination of the Palestinian people is not a danger, because millions of Palestinians exist around the world, but the real danger lies in the loss of collective memory and the melting of the unified identity under the division and fragmentation among the diaspora, the inside people of the West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinian 48.

It is not a matter of exaggeration that the cultural symbols inspired by popular culture exceeds the importance of official symbols in the formation of the collective identity; it’s the continuation and maintenance of the identity, as it is the birth of the people themselves, that stems from their depths, spreads among its children, passes time and place, transmitted by generations, aspires people’s emotions and attracts their attention, unlike the official symbols that are elite-making which transcend the general and are subject to logic and planning.

We, the Palestinians, are mostly in need to preserve our heritage and take care of our folklore, and stir up our popular symbols to boost our identity in the shadow of the eradication and Judaization. Our struggle with the enemy is not on Gaza and Jericho first or second, but on the past and the present together. As they stole the Canaanite past: the gods, religion, language, literature, and the music, they are stealing everything today: Dabkeh, embroidered dress, falafel, tent accessories, Roman olives, and all that is ancient Palestinian. They are mobilizing all their energies to create modern Israel, as they invented the myth of the Promised Land before telling the world that they are searching the deep History, and they returned home after more than two thousand years ago.

In the context of the Palestinian character, this heritage becomes an element of the conflict and a weapon of resistance. The preservation of it is a sacred national duty, and its rooting and consolidation back into its first Canaanite path is a confirmation of its belonging to its owners who inherited it from its grandfather. That is a negation to the other’s myths and false imaginations to the alleged historical right.

Conference Title

التراث الشعبي الفلسطيني في محافظة جنين

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

Nov. 8, 2017 - Nov. 9, 2017

Conference Sponsor

جامعة القدس المفتوحة