Da Haaretz del 24 agosto 2015
E’ prevista per il 2016 in Cisgiordania l’apertura del più grande museo dedicato alla storia, alla cultura e all’arte palestinese. La cerimonia di inaugurazione dovrebbe svolgersi il 15 maggio, data simbolo che ricorda l’anniversario della Nakba.
PALESTINIAN MUSEUM SET TO OPEN NEXT YEAR IN WEST BANK
The biggest museum yet of Palestinian history, culture and art is to open its doors in the West Bank next year. The Palestinian Museum’s inauguration ceremony is scheduled for May 15, organizers announced Monday, a symbolic date as it marks the Nakba, “catastrophe” in Arabic, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were dispersed into exile in the war that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948. The 3,800-square-meter museum, located north of Jerusalem in Birzeit, aims to serve as a “link between Palestinians in historic Palestine and those living in the diaspora,” a statement said. It will be “dedicated to preserving and celebrating the culture, society and history of Palestine over the past two centuries,” it said. “The decision to open the museum on the 15th of May is designed to underline the enduring importance of the Nakba to the museum’s work,” said the museum’s director, Jack Persekian. A first exhibition, “Never Part,” will gather stories of Palestinians’ most treasured possessions in order to explore the interplay between material culture and collective identity. The museum is an initiative of the Welfare Association, a Palestinian NGO.The construction costs are $30 million, spokeswoman Rana Anani said. The number of Palestinians worldwide has crossed the 12-million mark, according to the Palestinian central bureau of statistics. Under half of them live in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The rest live abroad, including some 5.5 million registered Palestinian refugees and their descendants who reside in UN-run refugee camps in neighboring Arab states.
