CULTURE

This is taken from Edward Said’s book "Blaming the Victims" is in chapter 11 "A profile of the Palestinian people. It is written by Edward Said, Ibrahim Abu-Loghod, Janet L. Abu Loghod, Muhammad Hallaj, and Elia Zurayk. In this section, I shall present a translated passage from the Arabic language referring to Palestine in the tenth century.

"Filastin is the westernmost of the provinces of Syria. In its greatest length from Rafah to the boundary of Lajjun (Legio) it would take a river two days to travel over; and the like time to cross the province in its breadth from Yafa (Jaffa) to Riha (Jericho), Zugar (Segor, Zoar) and the country of Lot’s people (Diyar Qawm Lot), Al Jibal (the mountains of Edom) and Ash Sharah as far as Ailah- Al Jibal and Ash Sharah being two separate provinces, but lying contiguous to one another- are included in Filastin, and belong to its government.

Filastin is watered by the rains and the dew. Its trees and its ploughed lands do not need artificial irrigation; and it is only in Nablus that you find running waters applied to this purpose. Filastin is the most fertile of the Syrian provinces. Its capital and largest town is Ar Ramlah, but the Holy City (of Jerusalem) comes very near this last in size. In the province of Filastin, despite its small extent, there are about twenty mosques, with pulpits for the Friday prayer." (Quoted from Istakhri and Ibn Hawkal, in Guy le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems: A description of Syria and the Holy Land from AD 650 to 1500 Translated from the Work of the Medieval Arab Geographers (1890; reprinted Beirut: Khayat, 1965) p.28.

Palestinian Identity Palestinians who are they? Palestinians are largely Arabic speakers with their Armenian, Circassian, and Syriac speaking minorities.   They come from the fertile crescent region that is the greater Syrian region.   Their heritage is Semitic and Indo-European.  The Palestinian has the heritage of the ancient Aramean, Phoenician/Canaanite, Hittite, Greek, Israelite, and the Arab.  

It does not entail a particular religion and appearances range from Nordic to Mediterranean.

The land of Palestine, and all of the Syrian coast, contained Canaanite settlements. The Canaanites came from the Arabian Peninsula.  Their eastern artifacts can be found in Failaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Some Westerners tried to state the Canaanites/Phoenicians settled the Gulf after moving into the Syria-Palestine area. There is no indication that the Canaanites commenced their existence from the Syrian coast.  It was these Canaanites who are credited with the alphabet used in the West today.  Ugarit in the Syrian Arab Republic is an example of Canaanite contribution to world literacy..

The Palestinians derive their name from the Phillistines who came from Caphtor (Crete) in the Aegean. The Phillistines had the famous leader Goliath and David was an ally of theirs until he no longer viewed the alliance useful. We also had Greek, Roman, and Crusader settlements.  One example of varying influences is that Nablus was once called Shechem by Canaanites and then attained the Greco-Roman appellation of Neapolis (New City)

The Arab tribes came to the Fertile Crescent prior to the Islamic conquest. The Ghassasanid, Bani Taghlib, and Lakhmids had Arabic roots in the area as well. The Ghassassanid and Bani Taghlib tribes embraced Christianity and the Aramaic language when they settled in Syria. The Arabic we speak today derives its script from the Aramaic speaking Nabataens whose origins are not quite clear. The Arabic of the Qur'an and our Arabic is Qaysi Arabic.

The original Arabs were from the Middle East excluding North Africa.  Our nationalism stems from the Syrian nation and region. This nationalism stems from a collective Aramaic and Arabic heritage with its Indo-European influences due its northern location as well as coastal location.  Arab history in Syria especially in Western Syria is antiquated.  When the Islamic armies came to Syria they came as liberators and it is said the army spoke of its blood relation with the Syrians.

Later, Arab came to include all those who have linguistic, historical, and cultural ties to the Arabs. This includes the regions of the Maghreb, Fertile Crescent, Egypt-Sudan, and the Arabian Peninsula or Al Jazira Al Arabia (The Arabic island).

In the Fertile Crescent eminent peoples came to shine forth such as Al Ma'ari, Mar Afram Al Suri (Saint Afram), Sayf Al Dawla, Hammurapi, Saladin Al Ayyubi, Gibran Khalil Gibran, Antoun Saadeh, Ina'am Ra'ad, Edward Said, Abdil Qadir Al Husseini, Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, and Nizar Qabani.

I would expect people to be proud of the beauty in their cultures… In all cultures there can be found a certain beauty and some, perhaps, more than others. India, for example, may have people who are largely monetarily poor, but they are culturally one of the wealthiest nations in the world. In any case, the Indians suffered, as well, from the Europeans’ desire to shape and "civilize" them. This was a derogation of an eastern culture. The late prime minister of India, ,Nehru, told Nasser that the West simply does not like the East.  When it is said we are uncivilized, let it be remembered the concpet of chivalry originated in our homelands.  It was exemplified in Saladin.

There were many works that debased Arabs and their culture. This is mentioned in detail in Edward Said’s work "Orientalism".

Refugees

Palestinians understand the harsh realities of being a refugee. Many of the readers are sons of refugees and some may have seen the squalor of the camps in Tripoli, Sidon, and Tyre.

These people know feelings of desperation and may feel that the world has somewhat forgotten them. I know they are my responsibility as a Palestinian.

We know Jews are more active than us in helping their community. However, strides have been made and our voice is being heard. We should help our community regardless of political inclinations towards the right or left or of personal religious convictions. Help one another for we have know the identity of the refugee, but we carry this with no shame.

If you could contribute a small token to an organization helping refugees do so. An example of such a group is CEPAL. CEPAL stands for the Canadian Educational Exchange with Palestinians. They teach the English language to the refugees. Our people are our resources.

It also encourages contact between Canadians and Palestinian refugees thereby increasing closer contacts between Canadians and Palestinians. It is a grass roots approach inspired by the 26 years of volunteer language teaching by British NGO UNIPAL, with whom they work in close cooperation. (NGO means nongovernmental Organization)

If you truly care for the Palestinian cause do not just talk politics and love for Palestine.

What are we without our people. Contribute even a modest amount to this organization or another one. No small amount is considered small when intentions are big and others are encouraged so send your modest money order or whatever. I did so. I think I do not need to say more about this, because a person who truly cares will understand.

(CEPAL)

#508-290 Nelson,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7S3
Canada

e-mail: CEPAL

and (613) 237-8274 or (514) 486-1190

Renaissance for Our Nation

In Arabic there is a saying that means a son is not what his father has achieved but what name he will make for himself. We exhort our brothers and sisters to be proud of past achievements. However, do not stop there. What produces a civilization rests heavily on the thoughts of the people. Think of what will induce fertile or fecund minds. Our nation’s civilization has its roots in Arabic, Canaanite, Aramaic, Babylonian, Greek, and Egyptian contributions. This involved progressive rather than static thought.

We often speak of the glorious peoples in our past such as the thinkers Ibn Sinna, Ibn Al Arabi, Zeno, and lament the loss Of the intellectual paradises in Baghdad, Damascus, and the Andalus. These centres encouraged diverse thinking and tolerance. In order to achieve their fame and glory, we need to examine what they examined, and then our civilization will rise once again just as the Phoenix bird. Even glorious Andalus exiled Ibn Al Arabi (Averroes). We must not exile our intellectuals. 

We often seek stubbornly to compel others to accept our viewpoint without trying to understand the other person. We can become too focused on having others understand and accept our point of view as dogma. That is a form of insecurity. Dialogue should involve both sides listening and learning from one another. Just as you believe you are correct in your opinions, so does the other person.  Work on what you can agree upon and what you have in common.

Perceptions of our Religion

Often, people in the West and certain misled peoples of our region influenced by them make blanket generalizations and inaccurately label. I shall use a quote from Albert Hourani from Edward Said’s book, "Covering Islam". P.56-57. ’81.

"It is clear, then, that words like Islamic history do not mean the same things in different contexts, and that in no context are they enough by themselves to explain all that exists. In other words, "Islam" and the terms derived from it are "ideal types", to be used subtly, with infinite reservations and adjustments to meaning, and in conjunction with other ideal types, if they are to serve as principles of historical explanation. The extent to which they can be used varies according to the type of history we are writing. They are at least relevant to economic history; as Rodinson has shown in "Islam et capitalisme", the economic life of societies where Islam is dominant cannot be explained primarily in terms of religious beliefs or laws. In spite of the influence of Islamic law on commercial forms, other kinds of explanation are more relevant; as Cahen and others have suggested, concepts such as "Near Eastern," "Mediterranean, "medieval," "pre-industrial" society are more useful than that of Islamic. For sociopolitical history, Islam can furnish some elements of explanation but by no means all that are needed. The institutions and policies of even the most fervently "Islamic" states cannot be explained without taking into account geographical position, economic needs, and interests of dynasties and rulers. Even the history of those institutions, that seem to be based upon Islamic law, cannot be wholly explained in these terms: a concept like "Islamic slavery" dissolves if one looks at it closely; as Milliot’s examination of the ‘amal literature of Morroco suggests, there were always in which local customs were incorporated into Islamic law as it was actually practiced. Only some kinds intellectual history, at least before the modern period, can be explained in mainly Islamic terms, as a process by which ideas from outside were blended with those generated from within Islam itself to form a self-maintaining and self-developing system; even the falasifa must now be seen, not as Greek philosophers in Arab clothes, but as Muslims using the concepts and methods of Greek philosophy to give their own explanation of the Islamic faith.

What is Syria?

I will use the text from the book discussing Khalil Gibran that was written by the Citadel Press in 1979, p.19-20. It is the book a "Third Treasury of Gibran." Gibran’s national reality was Syria though he is known as a man from Lebanon. One must explain what is Syria since he used the phrase "Young Americans of Syrian origin I believe in you."

Man roamed the land as a hunter in the Middle East and North Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. During this period of hunting there were no political subdivisions and man needed no passport to migrate. Europe was covered with snow until twenty-five thousand years ago. Hence it was not conducive to human habitation; a few hardy savages lived in caves until the glacier receded. Then man changed his residence from a cave to a sur, or enclosure, and became a city dweller; this sur became the name of a city on the seashore known to the West as Tyre. This city, Sur (Tyre), and its goddess Suria, which is still worshipped in India, gave its name to the whole area east of the Mediterranean. As Sur was Latinized into Tyre, Suria was Latinized into Syria and included the mountains of Lebanon.

Those city dwellers developed a philosophy of the existence of the soul, its immortality and resurrection, along with the premise that the soul needed help or guidance in order that it might reach paradise (heaven). This idea was adopted by St. Augustine. Those city dwellers of Sur or Tyre traveled with their philosophy to Egypt. Babylonia, North Africa and Europe; they conquered the seas, colonized and founded the great cities of Europe, including London. They were nicknamed the Phoenicians. Phoenician means purple-reddish in Greek and they were known as believers in immortality. (my addition)

In the caves men developed the idea of fighting in groups to overcome the mighty animals; in the city they fought in groups to destroy one another.

The cave dwellers grouped together to protect a cave or a spring of water; the Suri or city dwellers built a sur to protect a city and an army to protect a country. Even now every country keeps an army.

What has it do with the nationality of Gibran?

It affects us in this respect: war create new boundaries, new administrations and new philosophies of government. Hence the administrative divisions of Gibran’s country during the Roman period varied greatly at different times. The Roman Emperor, Hadrian, divided into three provinces: Syria, Syria-Phoenicia and Syria-Palestine. Gibran was born in Syria-Phoenicia; Christ was born in Syria-Palestine.

One historian writing about the birth of Christ has said: "It did not appear that one born in obscurity of a Syrian provincial village would be able to give a new date to history and change the religious beliefs of mankind."

When Turkey overran the country, it divided Syria into districts (Wilayah), naming for each one a governor with the tile of Pasha. The people, during the Turkish rule of four hundred years, refused to be assimilated by their conquerors. Hence the country of Gibran remained its Achilles’ heel, and its numerous revolutions were supported by one European country or another until 1860, when a civil war broke out. England sent her fleet and France disembarked on Lebanese soil an army of six thousand men. After the landing of these armies, a special committee composed of diplomatic representatives of France, England, Russia, and Austria convened in Beirut (means wells in Canaanite) with the First Minister of Turkey. The outcome was the conferring upon Lebanon of an internal autonomy guaranteed by these European powers. The Sultan was to appoint a Christian governor for Lebanon and the European powers were to approve the appointment. This autonomous area included neither the plains of Bekka on the east nor the cities along the seashores, nor even Beirut, which is now the capitol of the state of Lebanon.

Therefore, the people who came to America from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean were classified as Syrian nationals regardless of whether they came from Damascus or from the mountains by the Cedars.

After the First World War, Turkey was ousted and France received from the League of Nations a mandate over Syria and Lebanon, while England took over Palestine. Even then, people arriving in America were listed as Syian nationals.