Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Launches​ Matloub/Wanted: Library Books for Palestine

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Jan 29, 2019 Palestine
Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Launches​ Matloub/Wanted: Library Books for Palestine

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Launches​ Matloub/Wanted: Library Books for Palestine

By : Jadaliyya Reports

أمناء شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین
http://librarianswithpalestine.org
librarians2palestine@gmail.com

بیان صحفي شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین تطلق مشروع مطلوب لإیصال كتب الأطفال إلى المكتبات الفلسطینیة في الضفة الغربیة وقطاع غزة


یسر شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین )LAP( الإعلان عن إطلاق برنامج مطلوب: كتب المكتبة لفلسطین، وهي حملة تهدف إلى رفع الوعي حول القضایا التي تواجه المكتبات في فلسطین والسیاق السیاسي الذي تعمل فیه، وتقدم في الوقت نفسه دعمًا مادیًا لمجموعات المكتبات. قامت مجموعة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین. والمنظمة الشریكة في فلسطین مؤسسة تامر للتعلیم المجتمعيبجمع طلبات الكتب من سبعة عشر مكتبة مجتمعیة في الضفة الغربیة وقطاع غزة. یتم دعوة زوار موقع مطلوب لدفع ثمن أحد هذه الكتب المطلوبة وتكالیف شحنها، وسیقوم مؤسسة تامر للتعلیم المجتمعي و شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین بتنسیق عملیة تسلیم الكتاب إلى المكتبة.

تواجه المكتبات الفلسطینیة تحدیات فریدة من نوعها بسبب السیاسات الإسرائیلیة والسیاق العام للاحتلال العسكري. نظراً لأن إسرائیل تعتبر دو ًلا مجاورة "دو ًلا معادیة" بما في ذلك لبنان وسوریا وإیران، لا یمكن لموظفي المكتبات توقع وصول الكتب المطلوبة من الخارج بسرعة، أو حتى على الإطلاق. تخضع الكتب التي یتم شحنها إلى البلاد للحجز والتدمیر من قبل المفتشین الإسرائیلیین، أو یتم حجرها لفترة من الزمن مع فرض غرامة یومیة یدفعها المتلقي. یعتبر لبنان مركزاً رئیسیًا للنشر باللغة العربیة، لذا فإن هذه السیاسات تقطع المكتبات الفلسطینیة من العدید من العناوین العربیة )على سبیل المثال، جمیع الكتب التي كتبها الشاعر الفلسطیني الشهیر محمود درویش منشورة في لبنان(. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، یعتبر الوصول إلى الكتب أكثر خطورة في غزة، حیث یحد الحصار حتى من استیراد الورق.

خلال زیارة شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین إلى فلسطین عام 2015، شارك الفلسطینیون قص ًصا عن أشخاص أحضروا كتًبا إلى فلسطین من لندن إلى القدس، ومن القدس إلى رام االله، ومن رام االله إلى غزة، ومن رام االله إلى حیفا أو من لبنان إلى الأردن ومن ثم إلى رام االله - وهي عملیة غیر قابلة للتوسع ولا یمكن استدامتها بسهولة، إذ لا تكون تبرعات الكتب دائًما من ضمن المواد المرغوبة - سواء للمكتبة المجتمعیة أو الجامعة، وقد یقوم المتبرعون الأجانب بإرسال نسخ من عنوان ما بأكثر مما هو مطلوب استخدامه، أو إرسال كتب غیر لائقة لغویًا، أو ببساطة عناوین لا تعكس الاحتیاجات المحلیة.

بالتعاون مع الزملاء في فلسطین، صممت شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطینمنصة مطلوبكدعم للعمل الذي یقوم به الفلسطینیون بالفعل لدعم محو الأمیة والتعلیم والتراث الثقافي. تم اختیار العناوین المتاحة للشراء عبر مطلوب من قبل أمناء المكتبات المحلیین والعاملین في المجتمع. لدى بعض المناطق برامج تشجع القراءة لدى الشباب وداخل العائلات، كما ستساعد المجموعات الأكثر ثرا ًء لأدب الأطفال باللغة العربیة في المكتبات المجتمعیة في تحقیق هذه الأهداف أی ًضا.

تلاحظ ماجي شرینر من اللجنة التوجیهیة للشبكة قائلة :"إن مسیرة العودة العظیمة الأخیرة، والتي شهدت مقتل 123 متظاهراً على الأقل وإصابة 14000 شخص على أیدي القوات الإسرائیلیة هي تذكیر بكیفیة قیام الاحتلال الإسرائیلي بتقیید حركة الفلسطینیین وبقائهم على قید الحیاة وحتى حق الوصول إلى المعلومات. مع حملة مطلوب، تقدم شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطیناستجابة للتحدیات التي سمعناها من زملائنا الفلسطینیین خلال وفدي 2013 و 2015. نأمل أن یكون هذا المشروع مفیًدا بشكل ملموس وذا مغزى سیاسي."

شبكة مكتبّیون وأرشیفّیون من أجل فلسطین)LAP( هي شبكة من أمناء المكتبات والموظفین العاملین في مجال الإعلام والذین یقومون بتعریف أنفسهم كمتضامنین مع النضال الفلسطیني من أجل حق تقریر المصیر. سافر أعضاء الشبكة إلى فلسطین في عامي 2013 و 2015 للاجتماع مع أمناء المكتبات الفلسطینیین ومخت ّصي المحفوظات والعاملین في مجال

المعلومات لمعرفة كیف تؤثر الحیاة تحت الاحتلال على وصول الفلسطینیین إلى المعلومات، بما في ذلك الوصول إلى الموارد التعلیمیة للقّراء الشباب. قام أعضاء الشبكة بتقدیم عروض وشروحات عن هذه الوفود بشكل واسع، كما قاموا بانشاء معرض متنقل وكذلك نشر المطبوعات والمقالات العلمیة. وتدیر الشبكة أیضًا حملة الأدب الفلسطیني الدولي السنویة التي تحمل اسم كتاب واحد، مجتمعات عدّة.


Librarians and Archivists with Palestine
http://librarianswithpalestine.org
librarians2palestine@gmail.com

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Launches Matloub/Wanted: Library Books for Palestine to Send Children’s Books to Libraries in the West Bank and Gaza


Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP)and the Tamer Institute for Community Education are thrilled to announce the launch of Matloub / Wanted: Library Books for Palestine, a campaign that seeks to raise awareness about issues facing libraries in Palestine and the political context in which they operate, while at the same time offering material support for the libraries' collections. Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP)and Palestinian partner organization Tamer Institute for Community Education have gathered requests for books from seventeen community libraries across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Visitors to the Matloub/Wanted website are invited to purchase these requested books and contribute towards shipping costs. LAP and the Tamer Institute will then coordinate delivery of the books to the requesting libraries.

Palestinian libraries face unique challenges due to Israeli policies and the overall context of military occupation. Due to Israel’s “enemy state” designation of nearby countries including Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, library staff cannot reliably expect books ordered from abroad to arrive quickly, or at all. Books shipped into the country are subject to seizure and destruction by Israeli inspectors, or quarantined for a period of time with a daily fine levied on the recipient. Lebanon is a major hub of Arabic-language publishing, so these policies cut off Palestinian libraries from many titles in Arabic (for example, all books by the renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish are published in Lebanon). Access to books is even more precarious in Gaza, where the blockade limits even the import of paper.

During LAP's 2015 trip to Palestine, Palestinians shared stories of individuals bringing books into Palestine from London to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Ramallah, from Ramallah to Gaza, from Ramallah to Haifa, or from Lebanon to Jordan to Ramallah—a process that is neither scalable nor easily sustainable. Donations of books are not always of desired materials—whether for a community library or a university, foreign donors may send far more copies of a title than can be used, or linguistically inappropriate books, or simply titles that don't reflect local needs.

In collaboration with colleagues in Palestine, LAP has designed Matloub/Wanted as a support to the work that Palestinians are already doing to support literacy, learning, and cultural heritage. Titles available for purchase via Matloub were selected by local librarians and community workers. Some localities have programs that encourage reading by young people and within families, and richer collections of Arabic-language children's literature in community libraries will assist in these aims as well.

Maggie Schreiner of LAP notes: “The recent Great Return March, which has seen at least 295 protesters killed and 29000 injured by Israeli forces, is a reminder of how the Israeli occupation restricts the lives of Palestinians, from their physical movement and survival to information access. With the Matloub/Wanted campaign, LAP offers a response to the challenges we heard from our Palestinian colleagues during our 2013 and 2015 delegations. We hope that this project will be both concretely useful and politically meaningful.”

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP) is a network of self-defined librarians, archivists, and information workers in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Members of LAP traveled to Palestine in 2013 and 2015 to meet with Palestinian librarians, archivists and information workers to learn how life under occupation impacts Palestinians’ access to information, including access to educational resources for young readers. LAP members have presented widely on these delegations, created a traveling exhibition, and published zines and scholarly articles. LAP also runs the annual international Palestinian literature campaign "One Book, Many Communities."

Find more information here: https://matloub.librarianswithpalestine.org/

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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 

[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412