What is the most important message of the ceremony for you?
Kholood:
The Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony helps Israelis break down their barriers of fear. It helps them to address and acknowledge the Nakba and encourages Israelis and internationals to learn and seek out more information about what happened to the Palestinian community in 1948. It also important empowers the Palestinian community to overcome the victim mentality and focus on working for a better future.
Avner:
The Nakba Ceremony demands that we talk about and recognize the Nakba. We understand the enormous price that Palestinians paid. Without it, the Zionist dream would never have became a reality. Israel doesn’t officially recognize the responsibility it has in making 750.000 people refugees, forbidding their return, destroying 500 villages and giving private Palestinian land to Jews. Israelis usually claim that the Palestinians brought this calamity upon themselves (if they recognize it at all) - without understanding the historical background. This lack of understanding creates a distinct lack of empathy. We can solve the conflict only if we are able to honestly acknowledge with our past, especially the impact of the Nakba in 1948 and the ongoing Nakba still happening today. It is about time to start this honest and courageous discourse.
What are you most proud of?
Avner:
I am proud of the joint preparation work and of the result. The project was led by the Palestinian side of our movement, with an accompanying team from the Israeli side. Naturally there were different opinions about the messages, wording, speakers and more. We in CFP know very well the difficulty of speaking to two audiences, each with opposite national narratives. When we get closer to one narrative, we steer off from the other. The joint work meant ongoing coordination of finding balance, and seeking wording that would be accepted by both sides. This doesn’t mean that we were looking for statements that everyone will like, but rather finding the statements that we all agreed needed to be heard. I think that the beautiful result mirrors the complex dialogue we had, and this makes me proud.
Kholood: I am proud to work with such an inspiring team. Every member of the team provided an invaluable contribution to the content and production of the ceremony. This diverse, hardworking and thoughtful team played a critical role in the success of the ceremony.
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
Kholood: The biggest challenge was working during the horrific escalation of violence in the region recently, including the war on Gaza last Spring, and the recent events in East Jerusalem where Palestinian families are facing expulsion in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Silwan. Despite the tension and the postponement of the original date of the ceremony, we insisted on completing the work and broadcasting the ceremony.
Avner: The biggest challenge for me personally was to work in Arabic. The official language of the team was Arabic: the meetings, the written messages. Sometimes it was difficult to follow and especially to feel blind to the nuances that the Palestinians understood perfectly and easily. This experience helped me to understand what being a minority in a dominant culture can feel like. Our 16-year old experience as a movement and as individuals in joint work helped a lot. Both sides understand that language is never only words, but consists of a whole world of experiences, memories, sensitivities. We try to help each other to get to know the world of the “other”, as a tool to improve our listening and communication skills. I think that the Nakba ceremony is another step in this profound, deepening dialogue.
