Palestinian art of resistance and Visual street culture since 1987
The purpose of this dissertation is to present the reasons for the development of street art of resistance within the Gaza Strip since the intifada (uprising) in 1987 and the struggle of the indigenous Palestinian people for a homeland since the British Mandate that ended in 1948 and the ethnic cleansing by Jewish Zionist forces of the mandated land that was once Palestine.
The ethnic cleansing of the Indigenous Palestine people since 1948 is a crime against humanity albeit one that is not acknowledged in the conscience of the Western world.
In order to fully understand the reason for the thousands of kilometers of street art adorning the walls of Gaza, it is imperative that the history of Palestine is presented. This dissertation aims to expose the myth that Israel was fighting for its life and the proclivity of American Middle Eastern policy towards backing Israel come what may, and the British policy to support Israel’s war that violated UN Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine. Indeed Israel has violated UN resolutions consistently since 1947 without any form of punishment or action having been taken by the international community.
Zionist Ideology and the British Mandate
Zionist ideology emerged in the late 1880’s in Eastern Europe as the Jewish communities realized the need to assimilate totally or risk the inevitability of total annihilation.
For centuries Zionist Jews have considered Palestine as ‘Eretz Israel’ or a greater Israel. They believe that they have an historical right to Palestine and will stop at nothing to retake their rightful homeland.
Ironically the more orthodox Jews believe that they should not return to Eretz Israel until the coming of the messiah and therefore have a much more passive approach than their Zionist brothers.
Previous to the British Mandate for Palestine in 1917 the region was controlled by the Ottoman Empire of Turkey and had remained an occupied but peaceful land that was mainly agricultural for centuries.
The Balfour Declaration
The turning point for the Zionist movement was signaled by the then British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour who gave the go ahead for a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine. This decision would cause endless conflict that is present to this day in Palestine.
The Balfour Declaration was a letter dated 2nd November 1917. It was from the then British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. The text of the Declaration read as follows:
‘His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavour’s to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.’
(Pappe, 2006,pp 265)
Until 1928 the British treated Palestine as a colony of the British Empire and until this point the violence between the Jews and Palestinians was not wide spread although hundreds had lost their lives.
The British had made a decision that the indigenous Palestinian population and the Jewish settlers should be given parity even though the majority of the population was ninety percent indigenous Palestinian.
Hagana, an Underground Militia
In 1929 the first Palestinian uprising took place due to the expulsion of its leaders from the country by the British and the refusal by the British to allow the democratic right of the majority of at least parity with the Jews.
It was in 1929 that the Jewish Agency for Palestine was formed and officially created at the 16th Zionist Congress that was held in Zurich. The pragmatic David Ben Gurion joined the organization in 1933. He is recognized as ‘the father of Israel’ and became its first prime minister on 14th May 1948.
Born in Plonsk, Poland in 1886, Ben Gurion came to Palestine in 1906, already an ardent Zionist.
It was one British officer in particular Orde George Wingate who was to enable the Jews to develop their objectives of The Hagana ‘defense’ in Hebrew that was established in the early 1920’s to effectively steal Palestinian land by armed aggression.
Wingate’s appointment to Palestine in 1936 and his enchantment with the Zionist cause influenced and enabled the Jews to understand that only militarization and an army could protect the ever-growing Jewish colonies and enclaves within Palestine.
Armed aggression was now adopted as the only effective method of keeping the Palestinian population from resisting the ever-growing expansion of the Jewish population.
This underground militia was trained in rural areas by Wingate with the aid of British forces and became the military arm of The Jewish Agency, the Zionist Governing body that was to engineer the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
When in 1937 the British offered the Jews the opportunity for a state within Palestine albeit much smaller than what the Jewish agency proposed, Ben Gurion accepted it. His focus was on long term domination of Palestine and force and opportunity were to be his methods of progression. The method that the Jewish Agency followed was that of strategic purchase of land.
‘This purchase was accompanied, interestingly, by the transfer of population.
There is a tribe that resides west of the river Jordan and the purchase will include paying the tribe to move east of the river; by this [act] we will reduce The number of Arabs [in Palestine].’
(Pappe, 2006)
The Village Files
In June 1938 Jewish forces of the Hagana with the support of a British company attacked and held a village on the border between Israel and Lebanon, and occupied it for a few hours. This became the first coordinated military attack and
was to set the agenda for the future assault upon the hundreds of Palestinian villages that would become eradicated from Palestinian until this day.
‘Amatziya Cohen, who took part in the attack, remembered the British sergeant who showed them how to use bayonets in attacking defenseless villagers: ‘I think you are all totally ignorant in your Ramat Yochanan [the training base for Hagana] since you do not know the elementary use of bayonets when attacking these dirty Arabs; how can you put your left foot in front.’
(Pappe, p16)
In order to provide a more systematic approach to the taking of Palestinian land by force a young historian from the Hebrew University by the name of Ben-Zion Luria, devised a plan for a detailed registry of Palestinian villages. His theory was
to be adopted after consideration by the Jewish National Fund.
The agency was founded in 1901 and was the colonization tool who’s function was to buy Palestinian land and become the custodian of its newly settled Jewish
Immigrants.
The village files were a compilation of the villages that the Zionists considered historically theirs and detailed aerial photographs were to be compiled in the house of Yitzhak Sadeh, the chief of the Palmach (the commando unit of the Hagana).
This was a highly top secret operation and the photo laboratory was disguised as an irrigation company in fear of British reprisals.
By the late 1930s the archive of village files was almost complete. They were detailed in origin and contained the following information.
Precise details of a village’s topography, accessibility, roads, religions, its muhktars (village leaders), the age of its men. Most importantly its participation in the revolt of 1936 and its hostility towards their Zionist project.
The later it was to provide the reason for some of the worst atrocities by Jewish forces in 1948 where torture and mass executions took place.
Part of their brief was to discover how to attack an Arab village and to create a network of informants who provided such information as, the size of plantations, amount of land per family, the names of its artisans and their skills, the fertility of the land even logging the quality of each citrus tree.
For many years the Hagana had carried out reconnaissance during secret visits to the villages. Post 1943 they became more explicit in their nature and in 1947 the final update of the village files took place.
This time the focus was on the men in the villages and wanted men would be on a list who had been identified by Jewish informants as being hostile towards the Zionist movement.
These men were later in 1948 to be identified during military search and arrest operations by Jewish forces and often lined up and shot.
The ethnic cleansing of Palestine; Plan Dalet
During the period of 1945-1947 the British had successfully eradicated the Palestinian leadership. This was mainly achieved in the suppression of the Palestinian revolt of 1936 and gave the Zionist movement a clear vacuum and an opportunity to activate Plan Dalet.
‘These operations can be carried out in the following manner: either by destroying villages (by setting fire to them or blowing them up, and by planting mines in their debris) and especially of those population centres which are difficult to control continuously; or by mounting combing and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the villages, conducting a search inside them. In the case of resistance, the armed forces must be wiped out and the population expelled outside the borders of the state.’
Plan Dalet, 10 March 1948.
In February 1947 the British transferred their interest in Palestine to the newly formed UN and recommended partition as a solution to the Palestine problem.
None of the UN Special Committee had had any prior experience in solving conflicts or indeed new much about the history of Palestine.
On the 29th November 1947 Un resolution 181 in favour of partition was passed.
In doing so the UN had ignored the ethnic balance within Palestine and indeed if they had done so would have allocated only ten per cent of the land. But the Un favoured the nationalist cause of the Jewish Zionist movement that was to change the fate of the Palestinian indigenous peoples lives until this day.
Partitioning Palestine into two equal halves proved disastrous, as the rights of the majority during this anti-colonial period had been ignored. This was to be the catalyst for the total melt down of this area of the Middle East.
In December 1947 the ethnic cleansing of Palestine was put into operation. By
this time the population was approximately 65 percent Palestinian and 35 percent Jewish.
Palestinian villages were attacked in retaliation for unrest as Palestinians rioted and attack buses and Jewish businesses in response to Un partition resolution 181. In early December 1947 Jewish military aggression was imposed upon Palestinian villages in retaliation for previous attacks.
This did not go unnoticed in the Arab world and on 9th January 1948 the first Arab volunteer army entered the country and engaged with Jewish forces in small battles in isolated areas.
Plan Dalet; operations begin
According to (Baroud, 2010, 30) the Zionist leadership was finalizing a plan that dated back to May 1942 to take over the whole of Palestine. One must be careful when considering this as a possibility due to the UN General Assembly Resolution 194 passed on 11th December 1948 that consisted of 15 articles the most quoted are:
Article 7: Protection and free access to holy places.
Article 8: Demilitarization and Un control over Jerusalem.
Article 9: Free access to Jerusalem.
Article11: Calls for the return of refugees.
One could find it difficult to believe that Zionist policy could suggest that Jerusalem is part of Israel’s entirety given the international position it plays as the holy center of the three man faiths. Suggested further reading on this matter are: Jerusalem One City Three Faiths, Karen Armstrong. And The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem by D. Bahat.
On 10th March 1948 Plan Dalet was put into operation.
Top leaders of the Haganah, the leading Zionist underground militia in Palestine at the time, formulated Plan Dalet. One of the key instigators was David Ben-Gurion, who became Israel's first prime minister. A long-time proponent of expelling the Palestinians, 10 years earlier he stated to the Jewish Agency Executive, "I am for compulsory transfer; I do not see anything immoral in it." imeu.net › Documents & Reports › Misc. Accessed 1.22pm
According to (Pappe, 2006,88) the Zionist leaders were worried about the Jews in Jerusalem, as they were mainly Orthodox and Mizrahi communities whose commitment to Zionism was tenuous or even questionable. Thus, the first area chosen for putting Plan Dalet into operation was the rural hills on the western slopes of the Jerusalem mountains, half way along the road to Tel-Aviv. This was operation Nachshon, which would serve as a model for future campaigns: the sudden mass expulsions were to prove the most effective way of protecting isolated Jewish settlements from enemy attack.
During the first two months of Plan D some 250,000 Palestinians were expelled and their villages destroyed. This caused a steady stream of refugees in neighboring Arab countries.
It was due to this development that the Arab League decided to intervene militarily but crucially they waited until the end of the British Mandate 15th May 1948, thus enabling the Jewish forces the upper hand.
The official line of Plan D was:
The objective of this plan is to gain control of the areas of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlements and concentrations, which are located outside the borders (of the Hebrew state) against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state. The objective of this plan is to gain control of the areas of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlements and concentrations which are located outside the borders (of the Hebrew state) against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Dalet Accessed 2.00pm
Indeed any rational minded person would believe from this initial statement of intend that of being one defensive in nature. Let me underline that this was not their intention and only the official line to send out a message to the international community and appease their British and American allies.
This then became more sinister in nature.
Mounting operations against enemy population centers located inside or near our defensive system in order to prevent them from being used as bases by an active armed force. These operations can be divided into the following categories:
Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously.
Mounting search and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the armed force must be destroyed and the population must be expelled outside the borders of the state.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Dalet accessed 2.00pm
Deir Yassin
The systematic destruction of this peaceful agricultural village surely underlines the change in military strategy, to a ruthless and sectarian attitude that would be maintained throughout the initiative of Plan D.
The leaders of Deir Yassin had agreed a non-aggressive pact with the Hagana and for this reason the Hagana decided to send in the Irgun and Stern troops, many of which were well trained battle hardened soldiers fresh from fighting along side the allies in the war in Europe.
The village lay within the area designated to be ‘cleansed’, by Plan D, and this was to doom it to history in an unforgivable act of brutality. A war crime.
The soldiers attacked the village with machine gun fire spraying the houses with bullets. Those that survived were lined up and shot. Here is an eyewitness account by Fahim Zaydan.
“They took us out one after the other; shot an old man and when one of his daughters cried, she was shot too. Then they called my brother Muhammad, and shot him in front of us, and when my mother yelled, bending over him-carrying my little sister Hudra in her hands, still breastfeeding her-they shot her too”.
(Pappe, 2006, 90)
There are many such eyewitness accounts of the Deir Yassin massacre, they are all consistent with this example that put the Jewish atrocities beyond any reasonable doubt, and it is widely accepted that the figure of people murdered can be put at around one hundred.
The urbicide continued in Haifa, Safad, Acre, Baysan, Jaffa, Sirin, Ayn al-Zaytun to name a few. The resistance of Palestinians was futile and their position impossible against the well-trained army of the Jewish Zionist forces as was the relentless assault unstoppable.
The Palestinian Art of Resistance
This chapter aims to underpin the reasons for the explosion of street art in the Gaza strip since the first intifada (Up rising) that took place in 1987. Also to explain its function within the Palestinian society in Gaza.
Graffiti art suddenly spread along the thousands of kilometers of walls within the occupied territory. This became the most important means of communication for the people of Gaza due to the Israeli occupying forces having closed down newspaper production, television and radio. Each of the political parties, Hamas and Fatah had produced their own style; it was even possible to go to Hamas evening classes and obtain a diploma.
Hamas would not allow street artists to operate in their name unless they had obtain this diploma as it was imperative that its students understood its political graphic style and adhere to its strict code of practice. Only the best artists operated in its name.
Apart from the political reasons for this new street art it is pertinent to also note that it also served as a medium of joy and sadness. Weddings would be celebrated along side that mourning of the death of a fighter and the many victims of this conflict. The importance of the voice of Palestinian poets can not be separated or ignored in this account.
Handala
Handala is inextricably linked with the repatriation of the exiled indigenous people of Palestine; his cause is a simple one and reaches out to all generations of Palestinian people.
One of the most pragmatic and iconic characters to be created by cartoonist Nagi Al-Ali. Although he was assassinated in London in 1987 his legacy lives on through his legendary creation. Here is Nagis explanation on Handala and what he represents. From 1975 to 1987 Nagi produced relevant cartoons that depicted the struggle of the Palestinian refugees. His creation of Handala is surely a stroke of Genius.
Naji Al-Ali on Handala
"This being that I have invented will certainly not cease to exist after me, and perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that I will live on with him after my death." (Wikipedia) accessed 2.00pm
“The child Handala is my signature, everyone asks me about him wherever I go. I gave birth to this child in the Gulf and I presented him to the people. His name is Handala and he has promised the people that he will remain true to himself. I drew him as a child who is not beautiful; his hair is like the hair of a hedgehog who uses his thorns as a weapon. Handala is not a fat, happy, relaxed, or pampered child. He is barefooted like the refugee camp children, and he is an icon that protects me from making mistakes. Even though he is rough, he smells of amber. His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to us the American way.”
Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, I left my homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still be ten, and then he will start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the homeland returns.
I presented him to the poor and named him Handala as a symbol of bitterness. At first, he was a Palestinian child, but his consciousness developed to have a national and then a global and human horizon. He is a simple yet tough child, and this is why people adopted him and felt that he represents their consciousness.”
(Average muslim.com) accessed 12.00pm
Fig 1
Handala is a testament to the Palestinian struggle. He’s a child of ten that just wants to return to his homeland, as he will remain a child until the day he does. He turns his back on any American lead policy. He is an icon in the Muslim world as most people in the Muslim world are sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause, and he frequently appears on the walls (in Gaza). Surely in any moderate persons eyes he is a symbol of peace and slogans that defend this position often appear with his character. Here are some examples. “Are you Fatah? Or are you Hamas? Or PFLP? Or….? Handala replies: “What a fool you are! I’m a Palestinian”(Grondhal, 2009, pp156)
Handala has been and remains a potent force of passive resistance symbolic of the struggle of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland. Such a simple pencil drawing has had the most powerful influence on a generation of indigenous Palestinians. A constant and consistent reminder of the conflict and that only returning to their homeland and peace in the area will ever be accepted. Handala shows his back to world, a world that has shun his people since the end of mandated Palestine in 1948 and indeed to this present day. This conflict is possible to resolve and one must ponder when the day comes that it is, as wars never last forever, what will become of Handala? Will he show his face and grow old?
Maybe its possible he will have a family and that family will be depicted along side Israeli children living in peace as equals, sharing, giving, eating and learning together. It is difficult to envisage at this moment in time that such is possible but when things do finally change Israel and Palestine must for the future of their nations, never return to the bloodshed of the past.
The Intifada of 1987
The explosion of street art due to the Intifada of 1987 was mainly to serve as a line of communication within the community of Gaza. An act of defiance in the face of Israeli oppression, to show the world through the Palestinian peoples only method of reaching out, due to Israeli blackout policy of all radio, newspaper and television lines of communication.
It was to prove a thorn in the side of the Israeli army as it grew in its ability to actively and effectively rally the people of Gaza to resist their occupation.
Indeed the street art was produced in an extremely professional manner to a very high standard controlled and distributed by the competitive spirit of the political parties Hamas and Fatah.
The street art also served the landscape with a wonderful array of colour to this grey monotone environment as well as give the mainly unemployed majority a purpose and function within the oppressed occupied society of Gaza.
The Intifada’s activists had found a way to inform Gazan residents of what was happening telling the stories of those who had fallen to encourage resistance.
The Israeli military would often enter the refugee camps early in the morning being well aware of the explosive potential the graffiti art possessed and demanding the residents white wash their walls in a futile attempt to remove the potential of unrest.
Ironically it was the Palestinians themselves who initiated the removal of the street art at the end of the Intifada in 1993 encouraged by the PLO’s signing of the Oslo Accords in Washington D.C.
It was claimed that the graffiti art had outlived its purpose.
Palestinians were now looking forward to self-governance, one that set up its own newspapers, television and radio. So the authorities set to work white washing the walls of newly liberated Gaza. Thousands of kilometers were removed of signs and slogans. Of course this became an irresistible white canvas that the people of Gaza were soon to exploit.
In the words of one artist. “Suddenly all these naked white surfaces were all over Gaza, as if the walls had been prepared especially for us. All we had to do was start spraying!” (Grondahl, 2009, pp12)
White Doves carrying Olive branches now replaced the more political rhetoric that was familiar to the walls for the previous six years. Hope and optimism had now replaced politics and struggle.
The artists had found new purpose and put their skills to new use. Their calligraphic skills were channeled into informing the community of weddings and births. They now decorated the houses of their friends with beautiful graphic calligraphy celebrating their up and coming weddings and expressing good wishes for their future.
The art of beautiful calligraphy
The art of beautiful calligraphy was essential and scrawl would not be tolerated, it was imperative that any message would be presented through skilled understanding of calligraphic and graphic principals. Just as in any graphic design hierarchy principals and continuity were implemented to the juxtaposition of image and type, which were carefully considered in the highly competitive world of the graffiti artists of Gaza.
The four most common scripts that were used are: Naskh, Ruq’a, Thuluth and Kufic. To the untrained eye the same word spelt in these different scripts would appear to be completely different words.
In the Muslim world Arabic is treated with the upmost respect and care, as it is believed that when the Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad, it was revealed in Arabic.
From this understanding one can therefore relate the importance of Arabic and it inextricable link with Islam. This is the reason that Muslims treat the use of the Arabic script with such care.
To explain further a political organization like Fatah will put political content before the aesthetics of the script. This is in contrast to Islamic organizations such as Hamas, who, through religious reasons, cannot be careless with the presentation of their calligraphy. This explains the importance of the teachings of their evening classes.
The poetry of Palestine
To give a more complete perspective and insight to the artistic response within Palestine, the poetry of its people is a pertinent reminder of its diverse artistic response to the oppression of its people.
The veritable endevours of these poets are a potent and salient alternative medium to deliver their message to the world.
Indeed this is true throughout the Arab world, as the Palestinian people have been a constant source for inspiration during the second half of 20th century.
Tawfiq Zayyad, Fadwa Tuqan, Samih al-Qasim, and Rashid Husayn all addressed themselves to the injustices they saw in Palestinian daily life.
(Britannica) accessed 3.30pm
Mahmud Darwish’s is probably one Palestinian poet who’s work best depicts, the oppression, defiance and champions the aspirations, hopes and faith in a more moderate vernacular. This is an example of his work.
A State of Siege
A woman asked the cloud: please enfold my loved one
My clothes are soaked with his blood
If you shall not be rain, my love
Be trees
Saturated with fertility, be trees
And if you shall not be trees, my love
Be a stone
Saturated with humidity, be a stone
And if you shall not be a stone, my love
Be a moon
In the loved one’s dream, be a moon
So said a woman to her son
In his funeral
He goes on to add:
During the siege, time becomes a space
That has hardened in its eternity
During the siege, space becomes a time
That is late for its yesterday and tomorrow
Mahmud Darwish 2001
(mahmouddarwish) accessed 1.00pm
When ever Darwish gives a reading anywhere in the Arab world, thousands of people are drawn to them from all social classes and he has won many international literary awards over many decades.
Bibliography
Books
Pappe Ilan, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oneworld Publications Limited October 2006)
Baroud Ramy, My Father Was a Freedom Fighter (London: Pluto Press 2010)
Grodahl Mia, Gaza Graffiti; Messages of Love and Politics (Egypt, The American University Press in Cairo 2009)
Websites
imeu.net › Documents & Reports › Misc. 26.09.10.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Dalet 26.09.10
http://averagemuslim.com 5.10.10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 5.10.10
http://britannicaonline academic addition 8.11.10
http://www.mahmouddarwish.com 8.11.10
Illustrations
Fig 1. http://averagemuslim.com/2009/10/07/naji-al-ali-and-handala/accessed
05/10/10 11.29 am
