The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad FİDDER Association and Takaleed Foundation staged the Palestine Heritage Festival on Saturday 5 October in Istanbul City Turkey.
The festival is part of an international campaign launched on 1 October under the slogan “Our Heritage is Resistance”. It aims at highlighting the Palestinian heritage and exposing the Israeli occupation’s attempts to steal it.
Speaking on behalf of the organizers Ibrahim al-Ali deputy chairman of FİDDER stressed the importance of holding such events saying that they are a step on the right way to preserve the Palestinian identity in all its cultural literary and human components.
Al-Ali said that the Palestinian heritage is constantly subjected to fierce attacks by the Israeli occupation which is seeking to obliterate the Palestinian identity falsify historical facts and spread lies to legitimize its colonial presence on the Palestinian land.
“Sometimes we see Israeli flight attendants wearing traditional Palestinian dresses claiming they are Israeli and other times we see Palestinian food served as Israeli products. There is a lot of evidence of Israel’s theft of Palestinian heritage” he explained.
Al-Ali delivered two important messages in his speech. The First one was to the Israeli occupation. He said that Israel would never succeed even if it tried by all means to obscure the Palestinian identity. “The Palestinian heritage is rooted in us” he stressed.
In his second message al-Ali called on the Arab and Muslim nations especially the Palestinian people to adhere to their culture saying that is a form of resistance.
He also called for mobilizing regional and international interaction in the international campaign to preserve Palestinian heritage by tweeting on the hashtag (#هاظا_النا )(This is ours) particularly on 7 October which marks the Palestinian Heritage Day.
The festival featured national songs Dabke shows movies addressing Israel’s theft of Palestinian heritage and an exhibition where Palestinian traditional dishes clothes and handicrafts were displayed.
The campaign which is set to last for a month aims to involve all Palestinian people in the efforts being made to defend the Palestinian heritage considering them a form of resistance and an integral part of the national struggle for freedom and independence.
