The Artifacts date back to the early days of Palestinians

By Mohammad Al-Astal, IOL Correspondent 

GAZA CITY, February 19 (IslamOnline.net) – Located at the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Al-Aqqad museum stands in evidence of how Palestinians are closely attached to archaeology and heritage of their occupied lands.

The museum exhibits artifacts and documents keeping alive a long history of struggle against Israeli occupation and Palestinians’ relentless resistance.

“With continued Israeli excavations in order to falsify history, we were spurred to construct this museum to preserve the ancient Palestinian heritage away from extinction or loss,” Walid Al-Aqqad, the museum director, told IslamOnline.net.

Al-Aqqad, or the lover of archaeology as many Palestinians like to call him, said that he had collected hundreds of original documents and excavated pieces in a journey of 15 years.

Sharing his vision, other keenly-aware Palestinians pooled their already-limited resources for what is seen as part of the struggle against the occupiers and a new form of resistance.

The museum was set up in an arable house with two sections; one dedicated to showing archaeology and the other to heritage.

Roman pieces dating back to years before the birth of the Christ and coins with Turkish, Arabic and Roman inscriptions of different ages are on display.

The visitors could also see a varied assortments of weaponry, including those used in 1948 war between Arabs and Israel, and by which the latter occupied the Palestinians lands.

The museum also record the history of Intifadah against Israeli occupation, including the simple yet effective means of stones and knifes in the face of tanks and highly-sophisticated machine guns used by occupation forces.

Books and other documents about the long-standing struggle were also displayed, along with utensils and equipment used by ancient Palestinians in their every-day lifestyle.

The development of clothes and their styles before 1948 were also shown on the museum, including the different wears of women in towns and villages.

For men, the traditional Kuffiyas and headbans were also seen, along with dresses and rituals followed in Palestinian occasions.

“We plan to build a large new building that would accommodate these valuables,” Aqqad said.

Brighter Sides

An assortment of coins displayed in the museum

With a rather hopeful voice, he called on all to help shed a light on these brighter sides of Palestine that he said occupation forces try to dampen in all ways. 

Reports had said that Palestinian archaeological work is dependent on cooperation with the international community, given that heritage work faces internal and external difficulties due to shortage of well-trained staff, limited funding, and lack of authority to implement a comprehensive archaeological heritage program under occupation, and thus to protect archaeological sites from plundering and destruction.

In May 2002, Haifa University sacked an Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, for his views about Israeli 1948 appalling massacres of Palestinians.

Some Palestinian villages were using the technology of the World Wide Web to keep their heritage and history alive.

Ain El Karem is one of these villages. Its residents, who currently live in Jordan, decided to reminisce upon 52 years of occupation by bringing its original name to life through the Internet.

Local inhabitants of the village of Ein Karem includes within it the Arabic names of all geographic sites which were given Hebrew names after the occupation.

The efforts of the people of Ein Karem has encouraged residents of other villages to take the same step in observing the Arab identity of Palestinian lands, illegally occupied by Israel, through the use of the Internet.