The AUC's Al-Quds Club celebrated Palestinian Land Day with an evening of cultural events and a display of the famous Palestinian dabke dance. Serene Assir was there The American University in Cairo's Al-Quds Club celebrated Palestinian Land Day on 30 March with cultural events designed to "bring Palestinian culture to the fore," in the words of Yasmine al-Khodary, the club's president. Based in part on a bid to overcome political differences among the participants, the events were designed to stress that despite disagreements Palestine continues to unite its people. "We have one culture, one history, and one identity," al-Khodary said. "Celebrating our culture, more than discussing political positions, reminds us of that." However, there was nothing strained about this bid for unity, and the events showed off Palestinian culture in all its diversity, with poetry, music, embroidery, painting, Palestinian dabke dancing and traditional food representing mutually enforcing symbols of Palestine. Palestine is "a rich nation whose people are alive," Fouad Saleh, the dabke lawweeh, or leader, said, the message of the enduring presence and dignity of a people expelled from their homes 60 years ago being transmitted in every stitch of the female dancers' richly patterned and coloured thawb (dresses). "Culture delivers the strongest political message of all," Saleh said, adding that against the background of the systematic destruction of Palestine that has gone on for the past 60 years, it was inspiring to witness the energy of young people resisting amnesia and dispossession. "It is a form of defiance to show not only that we exist, but also that we are celebrating," Saleh said. The celebrations were meant particularly to commemorate resistance shown in 1976 by the Palestinian residents of Sakhnin in the face of Israeli efforts to seize Palestinian-owned land on the town's outskirts. A march was held, and six Palestinians were killed in skirmishes with Israeli forces. "We are commemorating the resilience of the Palestinian people, and the resilience of those who have fallen for the sake of the nation," al-Khodary said in her opening address. In a similar vein, the Palestinian poet Haroun Hashim Rashid recited lines from his work and drew connections between what it means to be a Palestinian and what it means to resist Israeli aggression for the sake of the whole of historic Palestine. Rashid said that the partition of historic Palestine had been a crime and that the occupied territories would continue in their present state unless there were also efforts to liberate 1948 Palestine. "Without Akka, there can be no Nablus, and without Jaffa, there can be no Gaza," Rashid said. "Jaffa, he said, "calls you to her shores. You have families there. You must not forget them." Among the cultural events, Palestinian artist Latifa Youssef exhibited paintings that raised questions about Palestinian history and identity. One of her paintings, depicting a Palestinian girl in a traditional thawb and veil, appeared to dance on the canvas, for example, the image struggling to burst out of the limits of the picture frame. Another painting, more abstract this time, appeared to mix images of bullets with the figure of a woman, bringing life and death together. This painting evoked the daily struggles lived through by all Palestinians, struggles in which beauty and horror seem to coexist at the expense of the future. The entire Arab world has been marked by the Palestinian experience, and as if to underline this Palestinian student Bana Kamel gave a rendition of Ruddni Aala Biladi (Take me back to my Country) by the legendary Lebanese singer Fairouz. The Egyptian singer Azza Balbaa then sang songs by Sheikh Imam, with the audience clapping and singing along. The fact that a Palestinian student had sung a song associated with a Lebanese singer gave many in the audience hope that this would encourage unity between the two peoples. Palestinians in Lebanon are forbidden from exercising more than 70 professions, and they are socially marginalised in a variety of ways. In Egypt, on the other hand, it is difficult for many Palestinians to maintain their culture's vivacity, given the lack of community ties. "In Egypt, like in Jordan, there is pressure on Palestinians to disappear into the fabric of society and to forget they are Palestinians," Saleh said. While people in the audience were moved and excited by the songs, it was the traditional Palestinian dabke dancing that stole their hearts, and the Al-Quds Club dabke group's performance was powerful, creative and inspiring in its grace and strength. Not all the performers were university students, and nor were they all Palestinian. "However when we perform the dabke, we are aware that we are not merely dancing, but that we are also representing Palestine," Saleh said, which "may be the reason for the exalted beauty of the dance." The dabke is not only a tradition of Palestine, but it is also one of the rest of the Levant and the Sinai. Each area, or even town and village, has a particular way of performing it within the framework of shared traditions. The music and singing accompanying the dabke also differ from area to area. While it is hard for those not used to seeing the dance performed, to an expert it is easy to distinguish a Palestinian dabke from Jenin from a Lebanese dabke from Baalbek, for example, and to identify different styles. "The forms are so different that once people have become used to a certain style of dance, it isn't at all easy for them to try another one," Saleh said. While the dabke, like any other shaabi (popular) dance, can be complex and difficult to learn, it is nevertheless first and foremost a dance for all to take part in. "Perhaps this is why I love it so much -- because it is part of who I am as a Palestinian," Saleh said. "Dabke is a part of our culture and our identity. I will keep it alive wherever I go."
