One man’s mission to preserve Palestinian heritage

JABALIYA, Gaza — Saeed al-Ashkar has spent 20 years interviewing elderly members of various Palestinian families who emigrated to the Gaza Strip from the villages that Israel occupied in 1948, villages that are now inside the Green Line.

Through these interviews, Ashkar collects information about each family’s origins and what its members remember about their original villages. In early 2000, Ashkar used the elderly’s memories to make maps of 20 Palestinian villages located beyond the Green Line. He is still roaming neighborhoods and towns and meeting elderly in the Gaza Strip.

For each village, Ashkar noted the habits of its members, food, clothing and folk dances, such as Dabke, al-Samer and Dahiya. These types of dances originate from the Bedouin in the desert and are often accompanied by traditional poems.

Ashkar said he has been interested in Palestinian heritage since “the occupation’s army arrested me in 1989 and put me in the Negev prison.”