The "Palestine Museum" in Istanbul is the first of its kind in Turkey and even in the world. The museum, which opened its doors last July, aims to keep the Palestinian memory alive and present heritage to visitors.

According to the director of the Turkish Association for Solidarity with Palestine (FIDAR), Ibrahim Al-Ali, the association established the museum to confirm "the justice of the Palestinian cause", and to make Istanbul "the destination of tourists in the world" a place to revive the memory of new generations, and document Palestinian life in full detail.

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The Palestine Museum was built on an area of 70 meters now, and Fidar hopes in the future to expand it and increase its holdings and contents, according to Ibrahim.

Many products show the reality of the existence of the Palestinian people and their attachment to their land (Anatolia)

Documenting the Palestinian Case

The museum includes documents and photographs documenting the Palestinian situation, and products that confirm the Palestinian people's attachment to their land, as its organizers seek to refute claims that Palestine was a "land without a people" before the Nakba.

The "Palestine Museum" also includes pictures and ordinary life supplies, Arabic clothes and sittings, coffee cups and a kitchen corner, in addition to a bottle containing dust from Palestine, and old Palestinian coins.

The visitor feels the fragrance of Palestinian history, as the museum organizers were keen to present visitors with a bright image of the country that they did not visit and did not know, through the clothes and supplies displayed.

FIDAR was also keen to display some of the belongings taken out by Palestinians in the first waves of displacement, bringing with them what they could, whether in Turkey or in neighboring countries, such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Documents and photos refute claims that Palestine was a "land without a people" (Anatolia)

Museum Idea

Speaking about the museum, Fidar director Ibrahim al-Ali said that the idea "was launched in Istanbul during the discussion of the justice of the Palestinian cause, and the grievances of the people who have been suffering for 75 years from occupation, preceded by the British Mandate and the violations that took place during them."

Ibrahim added, "Zionism claimed that Palestine is a land without a people, and this false statement had to be refuted by highlighting Palestine's historical, geographical and cultural features. Palestine was prosperous in the economic, administrative and practical aspects, and it had media, hospitals, and everything that exists in any civilized country."

Ibrahim continued, "The saying that Palestine was empty and empty was invented by the occupation to justify its occupation, oppression and control of its land. From this museum, our message to the world was Palestine's message from Istanbul, which is a destination for Muslim and Arab tourists, and from the free people of the world, that the Palestinian cause receives the necessary support and support to stand by the Palestinian people in their struggle against the occupation."

The museum includes some of the belongings of the ancestors who carried them with them at the time of the displacement (Anatolia)

Museum Sections and Collections

Regarding the preparation of the museum and its holdings and sections, Ibrahim Al-Ali said, "We worked on preparing the place in a small space, and we brought items to it, and secured part of it from inside Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan through shipping, and there are those who provided us with existing holdings from grandparents who carried them with them at the time of displacement."

He added, "There is a historical stage, and a definition of the Palestinian geography, and every Palestinian visitor can know his village, and many visitors felt nostalgia, and we dug up the memory when visitors entered, and saw the museum's holdings."

The museum seeks to transport its visitors to Palestine and its cities without going to it despite its small area (Anatolia)

A forward-looking painting for the future

Regarding the presence of a forward-looking painting in the museum, Ibrahim said that those in charge were keen to imagine "how the Palestinian breaks the separation wall, leading to the liberation of Al-Aqsa, and there is a section of Palestinian art, literature and cinema, in which films are shown about the history and struggle of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the Balfour Declaration, for example, and information about villages, all of which are introductory in Arabic and Turkish."

The museum also highlights the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, who suffer from violations, and in the museum a model that embodies solitary confinement in the occupation prisons, in which the prisoner is isolated not only for a day or two, there are those who were isolated for 5,14 days, meaning about <> years, in which the prisoner does not see anything.

The museum includes ordinary life necessities, Arabic sessions, pampering and coffee cups, in addition to Palestinian documents (Anatolia)

Museum Challenges

On the challenges and prospects, Ibrahim Al-Ali said, "The museum is rich in its contents, and space today is the biggest challenge. The area is about 70 square meters, and we aspire to be later on an area of 700 meters, then 7 thousand meters. We hope to have wider halls, and this comes later, and the important thing is that the idea was launched, the project started, and the message reaches everyone who visits the museum."

"Although many Palestinians have lived through this period, when they enter the place, they live a period of digging up memory and nostalgia for the town and village where their parents and grandparents were born. There is a new generation that knows Palestine from this place, and we speak in front of the fourth generation of Palestinians (since the 1948 immigration), and there was a bet on forgetting generations, but when they came and saw the museum, they knew Palestine, and when they saw the films, models and objects on display, they had questions, and we explained to them."

Arab and Muslim visitors to the museum, and all members of the diaspora, many of whom said that the museum took them to Palestine without going there.

Ibrahim al-Ali concluded by saying that the Palestine Museum is "the first of its kind in Turkey, and we hope that its idea will be repeated in other cities and in various countries of the world."