United Nations commemorates Palestine Nakba with multiple cultural events in NY

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians known as “the Nakba” or “the Catastrophe”. The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Nakba at UN Headquarters in New York on May 15.

A special commemorative event was held in the General Assembly hall, bringing to life the Palestinian journey. It aimed to create an immersive experience of the Nakba through live music, photos, videos, and personal testimonies. The commemoration featured a performance by Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa, an “Ambassador of Palestinian heritage”. A musical composition around the Nakba entitled Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas by Naseem Alatrash, Grammy Award-nominee cellist and composer, accompanied by the New York Arabic Orchestra, was directed by Eugene Friesen, four-time Grammy award winner.

Moussa is a vocalist, born in Deir Al-Asad in the Galilee. She was raised in a musical family where she developed her passion for classical Arabic music and traditional Palestinian music. She studied the basics of classical Arabic music and scale (maqam) at the Al-Urmawi, Center for Mashreq Music in East Jerusalem.

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Alatrash is a Palestinian cellist and composer whose resonance was described as “a particularly lustrous tone” by leading newspaper Chicago Tribune. His performances include a mix of improvisation and traditional melodies, with a focus on traditional Arabic music and jazz and contemporary classical music influence.

He has appeared at numerous international festivals, including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, Abu Dhabi Music Festival, Lebanon’s Zouk Mikael International Festival and Jerash Festival and has performed at such notable venues as the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, the Lincoln Theater, Wigmore Hall, Koerner Hall, University of Michigan Ann Arbor Music Series, NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center, the Royal Opera of Oman, The Royal Albert Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

Alatrash has been awarded String Player of the Year twice from The National Music Competition of Palestine. He received international acclaim from media around the world for his musical arrangement/producing a cover of the Beatles song “Drive My Car”, arranging/adapting the song with an Arabic twist. He studied at The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine. Friesen is active internationally as a cellist, composer, teacher, and recording artist. He has performed widely with the Delos String Quartet, the multiple Grammy-winning Paul Winter Consort and Trio Globo.

  Renowned Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa.

A virtual discussion with Nadine Sayegh, author of the book Oranges from Jaffa in an event titled Memories of the Nakba and its impact on Palestinians, was also held on May 15 under the auspices of CEIRPP. Sayegh presented her book and explained what encouraged her to write her family story. She mentioned that she wanted to capture the story of her father, a “time witness,” and part of the last generation who could claim to have been born in Palestine.

The book’s story, she said, enhances her father’s descendants’ pride in being Palestinians. The author also read extracts of her book, which portrayed Palestine before the Nakba as a modern, hard-working, culturally rich and tolerant society. The extracts she read also described how different religions lived side-by-side in Jaffa, and how its inhabitants were proud of the city’s rich heritage.

The presentation included a background slide show with photos of Sayegh’s family and old Jaffa. During the reading, and while showing the photos, the author re-evoked the long history of Jaffa and the economic role it played in early-20th century Palestine, especially due to the citrus business.

Turning towards the end of the presentation, she recalled the traumatic events that led her family to flee Palestine in 1948, describing, in particular, the fundamental role played by her grandmother in choosing to leave to save their lives. Lastly, she shared her experience of travelling to the Holy Land recently and visiting the family house to retrace her family history while writing the book.

During the question-and-answer session, Sayegh was asked about how the book and the history of pre-Nakba Palestine could help better understand the present situation. She responded that her book aimed at raising awareness on the events of 1948, since they were often not taught in schools. The lack of such knowledge was evident during her readings to different audiences in Europe. Further, the book helped the reader debunk the mainstream media representation of the question of Palestine as a religious conflict, she said.

An exhibition titled The Long Journey of Palestine Refugees hosted by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was also held as part of the commemoration. Palestine refugees have been on an epic journey since their catastrophic displacement in 1948 and remain today, a scattered people, further displaced by conflict, blockaded and living under occupation, marginalised by national legislations, deprived of rights and fervently longing for a resolution of their exile and dispossession.

UNRWA photographers have chronicled the Palestine refugee experience since it started operations in 1950. The photo essay is a snapshot of the extensive UNRWA exhibition of archival photographs inaugurated in 2013 in Jerusalem also titled The Long Journey of Palestine Refugees.The images are drawn from the extensive UNRWA archive which was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009, recognising its historical value. In the words of UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl, Palestine refugees need more than just aid; they need a just solution.