_a.jpg "צילום: אלי אלגרט")
First Arab modern art museum to be established
Artists, MK’s praise efforts for promotion of co-existence at event announcing establishment of first Arab art museum in Israel. Education minister says, ‘We are not sentenced to live together, we are destined to’
The announcement was accompanied by sentiments longing for a place in the charged and hopeless atmosphere created in Israel following the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
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Education Minister Yuli Tamir and poet Taha Muhammed Ali (Photo: Eli Elgarat)
Muslims and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis, women covered head to toe alongside women sporting modern clothing, all packed the exedra of the Tel Aviv museum, which was festively decorated in honor of one of the most important events in the history of the Arab community in Israel.
The attendance list was unprecedented and included ministers and Knesset members from a wide range of political factions, including Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog, Science, Technology, Culture, and Sports Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, MK Nadia Hilou (Labor-Meimad), and MK Jamal Zahalka.
Ambassadors of Australia, the United States, Japan, and Egypt, as well as representatives of the Italian and Irish embassies also attended the event.
Michal Rovner, Farid Abu Shakra, David Tartakover, and Taha Muhammed Ali were among the dozens of creators and artists who also arrived to celebrate what once seemed a far fetched and impossible dream that had come true.
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Umm al-Fahm Mayor Sheikh Hashem Abd al Rahman with Minister Isaac Herzog (Photo: Eli Elgarat)
“The museum will deal with the study of the Palestinian Arab culture, document it, capture its remnants, and try to build a model connecting the past, present, and future,” said Said Abu Shakra, director of the Umm al-Fahm gallery and initiator of the museum project.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir said, “This is an exciting, optimistic night, and we’ve been missing optimism lately. The Umm al-Fahm Modern Art museum speaks of the present and future of us all.”
“We are very far from the cultural, educational, and moral ideal I strive for. But when we reach it, one step at a time, we will do it together and equally as Jews and Arabs. Any sum of money the ministry allocates is divided according to the needs of the child, because a child is a child, whether he is raised in Umm al-Fahm or any where else,” she continued.
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Computer generated image of museum (Photo: Eli Elgarat)
“Our common struggle for a more equal and moral society is promoted by the museum to be established. We will do all we can to help this dream come true,” Tamir added.
“We can send a message that it can be different, we can be together. We are not sentenced to live together, we are destined to. Through this difficulty and this dialogue, we can all grow into better people,” the education minister concluded.
Um al-Fahm Mayor Sheikh Hashem Abd al Rahman commented, “The situation is not such that we are making peace in the Middle East, but any hope and ray of light is important. We all have one goal, and it is for a better life, so I call on the Jewish community and say that the Tel Aviv and Umm al-Fahm museums have brought us here together. That means it’s possible to disagree but live together.”
Minister Pines-Paz said, “This is a wonderful answer to all the fanatics on all sides who don’t want there to be co-existence here, or for us to live together here.”
He continued, “To all those who have plans to separate and divide us, I hope there is a bit of soul for art, because art brings people together, and even if not, we will be there building another museum, another theatre, another library, and other classrooms, and we will prove that its possible to live as partners in Israel.”
The inspiration of the evening was provided by poet Taha Muhammed Ali, who read from his poems “Dream” and “Revenge”. The combination of the two was made in efforts to show that the fulfillment of a dream is the best revenge against those who do not believe in its strength.
