This exhibit tells five stories with Ali Shaath’s own words:
The First Displacement: From Gaza to Jerusalem (1916)
Memories of Uprising and Resistance (1920, 1929).
Jerusalem: Memories of Love and Loss (1955)
Remembering Anton al-Halaby and Eric Lorenzo (1926, 1948).
Jews and Palestinians Under One Roof (1950).
“Palestinian Stories“ is a project that aims to preserve, archive and publish the letters and the documents that belong to Ali Rasheed Shaath to keep the memory of him and his beloved homeland alive through his own words.
Ali and his wife Samiha al-Tanir used to exchange letters whenever he traveled away from home. He was a prolific letter-writer who wrote in elegant prose. He wrote about his memories, his dreams, challenges, family, friends, the tortured history of his beloved country, his extensive travels, and his love for poetry, music, and the arts.
While Shaath’s daughter, Mysoon, preserved over 150 letters and 20 documents this exhibition includes only excerpts from five letters that weave history into a personal experience.
Ali moved to Jordan between 1955 and 1956 to work. There, he met many of his school mates and friends and wrote a large number of letters to his wife. Four excerpts from this period are displayed.
In October, 1950 he traveled on a business trip to Italy for a month and wrote eleven letters! An excerpt from one of those letters is displayed.
The exhibit will include:
Original documents and letters from the period 1925 – 1946.
A family photo album (1930 – 1950).
Excerpts from five letters that weave history into a personal experience. The excerpts are exhibited with English translation, Video and Audio files with English subtitle in addition to Arabic hand written parts of Shaath’s letters.