Palestine Remembered Repository

Reviewed by: JP Essey

Review Date: March 10, 2024

Site link

https://www.palestineremembered.com

LANGUAGES

English, Arabic, Hebrew

DATA and SOURCES

Multimedia, Recorded oral interviews, Biographies, Photographs, Videos, Film, Articles, Links to articles, links to YouTube channel, Interactive Maps.

PROCESSES

• Digitized photos retrieved from individuals and organizations.
• Digitized videos.
• Recorded oral history interviews/transcriptions.
• Digitized oral histories into audio or video footage.

PRESENTATION

The Home page of the site has many options to choose from presented in black and red.  There is an About page with the rest of the choices being mostly between articles and names of villages or cities.

The About page gives its statement of purpose as one about dispossession and ethnic cleansing and not antisemitism. It states its purpose is to create a repository where refugees can communicate, organize, and share their experiences amongst themselves. Refugees are encouraged to attach their stories, memories, pictures, movies, music files, join discussions at the message board. They may also use the directory service listing of refugees and their contact information, and URL links related to each listed town.

The home page has of many options including items that have been recently added with a ‘New’ designation. A user can choose to view Pictures, Maps, Oral Histories, Specific Villages, Articles.

ACCESS

Anyone can view or contribute to the site regarding information relating to Palestine or Palestinian history. It is not restricted to the Palestinian community. Many contributors are noted including American, British, and Jewish (from unknown locations) voices.

METHOD

The site is mostly divided into articles and maps. The articles are listed in several categories as well as on the Home page.  The article categories are: Zionist FAQs, Zionism 101, Zionist Quotes, Conflict 101, Facts Not Lies. The image categories are: Satellite View, Looting 101, The Home of Palestinians, an Arabic page, and a listing of individual towns/cities.

A user can click on a category and choose from a list of articles in that category.  There is an extensive list under each category.  Most are articles while some do have links to videos of Wikipedia pages.

Once a user goes to a town, there are several options to engage with the site: Satellite view give a satellite view of the village with pins marked over the map.  Pins are names and represent historical buildings, mosques, markets and other important parts of the town or village. When a pin is clicked, an inset opens to give additional information about the location, such as population in 1948 before displacement, elevation, usurped homes, usurped acres of land, distance from nearest large city, etc. Some also have pictures of present-day views of the same village/town.

REVIEW

Palestine Remember is a repository dedicated to preserving the history of Palestine, giving voices to those displaced from their homes, providing information regarding the displacement of Palestinians, and allowing those interested to connect with other refugees or contribute to the site. It serves as a digital space to document and subvert the erasure of Palestine and the Palestinian people. Its’ aim is to document, educate, and connect individuals.

NAVIGATING

Navigating the site was relatively easy.  Once a choice of the categories is made, a user is given a large variety of choices.  If one choses a town, then there are many photos of the town provided with information about the population of the town in 1948 (year of displacement, called Nabka), and other relevant facts. Testimonials and articles regarding the town are sometimes given when possible. On every page there is a link to an article from the homepage regarding the political aspect of the situation.

A user can get a birds eye view by going to the Satellite option where the page that opens is interactive.  One can move, zero in or out to get an idea of the topography as well as surrounding areas and countries.  There is an option to click on dots which will provide additional information regarding the city, building or point of interest.

The site did have some hindrances.  Although the site has several languages, the vast majority of the site was in English. Only a few articles or notations were accessible in Arabic as noted by the Arabic word next to the article or pieces of information. There were two articles that also had a Hebrew translation option. In many pages, the site was slow to load an option and had difficulty releasing an option if the mouse moved across a link. The pop-up simply froze. This necessitated refreshing the page to be able to continue.

Throughout the site, the tone somewhat contemptuous. This was noted by titles given to many  articles as well as to notations placed on sites.  Although the situation is tragic, there was no effort made to attempt to be neutral  or leave space for a differing point of view. It supports a singular story.

The site mostly would serve those affected by the situation in Palestine. It has historical material as well as contact information to sources along with being a place to connect with others.  It may leave an objective user feeling wanting after viewing it due to its heavy handedness.

NOT NOTED

There were many items that were not noted on the site. The omitted categories have a broad range from funding to labor to maintenance to upkeep to administrators.

For the methodology, very little was provided.  Credit was only given when there was an interview, where the interviewer’s name was provided as well as the date of the interview. No other information was given as to how prints were digitized, by whom, who uploaded the material, or any other labor involved and whether anyone was paid or volunteered. Nothing is noted about how decisions are made, if any, as to who can put up an article, photo, video. Nothing is mentioned about an administrator or editor.

There was no mention of funding for the site.  Nothing was provided as to how the site was setup, where the finances came from, who contributed, how the site is maintained and how continued funding is generated. There is a Donate link provided but financial disclosures are not noted.

Given the singularity of the site’s content, the site is primarily useful to those affected by the Palestinian displacement and its effects.  It serves primarily to resist erasure of the heritage of the land and voices of the Palestinian people.  Given the emotional aspect of the conflict, the site has an emotional tone which gives voice to those affected.  For others who are wanting to learn about the conflict from an unbiased point of view, the site will miss the mark.