2020 | Building Peace through Heritage
Competing Narratives : Museums in Israel and Palestine as Places for Confrontation and Dialogue Between Cultures
Lior Misano 1
1
UCL , lior . misano . 18 @ ucl . ac . uk
Abstract : Throughout the history of the state of Israel , national museums have played an important role in defining the collective identity of its people . By representing the nation ’ s history and culture visually , museums have been contributing to the creation of a national narrative . Israeli museums today took upon themselves a new nonofficial role , which is to provide a public platform where the historical narratives of the Israeli and Palestinian people can meet without competing for social recognition . The research will explore the work done by the museum of Haifa , which has set last year an exhibition about both culture ’ s experiences of the Israeli War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba . These two memories have no place to meet in the public sphere and compete for recognition , while the perception is that the acceptance of one would undermine the other . Despite the geographical proximity , there are almost no places for dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian cultures , which makes them foreign to the pain of others and hostile to each other . Museums in countries in conflict can offer a place for confrontation and dialogue between cultures that otherwise would not have communicated , leading to a possible conflict resolution .
Keywords : Heritage Studies , Memory Studies , Multidirectional Memory , Dialogue Among Cultures .
Introduction
The 1948 war was a traumatic event experienced by both Israelis and Palestinians , although the war is over the public debate over the war continues . The societal memories have shaped very different identities , for the Israelis it is remembered as the War of Independence while for the Palestinians it is remembered as the Nakba ( Jamal & Samah 2014 , 15-20 ). The choice of one term over the other in defining the event remains today a charged and disputed public issue and in this ongoing discussion , cultural agents have an important role in shaping public consciousness ( Gelber 2004 ; Dror Lax 2018 ).
In this paper I will explore the work done by the museum of Haifa which opened an exhibition in 2018- 2019 about both cultures ’ experiences during the 1948 war ; I will address the question : Is it possible to bridge the gap between these two different memories , employing memory work by appealing to their shared experiences of trauma and pain ?
The Israeli Independence War and the Nakba are an essential part of the National Narratives . What I mean by National Narrative is a set of beliefs and stories based on a historic event , but which are now detached from it ; it is not an objective reality but rather a reality accepted by the people who are part of the same community . The aim of a narrative is not to represent the actual truth , rather this has become a tool for uniting different people in a shared sense of purpose and through a mutual history ( Bar-Tal & Salomon 2006 ).
247