The Cultural Club at Press House holds a symposium entitled “The role of the official institution in supporting Palestinian creativity”

Gaza- Press House

On Tuesday evening, July 7, 2020, Press House – Palestine (BAS) held a symposium‎ entitled "The role of the official institution in supporting Palestinian creativity", at Press House headquarters in Gaza Strip.

Dr. Atef Abu Saif the Palestinian Minister of Culture spoke in a speech recorded in presence of Abdullah Tayeh, assistant secretary-general of general union for Palestinian writers, as well as a group of active and young writers in the Palestinian cultural scene.

The facilitator of the meeting, writer, and journalist Mr. Yousri Al-Ghoul, welcomed the ‎audience, indicating the importance of talking about the role of the official institution in supporting Palestinian creativity.

In his speech, Minister Abu Seif paid tribute to writers and journalists for continuing this cultural activity and action, saying that it "reflects the great momentum that characterizes the Gaza Strip."

He pointed out that the national liberation struggle necessarily based on a basic cultural saying "this land is for its Palestinian owners, the conflict is not on a piece of land but on a story, and that there is a thief who stole the land and wants to steal the story."

Minister Abu Seif referring to that the role of the Ministry of Culture is to protect the identity and the national story, because "there are no limits to Palestinian culture", it unites the Palestinian people wherever they are in the world, indicated that Israel seeks to steal this culture by wearing the flight attendant of the Israe airline "Al -all" for Palestinian costumes, as well as dabka and heritage.

Minister Abu Seif stressed that in 2019 Ministry of Culture provided 3 million shekels as grants to various cultural institutions in Gaza, calling on cultural institutions in Gaza to apply for grants from the Culture Fund, stressing that the new cycle of the fund will be relaunched next week.

For his part, Mr. Tayh reviewed the activities carried out by the General Union for Palestinian Writers in the Gaza Strip, despite the current suffering, stressing that literature and culture do not stand at a barrier and do not give in to the circumstances because they are the face of life for any society.

Mr. Tayeh added that the Writers' Union always seeks to promote culture and literature in Palestine by granting union membership to writers who have at least two books written by them.

Mr. Tayeh called the Official Palestinian Foundation to support the local publishing houses that are active in publishing the literary works of Palestinian writers, with a view to printing and publishing their creative works, which they published at their own expense.

The participation of participants during a symposium varied between their demands for the Ministry to devote its role in Gaza Strip as required and develop and support culture in all its forms.