28 countries call to contribute to the "resilience of Palestinian culture"

MadridFor three days, Madrid has become an exhibitor of Palestinian culture. The Reina Sofia, Thyssen, and Prado museums, along with the Círculo de Bellas Artes, have hosted round tables, recitals, and dance performances open to the public, as well as a ministerial conference of some thirty international delegations convened by the Spanish and Palestinian Ministries of Culture to discuss the cultural reconstruction of a Palestine devastated by the genocide and occupation perpetrated by Israel. The political outcome of the summit has been a final declaration calling for the creation of a "pact for the resilience of Palestinian culture," without concrete commitments yet being outlined, and expressing "deep concern" about the current situation.

This document, with content more symbolic than factual, has been signed by 28 countries, including Spain and Palestine, the main initiators of the initiative, relevant members of the European Union – France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Luxembourg –, other Muslim, Arab, African, and Asian countries – Algeria, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Indonesia, Libya, Mauritania, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Turkey –, as well as other regions – Iceland, Mexico, Uruguay, and Vietnam–. All of them call on the rest of the international community to contribute to "protecting, sustaining, and revitalizing Palestinian cultural life" and to "mobilize the political commitment and necessary resources" for the reconstruction of Palestinian institutions, heritage, and artistic creation.

The call is directed at the rest of the states — the absence at the summit of allies of Zionism such as the United States and Germany is significant, as Germany in the EU has blocked attempts, promoted by some of the signatory countries of this declaration, to be more forceful against the Israeli government — as well as international organizations, financial, philanthropic, and cultural institutions, and civil society as a whole. The pact called for by the document should "promote culture as a means of protecting the identity, dignity, and continuity of the Palestinian people."

Cultural preservation

The Spanish Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who acted as host, thanked the participating delegations, especially the Palestinian one, for "continuing to believe in culture as a fundamental tool for society". "Now we must transform solidarity into concrete commitments," he asked in an Instagram message in which he claims that "Palestine can preserve its memory, continue creating and freely decide its future".

This initiative is modeled after the international alliance that has been realized in Ukraine and that the Spanish government has advocated for replicating in Palestine as well, in the face of attempts to "silence" the conflict and "erase the millennia-old splendor of Palestinian culture". The Palestinian Minister of Culture, Emad Hamdan, warned on Wednesday during the inauguration of the conference about the attempt at "cultural genocide" by Israel.