Associated Activities

“By the end of the war, hundreds of entire villages had not only been depopulated but obliterated, their houses blown up or bulldozed. While many of the sites are difficult of access, to this day the observant travelers … can see traces of their presence …: a fenced-in area—often surmounting a gentle hill—of olive and other fruit trees left untended, of cactus hedges and domesticated plants run wild. Now and then a few crumbled houses are left standing, a neglected mosque or church, collapsing walls along the ghost of a village lane, but in the vast majority of cases all that remains is a scattering of stones and rubble across a forgotten landscape.” Walid Khalidi, ed. All That Remains (1992), p. xv

Suba, a village depopulated by Israelis in 1948

“Landscapes are always encountered as part of a social activity. ... any process of inquiry in landscape perception should allow for the participation of the observers in purposeful activities relevant to the landscape in question.” Fahriye Hazer Sancar, “Toward Theory Generation in Landscape Aesthetics” in Environmental Aesthetics, ed. Jack L. Nasar (1988), p. 466

ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES

Jaay el-hammam (The Doves are Coming), song by Sabreen
Cultural and educational events will be organized in conjunction with the conference. These include exhibitions, landscape tours and performances, as well as other activities organized by groups in the West Bank and Gaza. A special effort will be made to organize and connect with activities in Gaza, an area that is now virtually isolated from the West Bank and other parts of Palestine. The purpose of these activities is to acquaint visiting participants with Palestinian culture and landscape, to raise awareness among Palestinians themselves, and to involve the community in the conference themes.

.Landscape Tours
At least two major tours are planned to show the participants the salient features of Palestinian land, in particular relation to geography and history. Destinations include Jerusalem, key locations on the coast, the northern and central regions, (Traditional instrumental music) and other typical landscapes (e.g., hills with human-created olive terraces, vineyard regions, pastoral, semi-arid and desert areas, destroyed villages, water sources, less known archaeological sites).

Cultural Performances
A dance performance is being designed on the theme of land in Palestinian culture. Other activities will be coordinated with popular art groups (among them the Popular Art Centre in Ramallah and groups in Gaza) to coincide with the period of the conference.

Community Outreach
The conference is seeking the involvement of community organizations in order to ensure that the process of thinking and practice related to landscape will continue beyond the actual conference dates and will produce more tangible results in the life of the community.

This process has already started with an invitation to Tamer, a community educational centre, to relate some of its projects for 1998 to coincide with the conference. One such project involves children and youth responding to their surroundings (through field trips, then writing or painting or composing artistic work) in an attempt to formulate notions about their identity. It is expected that such a project will result in a presentation at the conference by the coordinator and the youth participating in the project.

Another possible presentation concerns architectural styles in Palestinian villages and towns, to be organized by Riwaq, a non-governmental organization that has been studying and preserving architectural forms.

Such projects could inspire further outreach activities at schools and other institutions, relevant to ecology and environment. The conference will also seek similar involvement by other centres and non-governmental organizations concerned with issues related to the conference themes.