Ramallah – Ma’an – Minister of Culture Imad Hamdan launched the Seventh Palestine Forum for the Arab Novel on Sunday, with the participation of 37 writers and novelists from Palestine and five Arab countries, in literary sessions held in person and electronically, and continuing until the thirteenth of this month.
Minister Hamdan said: ‘The seventh edition of the Palestine Forum for the Arab Novel is being held in the midst of an aggressive war that aims to exterminate an entire people. The world has been watching this war for many months, observing the forms of killing, torture and starvation, examining, questioning and arguing. Some have cried and some have applauded the killer.
Minister Hamdan added: ‘The forum comes in exceptional circumstances, as the complexities of the occupation have cast their shadows on the organization of its activities. However, our determination and will, derived from the steadfastness and sacrifices of our people, were an incentive for us to continue on the path towards streng
thening our narrative, as an elite group of Palestinian and Arab writers present their testimonies in this forum on the practice of writing in a time of genocide, in an unparalleled privacy that establishes a narrative future based on what the real narrators say, bleeding with pain in the field, in the tents, in the destroyed houses and under the rubble, those who lost their limbs, eyes and ability to speak, the martyr narrators.
Minister Hamdan continued: ‘The forum’s activities and seminars are distributed across more than one technology, and include Arab participation from Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Algeria. The Ministry of Culture’s continuation and insistence on holding the forum this year presents multi-directional messages, the most important of which is the message of steadfastness and the ability to endure suffering. If genocide depicts scenes of destruction and tragedy, then literature must present a narrative of that pain and tragedy.’
Minister Hamdan concluded: ‘Perhaps the novelist Basem
Khandakji’s winning of the Booker Prize this year is the best example of the Palestinians’ great ability to endure and continue the struggle despite the suffering. On July 8, it was announced that the novel ‘The Remaining Tattoo’ by Kuwaiti writer Abdullah Al-Husseini won the Ghassan Kanafani Prize for the Arabic Novel in its third session. The importance of this forum in its current session comes on the centenary of the martyred poet Kamal Nasser, son of the city of Birzeit and born in Gaza. This month, we also commemorate the memory of many of our deceased writers, such as Mahmoud Darwish, the martyr Ali Fouda, Samih Al-Qasim, and other greats.’
Minister Hamdan thanked all the participating Arab and Palestinian writers, the General Union of Palestinian Writers and the Khalil Sakakini Center for their cooperation in organizing these events, and the Ministry’s staff for their efforts to make this forum a success, headed by Undersecretary of the Ministry Jad Ghazzawi.
Source: Maan News Agency