Palestine as provenance: archiving against genocide from Gaza to South Lebanon (Jabal Amil)

Abstract

How can we archive against genocide in Gaza and its extension elsewhere in Palestine and surrounding countries like Lebanon in this urgent moment while avoiding the pitfalls of white guilt and paternalistic benevolence? How can we draw on models and practices of mutual aid and solidarity between Lebanon and Palestine to articulate a robust decolonial archival praxis (Ghaddar and Caswell in Arch Sci 19(2):71–85, 2019)? To answer these questions, I outline the ongoing deliberate targeting of Gaza’s archives and documentary heritage as part of a systematic campaign of erasure of local history alongside the people who hold and produce the living memory, culture, and knowledge. I also consider the repetition of these destructive practices before, during and since the Nakba as part of a concerted Orientalist/Zionist policy aimed at manufacturing a false claim of Israeli nativity, and remaking the region according to racist fantasies and biblical myths. Emphasizing the importance of documenting the genocide in Gaza, and archiving political activism against the project of “Greater Isreal,” I outline the long history and incredible breadth of Palestinian and Lebanese counter archiving initiatives. In turn, I focus on one such effort, Fighting Erasure: Digitizing Gaza’s Genocide and the War on Lebanon, a participatory action research, archival and teaching project co-led by myself, Dr. Hanine Shehadeh and Dr. Rami Zurayk, through an expansive network of Palestinian, Lebanese, regional and international professionals, communities and organizations. I inform on key project activities and some of the many challenges of doing this work, from bullets and bombs to sieges and sanctions, while being silenced and dealing with the general abandonment of the international community of our Palestinian and Lebanese colleagues. I also touch on some of the project’s innovative practices and frameworks, including its archiving in place ethos, decentralized and non-corporate model for digital infrastructures, and insistence on global collaborations that are locally grounded. Along the way, I build on my previous theorizing of provenance in place and Palestine as provenance in relation dominant archival practices and standards like ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description (2000), the Fighting Erasure project and, more broadly, the radical ethos and liberatory praxis emerging from counter archiving practices and initiatives in Palestine and Lebanon.

Recreation by Ibrahim Abusitta of an image of an IOF soldier posing for a picture in front of burning books. A screenshot of the original image was tweeted out by Younis Tirawi (@ytirawi), a Palestinian reporter on security and political affairs. In a fact check for snopes.com, Taija PerryCook reports the location is presumed to be the Central Library of the Islamic University of Gaza. The image was originally published in Briarpatch on July 23, 2024. It is republished with permission of Briarpatch and the artist.