Dalia Jaghoub: Preserving ancient Palestinian culture

In the midst of the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the deadly attacks in the West Bank, there has been much talk about cultural erasure and how the preservation of Palestinian culture and heritage has been deeply impacted. But Palestinian women, including the Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of the State of Palestine to the Caribbean, Dalia Jaghoub, are using their voices to make sure that their struggle is heard and understood and to preserve their heritage and culture that is as ancient and diverse as the land of Palestine.

The diplomat who spends her time between Ramallah (where she and her family work) and Beita, shared her favourite memories of Palestinian culture - its food, the social and cultural significance of Palestinian olive oil which is said to be the best in the world and the powerful meaning behind Palestinian embroidery and clothing. Jaghoub, who speaks three languages and is also a professional dabke dancer also shared her thoughts about the growing solidarity towards Palestinians.

Jaghoub is originally from Beita, a town located some 13 kilometres south of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

She has fond childhood memories of Friday mornings where and her family would wake up to the warm and comforting smell of her teta's (grandmother's) taboon bread. While teta baked, Jaghoub's uncle would round up the squad (Jaghoub and her cousins) and lead them on a mission to get creamy hummus and fresh crunchy-soft falafel. One of the cousins always had a sacred task bringing along a special bowl, a brown pottery bowl which each Palestinian family has, that was used specifically for hummus, explained Jaghoub.

"Getting back home, we would gather around the table while my aunties and uncles were busy preparing breakfast and setting the table and most importantly pouring the olive oil on top of the hummus,"she recalled.

Jaghoub and her cousins would sneak falafels behind the adults' backs and break off teta's warm bread. Of course, no one could fool teta.

"She would give us that look with a smile which meant we were given the ultimate silent blessing: the teta green light. The teta green light is filled with love, warmth and most importantly it meant "go ahead kiddo, break the rules teta's got your back". Because after all, we were the grandchildren and she was the teta - the heart of our Fridays, the keeper of tradition, the warmth in the room and the protector of every sneaky falafel bite we ever took,"said Jaghoub.

Sacred to every Palestinian is the olive tree, their olive oil is considered 'Palestinian gold'. It is claimed that the oldest olive tree in the world, which the Palestinian Olive Oil Council says is over 5,500 years old, is in the city where Jesus was born - Bethlehem. For thousands of years, olive trees were passed from one generation to the next. The coldpresses which Jaghoub and others have inherited are no longer used but are cherished because they hold the memories and spirits of their ancestors, said Jaghoub.

Olive trees are targeted by Israeli settlers, she noted. Apart from being uprooted and transplanted in Israeli towns, Palestinians are prevented from accessing their lands and settlers steal the harvest of olive trees knowing that the olive harvest is of economic, social and cultural value to Palestinians.

"But because olive trees are all about patience, perseverance and resilience, just like we have to wait patiently for our freedom, we wait for the olives. We replant even though it takes years for a new tree to bear fruit so when the harvest season arrives, families, friends and neighbours gather to help each other, harvesting olives with their hands, laughing and eating our delicious dishes under the autumn sun. For Palestinians, that moment, despite everything - settler attacks, land restriction, occupation and walls, is a victory itself. We have made it, season after season, despite every attempt to uproot us,"said Jaghoub.

There are lesser-known but deeply symbolic aspects of Palestinian culture such as the traditional embroidered dresses called 'thobes'. The colours of the threads of each stitch connect Palestinians to their roots. One of the hidden symbols in some thobes is the appearance of the phoenix. For Palestinians, the inclusion of this mythical bird that rises from the ashes in the traditional clothing is about archiving their struggles and resilience as they wait for a better future, explained Jaghoub.

Even the Palestinian folk dance 'dabke' in which dancers perform in a line or semicircle and hold hands and shoulders is a symbol of resilience and resistance. Jaghoub began taking dabke classes at the age of eight and became a professional dabke dancer, traveling abroad for events.

"When I dance it's not just stomping and joy, it's me being connected to the land, it makes me feel rooted,"she said. "It's a dance that holds grief and strength, it's a moment of freedom, a statement that we are still here, proud and full of life."

Knowing that more and more people around the world are interested in Palestinian culture makes Jaghoub want to cry from joy and pain. While the interest towards Palestine comes from a place rooted in pain and loss, the solidarity and interest nourishes a vision of a free Palestine, one where there is no occupation, no apartheid, where Palestiniians can live freely with dignity, peace and self determination, said Jaghoub.

"For so long the world looked away and saw us only through the lens of headlines, numbers, stereotypes and wars that stripped us of our humanity, and our voices were silenced,"she added.

Jaghoub is proud that although it was long misunderstood, Palestinian culture is being given the recognition it deserves. She is proud when she sees people sharing Palestinian embroidery patterns, cooking musakhan or maqluba, and wearing keffiyehs while marching and dancing dabke. Seeing images of the support for Palestine which independent mas band Vulgar Fraction demonstrated during their Carnival 2024 presentation and of Trinidadians putting Palestine flag stickers on their cars, fills her with joy.

"It is beautiful and powerful to feel that we are seen as human beings, that we are valued, heard and humanised. Our culture being celebrated across oceans and continents is like a kind of justice, that no matter how hard the colonisers try to erase it, it's spreading everywhere. It brings hope as a little part of us is breaking free,"said Jaghoub. "One day I will be visiting T&T to experience your culture and try your bake and shark and I hope you do the same as well in a free Palestine."

The original article 'Dalia Jaghoub. Preserving the Ancient Palestinian Culture' was published in Her Magazine of the Trinidad Express Newspapers on April 27. Reproduced with permission.