Dar Al Kalima University and College of Arts and Culture

Blog for Friday, Oct 21, by Heidi Saikaly (pictures will be added ASAP)

Palestinians are living in a system that limits their human, civil, and political rights. Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) recently stated that “Israel has, with impunity, intimidated, confused, humiliated, bullied, imprisoned, tortured and killed Palestinians since 1967…”

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb saw the crushing effects of this system on his family, friends, and parishioners. Out of that came a holy determination to create a place of learning about the arts and culture for young Palestinians. We visited the Dar Al Kalima University and College in Bethlehem which provides diploma, bachelor’s, and master’s degree programs of study in the arts and culture. Raheb presented the vision, mission, and success stories of students:

Dar Al Kalima’s mission is to provide high quality educational opportunities in the undergraduate and diploma programs available to students from all sectors of Palestinian society. The University College focuses on cultural heritage and tourism studies and is fundamentally concerned with spreading the values of democracy, freedom of expression, and freedom of thought in order to build a conscious and free Palestinian civil society.

Raheb related the healing power of art that he witnessed in his own family. During a siege of Bethlehem by the IDF, the community was locked down under a curfew. On the 14 th day, there was a 3 hour lift of the curfew, so that families could go out to shop for food and take care of other errands. The lift was suddenly shortened to 2 hours. As his family rushed to get back to the safety of their home, a soldier shot at his little daughter and she heard the bullet whiz by her. For hours, she was unable to speak, and could not be cajoled to do so. Finally, she picked up crayons and began drawing; in the resulting image, the bullet was as large as herself—this activity calmed and restored her. Raheb is convinced that the arts are vitally important for the nourishment of the soul and can create opportunities for Palestinians.

He shared the news of Dar El Kalima student Haneen Wahsh from the West Bank Bedouin village of Jubbet Adh Dhib, where electricity was not available until the gift of solar panels from the Netherlands—a gift enabling Haneen and other students to continue studying at night. However, those panels were stolen by Israeli soldiers. Haneen and the women’s council of her village took action against this theft–they hired a lawyer to take their case to the Israeli justice system and prevailed. The panels were replaced.

Eight Dar El Kalima gradute students produced “The Present,” a Netflix film about the hurdles faced by a father who’s taken his daughter on an outing to buy a present for his wife—a simple errand made monumentally difficult by the occupation’s restrictions. This film has won prestigious film awards and created opportunities for these students.