{"id":411523,"date":"2025-09-09T22:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411523\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T22:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:15:13","slug":"3-months-in-scotlands-palestine-museum-art-plays-and-vandalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411523\/","title":{"rendered":"3 months in Scotland’s Palestine Museum \u2013 art, plays and vandalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Palestine<\/a> Museum in Scotland, located on Edinburgh<\/a>\u2019s Dundas Street, has welcomed thousands of visitors since its opening, particularly during the festival season.\n<\/p>\n

\n Despite only opening in late spring, Saleh and his team have no plans to slow down any time soon.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Keir Starmer to meet Israeli president Isaac Herzog, Downing Street confirms<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0\u201cThe reaction from people has been tremendous, you know, a lot of support from a lot of people,”\u00a0Saleh said.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cVisitors get very emotional, and I\u2019m not talking about Palestinians. We ask people\u00a0\u2018what\u2019s your Palestinian connection?\u2019 and they say there is none, they\u2019re just human.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cA lot of people come to show empathy. Some of them cried on my shoulder, literally. We have a box of tissues in every room now.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of support and we\u2019re very grateful for the reception we\u2019re getting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Saleh went on to describe, however, two incidents where the museum was targeted by vandals. The first occurred in July, where a man glued a poster with the words \u201cHamas\u201d and \u201cterrorists\u201d to the museum\u2019s entrance sign.\n<\/p>\n

\n Passersby removed it after spotting it moments after it had been stuck down, though the remnants of the glue are still clearly visible on the sign.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"TheThe poster was placed on the museum’s sign (Image: Newsquest) Others later placed stickers of the Star of David across the sign and again, visitors helped remove them.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said: \u201cWe couldn\u2019t get the glue off and we decided not to fix it, just to leave it on for people to see.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m sure those people are a minority and don\u2019t represent the community in anyway, but nonetheless it\u2019s important for others to know that there are some people who see what we are doing as a threat to their narrative.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what they were trying to do but it hasn\u2019t really affected us. They went to all of that trouble and the poster was only up for a minute.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

What’s next for the Palestine Museum in Scotland?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n The Palestine<\/a> Museum features a range of art, including sculptures, paintings, photography and hand-woven clothes, predominantly from artists either stuck in the occupied territories or with Palestinian heritage.\n<\/p>\n

\n Every piece aims to combat the dehumanisation of Palestinians by sharing art and culture directly from the region, as well as works by international artists.\n<\/p>\n

\n One of the museum\u2019s exhibitions has now been given a month-long extension due to its popularity. Gaza<\/a> by Peter Kennard, a renowned photomontage artist, encourages visitors to question world governments and their complicity in the genocide in Gaza through a range of pieces, including one which superimposes a Palestinian child\u2019s face onto a mock Financial Times article.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"AA section of Kennard’s exhibit (Image: Newsquest) \u201cThis exhibit is very interesting because a lot of people are familiar with Peter Kennard. A lot of people have been excited about seeing it\u201d, Saleh explained.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s been open since August 9 and it was going to close at the end of the month, but people were still interested in seeing it, so we thought well, why not keep it a little longer?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Kennard\u2019s exhibition will remain on display until September 30, after which it will be replaced by work from Gaza<\/a>-based artist Mohammed Alhaj.\n<\/p>\n

\n Saleh explained that, since Alhaj is trapped in Gaza, there is no way to have the physical paintings displayed in the Palestine Museum. As a workaround, the team will instead hang high-resolution printed versions of the pieces.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"TheThe lead image from Alhaj’s upcoming exhibit (Image: Palestine Museum\/Mohammed Alhaj) It\u2019s part of the DIY charm that separates the museum from other galleries on Dundas Street. Saleh and his team make full use of a local art supply shop, as well as ordering furnishings from Ikea.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re not your typical museum\u201d, he said. \u201cWe\u2019re very practical, very simple, and we don\u2019t have any bureaucracy, that\u2019s the thing.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cArtists don\u2019t have to wait six years to have an exhibit \u2013 they can get one here in about two weeks if we have the space. We\u2019re very active and responsive.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The museum, which is an offshoot of a larger gallery in Connecticut, USA<\/a>, is the first of its kind in Europe \u2013 for now. Saleh said the museum is looking to expand into Chicago and Toronto, and plans are in motion for a London<\/a> branch.\n<\/p>\n

\n When asked why the museum decided upon Edinburgh<\/a> for its European location, Saleh said: \u201cIt\u2019s a lot more cosmopolitan because of the festivals, and also this space we found was so compelling that we couldn\u2019t just walk away from it.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis block is the art address of Edinburgh. If someone asks where the art is in Edinburgh, they come here.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:<\/strong>\u00a0Irish comedian Tadhg Hickey on why he’s taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n As well as a variety of exhibitions, the museum has started screening films about Palestine. Following the success of a showing of The Palestine Exception, a documentary covering the Palestine protests carried out across American university campuses, Saleh wants to continue screening similar works for visitors.\n<\/p>\n

\n Additionally, the Palestine Museum in Scotland has sponsored the first UK performance of the play The Invaders\u2019 Fear of Memories. It focuses on the origins of settler colonialism and apartheid in modern day Israel as it explores the life and diaries of Yosef Nachmani \u2013 the former director of the Jewish National Fund in Galilee, who played a central role in the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians.\n<\/p>\n

\n Those wishing to attend the play on September 13 or 14 can purchase tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Palestine Museum in Scotland, located on Edinburgh\u2019s Dundas Street, has welcomed thousands of visitors since its opening,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-411523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115176651015964109","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}