Lost Cities of Palestine
An extraordinary insight into Palestinian life in the city before 1948, revealing the loss of a culture and lifestyle.
Rarely seen archival footage accompanies memories and accounts of forgotten Palestinian cities – highlighting the catastrophic effect the creation of Israel in 1948 had on them.
Haifa, Nazareth, and Jaffa have all been overshadowed by Tel Aviv, but in their day each of the Palestinian cities had magnificent commercial and cultural ability.
“Palestinians born after 1948 don’t realise what they have missed,” says writer Raef Zreik.
“We only realise what we’ve lost when we hear people’s stories about Palestine before 1948. People who spent the night at to clubs and movies in Haifa, who spent the night there and the next day took taxis from Al-Hanateer Square to go back home at the American University in Beirut. You could do what you liked. We not only lost our cities in 1948, but also our open relationship with the Arab world.”
Made for Al Jazeera Arabic in 2011, Lost Cities of Palestine provides a rare opportunity to see Palestine as it was in the 30s and 40s and learn about the everyday life and culture of urban Palestine before 1948.