Zochrot
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| Founder(s) | Eitan Bronstein |
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| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Mission | To raise awareness of the 1948 Palestinian exodus (Nakba) and to "Hebrewise" it. |
| Revenue | 280,000 euros in 2006 |
| Motto | "To commemorate, witness, acknowledge, and repair" |
| Website | Zochrot website in Hebrew; in English |
Zochrot (Hebrew: זוכרות; "Remembering". Arabic: ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba ("Catastrophe"), the 1948 Palestinian exodus.[1] The group's director is Eitan Bronstein. Its slogan is "To commemorate, witness, acknowledge, and repair."[2]
Zochrot organizes tours of Israeli towns, which include taking displaced Palestinians back to the areas they fled or were expelled from in 1948 and afterwards.[3] The group erects street signs giving the Palestinian history of the street or area they are in. Zochrot sees this as causing "disorder in space," raising questions about naming and belonging. A key aim is to "Hebrewise the Nakba" by creating a space for it in the public discourse of Israeli Jews.[1]
The word "Zochrot" uses the feminine plural form of the Hebrew verb "to remember," whereas it is customary in Hebrew to use the masculine form when referring to a group of people. The feminine form was chosen to signal Zochrot's approach toward the Nakba, which the group says challenges what it sees as the masculine historical narrative by focusing on compassion and inclusion.[1]
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[edit] Publications
The Magazine of the group bears the name Sedek (engl. rupture/rift) and was published for the fourth time in spring 2010. This issue contains more than 40 poems by Israeli poets, which were published in the period between 1948 till 1958. The poems reflect theviews of the authors on the displacement of the Palestinians in the years around the foundation of Israel.
In 2012, Zochrot and Pardes Publications published a guidebook "Once Upon a Land – a Tour Guide" in Arabic and Hebrew. It provides tours of 18 localities, mostly the sites of Palestinian villages depopulated in 1948.[4]
[edit] Funding
According to its 2010 annual report, Zochrot lists as contributors: EKS-EPER, Trocaire, CCFD, Broederlijk Delen, MISEREOR, ICCO- KerkinActie, Oxfam GM, Oxfam Solidarity, Mennonite Central Committee, medico international, but does not list its annual income.[5]
In 2012, the German Holocaust foundation EVZ announced that they would no longer support Zochrot due to Zochrot's support for the Palestinian right of return.[6] Prof. Gerald Steinberg, of NGO Monitor said, “This is a significant victory in the battle to hold funders accountable for their support of NGOs involved in demonization. Zochrot, a radical Israeli NGO, supports the Palestinian claim to a ‘Right of Return’ – which has no legal basis and would end the existence of Israel as the Jewish nation-state – endorsed the violent ‘Free Gaza Flotilla,’ and falsely accused Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘forcible displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people.’”[7] In response, Bronstein said, "All Zochrot positions and activities were clear to EVZ since the beginning of our partnership."
In its 2006 annual report, Zochrot declared a total income of 280,000 euros and listed the Mennonite Central Committee, Kerkinactie, ICCO, Cimade, CCFD, EPER/HEKS, Broederlijk Delen, Oxfam Solidarity Belgium, Misereor, Medico International, and Zivik as contributors.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Bronstein, Eitan. "The Nakba in Hebrew: Israeli-Jewish Awareness of the Palestinian Catastrophe and Internal Refugees," in Masalha, Nur. (ed.) Catastrophe Remembered: Palestine, Israel and the Internal Refugees. Zed Books, 2005.
- ^ Zochrot, the website in English, accessed February 9, 2010.
- ^ Rinat, Zafrir. Out of sight maybe, but not out of mind, Haaretz, June 13, 2007.
- ^ Moshe Gilad (7 Dec 2012). "The Arab villages that were; a new Israeli guidebook". Haaretz.
- ^ 2010 Annual Report p.40
- ^ German fund pulls NGO cash
- ^ NGO Monitor slams funding of ‘+972’ blog
- ^ Annual report 2006, Zochrot, accessed February 9, 2010.
[edit] External links
- Website of Zochrot, in Hebrew, Arabic, and English
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