VFHL Online Film Salon: "Enduring Palestine: Erasure and Cultural Resistance"

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has engaged in a long-term erasure of the indigenous Palestinian presence: from home demolitions to attacking centuries’ old olive groves, destroying antiquities, and reframing archaeological evidence. Israel has redrawn regional maps to exclude Palestinian names and landmarks, renamed streets, and outlawed the Palestinian flag to deny the very existence of Palestine through physical, spatial, and linguistic erasure. Alongside erasure is cultural appropriation of Palestinian regional cuisine, music, and dance. We can stem this process by celebrating this ethnically unique culture, from dabke to tatreez, from music, to libraries to poems and images. These are carriers of a resilient cultural identity that refuses erasure. What can you do to resist and celebrate?

Watch the curated videos included in the registration confirmation email at your convenience ahead of the discussion.

Join the Q&A discussion with:

* Abdelfattah Abusrour: Founder and Director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem
* George Harb: Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Museum of the Palestinian People
* Hanan Hamed: CEO, Autism Superhero Palestine; founder, Canaan Wellspring Dabke Dance Troupe

Our moderator will be Ahmed Hmeedat (Moderator): Administrator and faculty, Human Rights and International Law program, Al-Quds Bard College.

Watch the Trailers:
1. This Is Why We Dance - vimeo.com/user92959496/may2026-1
2. They Stole it Fully Furnished - vimeo.com/user92959496/may2026-2