The speeches of the contributors to the Banquet are below:

Naila Asali

With the passing of Edward Said, his family, friends, colleagues, students, readers and critics suffered a loss.  Yes, even his critics, for he challenged them in ways that commanded respect and appreciation of his perspective.  But loss is a single event and every death is a loss.  What lingers with the loss of this man is the continued absence, the wide, deep nothing where a single man once stood.  And we are left with a great nothing where there once was a rare figure who spoke for us and to us and about us while now there is silence. In French, I miss you is tu me manques. You lack to me. I am lacking you. I am diminished by your absence. I am less because you are not here. I believe that we miss Edward Said in precisely that way.  We are now lacking.

Naila Asali

But Edward was a teacher and he has taught us enough to fill even his own absence. As a result of his deep, probing, incisive thought, we have the tools to speak for ourselves in the way in which we had depended on him to do on our behalf.  I do not expect that there will be another Edward Said. No such man will ever again exist but we can hope that there will be men and women of brilliance and discipline who can take his work and provide their own voices to the discussion of what it means to be an Arab in America. Someone to describe what it is to be so thoroughly immersed in two cultures that one is no longer simply a product of either but a new, strange and ultimately wonderful thing that is whole and plural. 

Edward and his generation of Palestinian Americans suffered tremendous loss. Country, identity, homes, family, history and the attendant material representations of each. I believe that Edward Said did as much as a single man can to chronicle, analyze, and redress the individual loss. Furthermore, he strove to redress the loss on behalf of the Palestinian people. His entire professional life was spent in service to this cause. Now, those who lost so much have had to learn to live with the loss of Edward Said. 

But history persists and our story is still being told. Edward Said spent a lifetime teaching the world what it means to be slighted by history. He taught the world the toll that losing takes but he also redefined the stakes of victory. Triumph which diminishes the vanquished also depletes the victor. We must believe in the promise of a history in which injustice is met with justice and not retribution. We must learn that loss is not the defeat. Betrayal of the legacy is defeat. Silence is defeat. Accepting to lack, that is defeat. Edward was not defeated. He has simply stepped aside so that others may receive the laurel of victory. Who of us who remains in the fight will take up the challenge?

Dr. Clovis Maksoud

Needless to say, I am frustrated and disappointed that I am unable to be with you tonight. Concerns about our forthcoming UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2004 on freedoms and governance has delayed my return. My regret for my absence tonight is surpassed only by the overwhelming pain in the memory of Miriam’s phone call almost a year ago to inform me that Edward wants me to know that he cannot attend and speak—a tribute you honored me with one year ago.

I was so moved by the fact that Edward even thought of the event at that moment! That gesture, amidst his trying hours, demonstrated a thoughtfulness that truly defined his unique blend of sensitivity, elegance and consciousness; which vividly explains Edward’s enduring and indeed ennobling impact on his wide spectrum of friends, admirers, peers and students. It also helps us comprehend his guiding role and exemplary leadership that emboldened the constituency of conscience in the United States, the Arab world and throughout. It, once again, has emboldened us to face the difficulties and the widespread challenges we, and coming generations, are confronting and will continue to face.

Friends, the memorial tonight is a celebration of his enriching legacy, and an opportunity to remember how lucky we were to have lived with him. And more importantly for us during our collective quest for the peace of anchored security provides; to remember the excitement of national and human liberation and the delight in the struggle for justice. For Edward, these were viable and achievable commitments. This is why he remained uncompromising and why he often expressed anger—so stimulating and elegant in his outbursts—so inspirational.

While Edward was disdainful of compromise, this disdain was matched by the intensity of his efforts at genuine reconciliation. For Edward, compromise weakens the integrity of our common humanity and reconciliation animates it. This is how Edward Said was able to render the function of culture an enhancement of the quality of life for all. From his perspective, Palestine was not only his patrimony of origin, but it was where justice and injustice had an arena of confrontation. In this respect, there was no room for compromise under the pretext of realism, but reconciliation to heal the wounds and stop the bleeding, not only of humanity, but the bleeding of mutual commonalities.

To Edward, this was not an “Arab-Jewish” conflict, but an Arab conflict with the Zionist project that inflicts untold suffering on the Palestinian people, and eventually on the Jews themselves. Edward’s powerful breakthrough into this eventuality rendered him an apostle of reconciliation rather than the so-called “realist” that opportunist pragmatists wanted him to be. His joint musical appearances with Berenboim and the intellectual engagements with many of his Jewish counterparts in academic and progressive circles made him insistent that the Palestinian struggle should always take the “moral high ground.”

To you, my friends gathered tonight—Edward Said’s friends—please revel in the immense wealth of his legacy and celebrate Abu Wadi, the potential contagion that his set of ideals can become;  namely the new reality that has long eluded the Arabs and particularly the Palestinian people.

To Miriam, the family: However much we celebrate Edward and Hala, and how genuine our pride and appreciation for the warmth that has enveloped us through them, there will always be a nagging lump that inextricably links us to the extended family they have provided us and the very special bonds that have rendered their memory integral to whatever remains of our lives.

To you Farah and his family, the Palestinian Heritage Foundation: We all realize that your investment in this cultural enterprise will be a principal contribution to the Arab and Muslim American communities and hopefully to the American community at large that Palestine lives.

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music 

The National Conservatory of Music (NCM) was established in 1993 in the city of Ramallah, Palestine. Since then, two more branches have been established in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The three centers, with a total enrollment of 440 students, teach performance of Oriental and Western instruments such as the Oud, Qanoun, Buzuk, Nay, Flute, Cello, Piano, Guitar, Percussions and Violin, as well as theory and musical history.

At the NCM’s 2004 Graduation Ceremony, Mrs. Rima Tarazi, Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors, announced that as of September 2004, the Center’s name would be officially changed to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM), dedicated to the memory of the late giant and honorary Board Member of the Center.

The ESNCM music curriculum is designed to give its students a broadly structured instrumental and theoretical musical education.  It consists of three levels: Preparatory, Elementary and Intermediate. Upon completing the three levels, students are in a position to apply to any university or music academy.

The ESNCM has published a series of four books called Sharqiyat for students in the Department of Oriental Music, and a Piano Book for Beginners consisting of 40 Arabic folk tunes. The Center is also working on the formation of a full-fledged Palestinian Orchestra of 120 musicians within the next five-year. Six musicians who have graduated from the Conservatory are now on their way to complete doctoral degrees in music.

PHF Donates to Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

The Palestinian Heritage Foundation has donated $4,000.00 to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah, Palestine. The donation will help the ESNCM acquire badly-needed musical instruments for students attending the Conservatory.

In a letter addressed to the Foundation, the ESNCM General Director, Mr. Suhail Khoury wrote:

On behalf of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, I would like to thank you and convey to you our deepest gratitude for your decision to make a donation to the Conservatory. It is such wonderful gestures and donations like that of the Palestine Heritage Foundation that keeps us going and keeps us able to make a difference in the lives of Palestinian children. To see those children and teenagers flocking to the conservatory every day with their musical instruments on their backs or in their hands with a proud smile on their face makes all the difference for us and makes us very happy.

I hope that all the people who made donations would feel very proud and happy themselves having participated in such a wonderful and successful project.

We agree to use your donation towards buying musical instruments.  We will let you know what exactly has been bought as soon as we receive your donation and make the purchase . . . .

Yours truly,

Suhail Khoury
General Director
The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

On Saturday, September 18, 2004, the Palestinian Heritage Foundation participated in a program sponsored by the Ibn Rushd Cultural Center in Richmond, Virginia. Hanan Munayyer presented a lecture and slide show about the history of art, crafts and embroidery in the Middle East.  More than 300 people were in attendance, including Dr. Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, the keynote speaker for the evening.

The afternoon program included a dabkeh troupe, an exhibition of Palestinian art and crafts and selections of antique costumes, pillows and scarves from the Munayyer Collection. Following the program, the audience enjoyed Arabic food prepared by the ladies of the Center.

PHF would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Jamil Abed of the Ibn Rushd Center for their kind invitation to participate in the program and for giving us the opportunity to meet the Arab American community of Richmond, Virginia.

 Note below Dr. Ashrawi's letter to PHF.

Mrs. Hania Salam Osman of Washington DC, and sister of the late Dr. Hala Salam Maksoud, accepted PHF’s invitation to join the Foundation's Advisory Board. PHF’s invitation to Mrs. Osman was offered in appreciation of the generous donation made by Mrs. Osman and her brother Ousama Salam of their late sister Hala's collection of Arab costumes to the Palestinian Heritage Foundation.  

Hania Salam Osman was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She is the daughter of Malek Salam and Najwa Karami. Hania graduated from Beirut College for Women in 1966.  She is married to Ghassan Osman and has three daughters: Ghida, Nayla and Maria and four grandchildren. 

Dedicated last June, the Heritage Museum inaugural exhibition included paintings and drawings by Gibran Khalil Gibran on loan from the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, GA, and original letters in Arabic from Gibran to then Archimandrite Antony Bashir who translated Gibran's book The Prophet from English into Arabic. 

Above from left: Man and woman from Bethlehem, costumes from Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Ramallah khirqa, evolution of Bethlehem chestpiece, 
Ramallah smadeh, Ramallah and Bethlem headpieces. Middle row: Brass tray, Bethlehem costumes, Jerusalem costumes, Jerusalem and Bethlehem 
costumes, straw tray, Below row: Close up of  Jerusalem and Bethlehem jackets, scarf from Jerusalem, Bethlehem chestpiece, Bethlehem shatweh,
Antique brass lamp and Jerusalem sleeve.

 

Randa Munayyer Receives Award from NJ State Council on the Arts