Lelia Contee, Contributing Writer
The third annual All About Palestine event invited Richmonders to experience Palestinian culture through joy, community and resistance at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on April 4.
Inspired by Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “On this land,” this year’s theme centered on resilience and appreciating the beauty, power and steadfastness of Palestinian culture. The event featured Palestinian art and literature, authentic cuisine, vendors and educational booths.
Two panels were on the schedule — during the first, “Health Under Occupation: Mind, Body and Resilience,” panelists discussed the mental and physical toll of resisting genocide, and the resilience that sustains communities from Washington, D.C. to Gaza.
In the second panel — “Culture as Resistance,” panelists discussed how culture sustains Palestinian identity, memory and belonging across generations.
“We hope that it gets people excited about learning more about our culture, the history and the deep roots that we have to our indigenous land because we’re the indigenous people of the Levant,” said Fairouz Foty, co-founder of Malikat Al Dabke.
Malikat Al Dabke, or Queens of Dabke, is the first all-women’s dabke troupe that specializes in Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi dance styles in the Washington region, according to their website.
Dabke is a traditional Levantine folk dance popular in Levant regions, such as Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Syria. Foty uses dabke to assert their long-standing rich culture, combat Arabic women stereotypes and resist Zionist erasure and appropriation, according to Foty.
“Even though our mission was always to preserve Palestinian and Levant culture, Iraqi culture, Arab SWANA culture and everything, it really took on more of a focus on the genocide starting in October,” Foty said.
Malikat Al Dabke performed two pieces. The a song called “Folklore,” which blends folkloric dabke songs of the Levant with “Folklore” choreography. The second song was a traditional Palestinian mijwiz, an Arabic instrument, that reflects traditional Palestinian movements, where the dabke steps come in at the end of the verse, according to Sonia Abdulbaki from Malikat Al Dabke.
“There’s just something about dabke that gets you moving immediately,” Foty said. “It’s been a symbol of resistance since the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the rest of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the rest of the Arab world as well.”
Jinan Deena, a Palestinian-American chef and activist, spoke in the “Culture as Resistance” panel. Deena is the founder of Bayti, a Palestinian cuisine pop-up located in Washington, D.C.
Bayti centers on traditional Palestinian food, while educating people about its history and connection to Palestine.
“I want people to humanize Palestinians beyond what they see in the media because for so long we’ve either been seen as victims or perpetrators of violence,” Deena said. “People don’t know that we have such a beautiful culture, especially with food because our food is how we’re tied to our land.”
From homegrown figs to freshly green almonds, those ingredients are crucial to the survival of the Palestinian spirit, Deena said.
Deena also uplifts Palestinian and pro-Palestinian restaurants, while calling out Israeli restaurants that appropriate Palestinian and Arabic food, and the harm she said it causes through ethnic cleansing and erasure.
“Since the so-called ceasefire in October of last year I feel like things have kind of quieted down,” Deena said. “I just want people to continue to fight until full liberation and then we know that the fight is connected to our fight here at home.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story used the incorrect pronouns for Jinan Deena. The story has been updated.