IN STEREO

The Israeli authorities try to say that a lot of Palestinian customs are theirs, hiding the Palestinian heritage. Hummus, for example, which is Palestinian, the Jewish-Israelis say is Israeli heritage. Even though there was nothing called Israel. Even [former Israeli prime minister] Golda Meir had a Palestinian passport; she didn’t have an Israeli passport. The currency was Palestinian, the embassy was Palestinian, the ambassador was Palestinian, the passport was Palestinian, the driving license was Palestinian – and now they forget that there was something called Palestine. I mean, they forget that it has land, it has heritage. There are several things that they’re trying to take and attribute to themselves. They put it in their galleries, that it’s Israeli, [when] it’s originally Palestinian. So in reality, it’s in danger. Real danger. – Abu Fadi

I know that Israel stole our original heritage and started bringing it to show in European countries and America as the owner of this heritage. It started working on falafel and hummus – and it’s us who are known for falafel and hummus. We the Palestinians are famous for falafel and hummus. [Israel] started taking these things and saying that it’s [theirs]. And it’s not. They stole our heritage. Our heritage. I inherited it from my mother and father, my mother and father took it from their mothers and fathers and grandparents. And we continue. We don’t give up our Palestinian heritage. This is ours. – Um Ala’a

There are a lot of [our] things I see the occupation country marketing itself [with]. For example, falafel: they present it abroad in their name. It’s possible they want to hide the Palestinian identity, our customs and traditions. [Like how they] demolish a village, exterminate it. I mean, our village, the old Al-Walaja, is totally destroyed. You can’t find any trace of it. – Lubna