In cooperation with Rood, the youth branch of the Socialist Party in the Netherlands, a Palestinian Folklore Exhibition was organized from 10th April to 1st May 2005. The program, which involved visiting four Dutch cities - Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen and Harlem - concentrated not only on cultural exchange but also unfamiliar aspects of Palestinian cultural heritage, history and daily life in Palestine, usually neglected by western media.

The object of the exhibition was to narrow the gap between Palestinians and the Dutch, as well as to promote mutual understanding and respect. Palestinian participants also provided first hand accounts of current life in the Occupied Territories.

The exhibition showed posters and pictures telling the story of the Palestinian people and the history of their cause; portraits of the Diaspora and Palestinian refugee camps; Palestinian daily life, particularly in the villages; traditional handicrafts as well as the paintings of several Palestinian artists and others by students of the Fine Arts Faculty at An-Najah National University. The exhibition also displayed photographs taken by the Palestinian photographer Ala’a Badarneh, showing life during the second Intifada, Palestinian civilians at checkpoints, curfews and Israeli invasions.

Palestinian embroideries made by women of the Workers Union in Nablus, national costumes and dresses, were also put on display. Films and historical documentaries were screened and there were performances of Palestinian traditional music and dance by groups such as the Palestinian Popular Dance troupe and the Al-Hanooneh troupe, amongst others.

The program commenced in the city of Rotterdam, one of the biggest Dutch cities, the country’s main port and home to a huge number of immigrants from more than 120 different nations. The exhibition officially opened on the 11th April with a debate about Palestinian life, moderated by the Dutch journalist Emad Al-Kaka. The speakers were: Mr. Muhammad Al-Baaz, the Former Representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the Netherlands, Rubriek Van Dreik, Head of the Youth of ROOD, and Mira Nabulsi, Assistant Coordinator of the Zajel Youth Exchange Program. The audience asked questions about life under occupation and how European youth could best support Palestinian people living in such difficult circumstances.

The rest of the program in Rotterdam included field visits to Boijmans van Beuningen Museum and to the City Hall, where the delegation met the Head of the Socialist Party in Rotterdam, who explained the political system of the council and political parties in the Netherlands.

The delegation also visited Libanon Public School in Rotterdam, where they gave two presentations to senior high school students. The goal was to give these students a better understanding of what their Palestinian fellows have to face in order to get their education, whether in schools or at universities, and also clarified some of the misleading terms often used by mass media, which obscure the actual conditions under which Palestinians are forced to live.
The exhibition came to a close in Rotterdam on the evening of Thursday 14th April with a cultural evening, attended by a Dutch Palestinian audience. The evening included poetry and music in addition to a dialogue between the audience and the Zajel delegation.
The next stop for the exhibition was Eindhoven, one of the Netherlands’ big industrial cities. The exhibition was displayed for two days in a hall and two days in the Technical University of Eindhoven and included a debate on the apartheid wall and Palestinian life under occupation. Mr Jamal Abdallah, from the Dutch Palestinian Platform, and representatives from United Civilians for Peace, gave presentations on the Israeli wall and its implications for the Palestinian people.
On the last day in Eindhoven, the delegation visited the City Hall and met with members of the City Council who are affiliated to different parties, incl