US Archivist Visits Givat Haviva's Peace Library
By Lydia Aisenberg
September 17, 2008
Professor Allen Weinstein who heads the United States National Archives and Records Administration, recently visited the Sarah and Yaacov Eshel Peace Library at Givat Haviva.
Just a short time ago the Canadian State Librarian and Archivist Ian Wilson also paid a call on the Peace Library and recommended to his American counterpart – the ninth Archivist of the United States - that the Givat Haviva library and archives be on the agenda of his forthcoming visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas. Givat Haviva were honored to host the esteemed Professor.
When commenting about the United States National Archives and Records, former American President Ronald Reagan said in the early 1980s that "the materials the Archives safeguards are precious and irreplaceable national treasures.”
Professor Weinstein had similar comments about some of the archival material he was able to see at Givat Haviva and in particular emphasized the importance of the Peace Library collection of Arabic language newspapers. He was also extremely impressed with scores of beautifully bound books in the Arabic language dealing with a myriad of subjects that were rescued by Peace Library staff from a derelict site in a nearby town moments ahead a wrecker’s ball demolishing the remains of the building where the books had been abandoned.
Professor Weinstein was accompanied to Givat Haviva by Israel State Archivist Dr. Yehoshua Freundlich, whose support of the Peace Library is much valued by director Samira Mahmeed and Givat Haviva spokesperson Dudu Amitai - a former library director and nowadays that of Yad Ya’ari’s extensive archives and library situated on the Givat Haviva extensive campus in Wadi Ara.
Also accompanying Professor Weinstein was Michael R. Carlson, director of the American National Archives and Records Administration’s Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division and Dr. Rona Sela.
Perusing a watermarked cardboard box full of Arabic language newspapers going back almost a century, Professor Weinstein was visibly moved. He noted the fragile condition of the newspapers and commented on the necessity to have them digitalized before they reached a state that would be impossible to work with.
A small part of the collection has been digitalized through a personal contribution from overseas but the majority of the collection awaits the appropriate funding, Peace Library director Ms. Mahmeed explained.
A recently awarded grant from UNESCO – the fruits of 3 years of laborious lobbying – will allow for another 30,000 of the most fragile pages of the pre-1948 editions to be digitalized but another 200,000 pages of those in storage need to undergo the same process in order to record their contents for posterity as well as the undertaking of serious research and evaluation of the collection in general.
The pre-State collection - paper yellowed, print fading and with corners and edges extremely frayed - was stored in a few dozen cardboard boxes and saved from a leaking metal storage container a few years ago.
The Arabic language newspaper collection is an ongoing venture as every week the latest editions of the Arabic press in Israel are added to those of yesteryear and yester century.
“These newspaper are our common heritage with that of the Palestinians. We can learn a great deal from the newspapers as to how the Palestinians saw the development of Zionism and all related subjects dealing with the different individuals living on a common piece of land,” said Dudu Amitai as he passed his hand over the boxes stacked one on top of the other inside the library.
“If at some point in the future we could combine our collection - that of the Dayan Center and that of the Palestinians - then we could well end up with everything published from 1920 until present times,” commented Amitai.
Professor Weinstein asked about the origins of the collection, the bulk of which handed over in the past to the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva before the Peace Library took custody of the jewel in the crown of Arabic language publishing in Palestine.
“For the most part it was a personal collection of a veteran researcher of Palestine and a member of one of the kibbutzim,” explained Amitai who also commented on how having the collection digitalized would make the unique pre-State collection available to Palestinian researchers and other interested parties worldwide.
Professor Weinstein said that he was heartened by the work being carried out in Givat Haviva with regard peace education. From 1985 to 2003 he served as President of the Center for Democracy, a Washington, DC based non-profit foundation that he created in the early 1980s to promote and strengthen the democratic process.
Among the many honors bestowed upon the present day Archivist of the United States, both in America and internationally, is that of the United Nations Peace Medal (1986) awarded by the UN for his “efforts to promote peace, dialogue and free elections in several critical parts of the world.”
He has also authored much-respected books dealing with different aspects of the history of America including Truman and the American Commitment to Israel, and penned articles and essays for the leading newspapers and journals in the US as well as being a frequent interviewee and commentator for the electronic media.
Following the visit to the Peace Library, Professor Weinstein, Dr. Freundlich, Mr. Carlson and Dr. Sela – accompanied by Lydia Aisenberg of the International Department – made a short tour of the Wadi Ara region visiting the Amir mountain range observation deck at Katzir and the village of Barta’a before continuing on to visit the Umm el-Fahm Art Gallery, where they met with founder and director Said Abu Shakra.
“This has been an extremely interesting day, a highlight of our visit so far, and when I return to Washington I will see what can be done to assist both the Peace Library in Givat Haviva and the Art Gallery here in Umm el-Fahm,” commented Professor Weinstein before returning to Jerusalem.