A museum to Palestinians’ heroes

Patriotic steadfastness is exalted in the Palestinian imagination, and no one personifies this more than a Palestinian imprisoned by Israel -- there are about 11,000. They are esteemed across Palestinian society, and a jail stint buys instant street cred.

A new West Bank museum focusing on prisoners gives a strong taste of the iconography of jailed Palestinians, if not deep scholarship or explanation. The Abu Jihad Center for Political Prisoners’ Affairs, opened six months ago, is both a collection of artifacts and a comment on life under occupation.

Mainly, it’s a salute to Palestinians jailed by Israel. (That’s 800,000 people since 1967, said museum director Fahed abu Haj, an animated man who spent 10 years in jail for his activities in the Fatah movement.)

The museum was built with $750,000 from Kuwait and is named after the nom de guerre of Khalil Wazir, a deputy of Yasser Arafat killed in Tunisia in 1988, apparently by Israeli agents. The prisoner collection, housed at Al Quds University in Abu Dis, pays careful attention to symbolism and design (crenelated walls and worn stone tiles are meant to evoke Jerusalem’s Old City).

There are many lists: of 27 Israeli detention facilities; of the 76 “forms of torture inside Israeli jails”; of the 220 Palestinians who have died in custody. Another roster lists 64 “old prisoners” held more than 20 years. The most immediate artifacts are those from prisoners’ daily lives, such as the letters written in minuscule Arabic script and rolled into candy-sized pellets to be smuggled out by prison visitors.

Israelis are welcome, Abu Haj said, but even dovish Israelis may find it appalling that the museum never says what deeds these inmates allegedly committed. A Palestinian’s act of resistance is usually an Israeli’s act of terrorism.

Still, samples of prisoner art, including Dome of the Rock sculptures crafted from cardboard, colored silk and other household materials, help show that inmates are people too, said Salah Takatka, who was visiting on a recent day. Takatka, 33, was freed in September after serving 8 1/2 years for activities that included, he said, throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

“When they see the work that we do, they will see we are not all terrorists,” Takatka said. “We are also artists.”

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ellingwood@latimes.com