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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-yabous-edward-said-centre-east-jerusalem-stormed">https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-yabous-edward-said-centre-east-jerusalem-stormed</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel storms two Palestinian cultural
centres in East Jerusalem</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By MEE staff - July 22, 2020<br>
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<article data-history-node-id="179361" role="article">
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<p>Israeli police and intelligence officers stormed two
Palestinian cultural centres in occupied East
Jerusalem on Wednesday, seizing records and documents
and detaining employees, official Palestinian news
agency Wafa reported.</p>
<p>The <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/YabousCulturalCenter/photos/?tab=album&album_id=696894043711460"
target="_blank">Yabous Cultural Centre</a> and the <a
href="http://ncm.birzeit.edu/ar" target="_blank">Edward
Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM)</a>,
also known as the Edward Said Institute, are at the
heart of the musical and cultural scene in East
Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The residence of Suhail Khoury, the ESNCM director,
and Rania Elias, the director of Yabous, was also
stormed by Israeli forces, who escorted them to the
offices of both centres for the search and seizure
of documents. Both Khoury and Elias were detained by
the Israeli police.</p>
<p>Khoury and Elias, who are <a
href="http://www.all4palestine.com/ModelDetails.aspx?gid=7&mid=1786&lang=en"
target="_blank">married</a>, are the organisers of
festivals and events in the Palestinian cultural
scene.</p>
<p>The news agency also reported that the residence
of Daoud al-Ghoul, the director of the Jerusalem Arts
Network (Shafaq), was stormed and ransacked as well.</p>
<p>Shafaq acts as an umbrella network for cultural
centres in East Jerusalem, including Yabous; ESNCM;
Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art; the gallery
of The Palestinian Art Court (Al Hosh); and the
Palestinian National Theatre (Al-Hakawati).</p>
<p>Israeli police said that it detained three suspects
for alleged tax evasion and fraud, and that it
confiscated materials for an ongoing investigation.</p>
<p>Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive
Committee, said in a statement that Israel's campaign
against Palestinians in Jerusalem "aims to erase the
Palestinian presence and alter the demographic and
cultural make-up of the city through numerous home
demolitions, forced evictions and targeting the daily
livelihoods of Palestinian Jerusalemites”.</p>
<p>The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture
condemned t<span>he storming of Yabous and ESNMC.</span></p>
<p>“The attack on these institutions is an attack on the
Palestinian national culture and cultural heritage,”
the ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>Over a thousand students are currently learning music
at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music,
with branches in Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza, Ramallah and
Bethlehem. </p>
<p>In 2013, ESNCM Palestine Strings <a
href="https://www.palmusic.org.uk/story-of-palmusic-uk/"
target="_blank">performed</a> in the BBC Proms
musical event at the Royal Albert Hall in London.</p>
<p>The conservatory was founded by the Palestinian
writer Edward Said and the Israeli composer Daniel
Barenboim in 1999, under the name West-Eastern Divan
Orchestra. The name was changed in 2004. The Yabous
Cultural Centre was founded in 1995. </p>
<p>Israeli authorities have been tightening their grip
over Palestinian institutions in the occupied city.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, Adnan Ghaith, the Palestinian
governor of Jerusalem, was arrested over “suspected
terrorism”, according to his lawyer.</p>
<p>Ghaith has been arrested more than ten times in the
past two years over his activities in East Jerusalem
and each time would be released after a day or two.</p>
<p>Mohammed Mahmoud, Ghaith’s lawyer, told AFP that this
time his client is not expected to be released soon,
as he is being investigated over "planning an act of
terrorism”.</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinians-protest-east-jerusalem-over-israeli-closures-nationalist-institutions"
target="_blank">In November</a>, Israeli authorities
closed down several institutions in East Jerusalem,
claiming that they are funded and belong to the
Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.</p>
<p>The Palestinian Authority claims East Jerusalem as
the future capital of a Palestinian state, but this
hope had been dashed by US President Donald Trump's
decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital,
and Israel's plan to annex the West Bank.</p>
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