Sumud
Sumud (Arabic: صمود, romanized: ṣumūd, meaning "steadfastness"[1] or "steadfast perseverance"; derived from the verb صمد ṣamada, meaning "arrange, adorn, lay up, save")[2] is a Palestinian cultural value, ideological theme and political strategy that emerged in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War among the Palestinian people as a consequence of their oppression and the resistance it inspired.
[3] The ultimate symbol associated with the concept of sumud and the Palestinian sense of rootedness in the land is the olive tree, ubiquitous throughout Palestine.
The heritage and folklore movement also thrived at this time, and the poster art produced made the image of visibly pregnant peasant women an icon of sumud.
[3] The emergence of medical relief committees in the early 1980s, made up of doctors from hospitals in Jerusalem who would spend their days off volunteering to establish and operate clinics in Palestinian villages, was the first widespread manifestation of resistance sumud.
In the mid-1980s Yasser Arafat, describing how sumud is a political strategy that is prerequisite to fighting, said, "The most important element in the Palestinian program is holding onto the land.
[10] Raja Shehadeh's conceptualization of sumud, as a non-violent attitude of life that could forge a third way between acceptance of the occupation and opting for violent struggle, gave a voice to those many Palestinians who refused to leave their land and tried to go on with their daily lives.
[11] In recent years, as a response to a spike of Israeli demolitions around At-Tuwani and neighbouring villages in the South Hebron Hills, a Youth for Sumud group has formed, whose aim is to organize protests at the occupation and inspire locals to stay on their land in the face of persistent military and settler harassment.
[12] During the First Intifada (1987–1993) the concept of resistance sumud gained full expression in the focus on "freeing Palestinians from dependence on Israel by refusing to cooperate and by building independent institutions and committees.
"[10] A comprehensive nonviolence action plan, announced by Hanna Siniora and Mubarak Awad in January 1988, called upon Palestinians to boycott Israeli products and end cooperation with Israel.
The villagers nevertheless persisted until Israel called off the siege and the raids at the end of October 1989, due to media exposure and the ensuing international outcry.
"[13] Shehadeh also harshly critiqued the Palestinian elite who benefitted from paying "only widely patriotic lip-service to our struggle, [which] was more than my sumud in my poor and beloved land could stomach."
[13] Edward Said found encouragement in the increased self-consciousness and determination to stay in historic Palestine that had gained prominence among Palestinians in the occupied territories.
In After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives (1986), he references Shehadeh's work and characterizes sumud as "an entirely successful tactical solution" at a time when no efficacious strategy is available.
It is "[...] a more basic form of resistance growing out of the idea that merely to exist, to survive and to remain on one's land is an act of defiance — especially when deportation is the one thing that Palestinians fear most.
In describing more active forms of sumud, Binur tells of his encounter with two Arabs who were employed as construction workers at the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
"[15]Sliman Mansour, a Palestinian artist, has produced images that "gave visual form to the newly formulated ideology of Sumud", which Gannit Ankori describes as "a firm rootedness in the land, regardless of the hardships and humiliation caused by occupation."
Like an old olive tree deeply rooted to the ground, those practicing sumud refuse to move away despite political, economic and physical injustices committed against them.
"[19] Michael Oliphant, a South African Ecumenical Accompanier based in Bethlehem as part of a program coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC), discusses the importance of sumud to Palestinian life in withstanding economic and political hardships.
[20] Toine van Teeffelen of the Arab Educational Institute in Bethlehem defines the sumud concept as, "on the one hand, [relating] to a vertical dimension, 'standing strong' on the land, having deep roots.
[21] Motivated by the need to find sources of hope in the present Palestinian context, the Arab Educational Institute recently developed pedagogical applications of the sumud concept, taking it outside strictly political boundaries.
