Museum of the Palestinian People

Located in a classic red-brick row house in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the Museum of the Palestinian People is easy to miss. It began in 2015 as a traveling exhibit named the Nakba Museum Project. Its founder and director, Bshara Nassar, hails from a Christian Palestinian family that runs an educational farm near Bethlehem. Inspired by D.C.’s many great museums, as well as his family’s work in cultural exchange, Nassar thought this city would be an excellent place for an American museum of Palestinian history and culture. In 2019, the traveling exhibit laid roots in Washington, the place where it began.

Information panels tell the story of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and the Jews, Muslims, and Christians who are all indigenous to that land. There are also several historic artifacts, such as a few of the distinctive black and white keffiyeh, and a right-of-return key—a symbol of homes lost during forced relocation programs. Rather than being divided into discrete sections, the museum is laid out in a kind of mosaic. The displays of Palestinian history are interspaced with the artwork, demonstrating that the story of a people and its culture are inextricably tied together.

The story of Palestinians today is marked by conflict with the state of Israel. As a result, much of modern Palestinian artwork features themes of war and resistance to occupation. As the cultural heritage of a people is destroyed through dispossession, demolition, or even genocide, it is important to have places that gives those people a voice. The Museum of the Palestinian People fosters a dialogue between Palestinians in Palestine, the Palestinian diaspora, and visitors to the museum, in the hope of that voice being heard.