Introduction Ismail Shammout was a refugee who lived the Palestinian experience fully, and went on to tell the

story through art. Dispossession, exile, identity, suffering, perseverance and struggle, are all predominant features of his oil paintings, and his remarkable way of advocating for his peoples cause. The topic of this paper was his painting The Exodus. But first, let us know Ismail Shammout. Ismail Shammout was born on Feb. 3, 1930 in the Palestinian agricultural town of Lydda. He was a son of a wholesale merchant (El-Zabri, 2006). He had the good fortune as a youth to study. Amazingly at seventeen he persuaded his father that he could earn a living making art. His father, even more amazingly, provided him with materials and a space to work. It was then 1947, only one year before the Nakba (Halaby, 2006). He remembered clearly when they were driven out of their homes on July 12, 1948. Lyddas 25,000 residents were forcibly expelled and these included old men and women, children, babies, pregnant women, sick people. These people were herded towards Jordan, without food or water into exile and homelessness to an unknown destination and future. The Shammout family arrived at Nilin village and Ismael considered themselves lucky because many collapsed on the way and many did not make it (El-Zabri, 2006).Finally, the Jordanian army trucked the homeless refugees to Ramallah where the Shammout family was billeted to a girls school. Ismails father, realizing that the Israelis had no intention of allowing refugees to return to their homes, moved his family to Khan Yunis in the Gaza area and he and his sons make out a living In Khan Yunis, he and his brothers worked at anything they could get. When a school was opened for the refugee children, Ismail and a brother applied as volunteer teachers (Joury, 2003). Throughout this period Ismail held tight to his dream to attend art school and become a great painter. His talent was soon recognized by the school authorities in Khan Yunis and he was appointed art instructor in three schools with a tiny salary. It took Ismail a whole year to save 10 Egyptian pounds ($30) and with this, he left for Egypt and was admitted to the college of Fine Arts in Cairo. After school he worked as a messenger and assistant at a poster advertising

agency. He painted every free minute and in July 1953, Shammout carried over 60 paintings to Gaza to the first ever Palestinian art exhibition (Joury, 2003). Shammouts career as an artist and popular hero of Palestine started with his 1953 exhibition of the catastrophic march thought wilderness. He was greatly influenced by the images captured by his artists eye during his peoples exodus and then by their life misery and despair in refugee camps (El-Zabri). Refugees of Gaza saw themselves mirrored and felt relief. An immense attendance of the general population including refugee camp dwellers overwhelmed Ismael, still then a student. In response, Shammout committed his lifes work to Palestine and the art of liberation (Halaby, 2006). Shammout is considered to be a founder of modern Palestinian visual art. His art features scenes of Palestinian tragedy and struggle and are widely reproduced in Palestinian publications. Explaining the driving force of his art, Shammout said, We shall continue this subject because it is a way people can know about the suffering, sadness, and dreams of our country He died at the age of 76 after a heart surgery on March 7, 2006. His paintings are considered to be some of the most valuable art works in the Arabian world (El-Zabri).

Body Palestinian Art and the Colonial Encounter The rise of modern painting in the Palestine started from the Arab Christians iconographer of the 17th century who were influenced by Byzantine iconography but developed their own style. The Syrian Yusuf al-Halabi of Aleppo was the main 17th century innovator, his style dominated 18th century Greater Syria, including Ottoman Palestine. In the 18th and 19th centuries, local Palestinian Arab Christian iconographers became known for their own style soon to be dubbed the Jerusalem style. By the 2nd half of the 19th century, Palestinian icons adorned the houses of Palestinian Arab Christians as well as Arab orthodox churches dotting Palestines landscape. Palestinian iconographers were engaged by churches as far as Damascus and Tripoli and signed their icons with the word al-Qudsi meaning Jerusalemite (Massad, 2008).

One political condition that developed Palestinian iconography was the resistance to the Ottoman-imposed Greek Church patriarchs who took over Arab churches following the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. The Arabization of icons was part of local resistance. The 19th century also brought massive transformation to Palestinian society, first with the advent of European missionary schools and churches which affected the production of art, and later with the arrival of the first European Jewish colonial settlers in the 1880s and 1890s which almost affected every other aspect of Palestinian life resistance (Massad, 2008). The Nakba and the Palestinian Exodus in the 1948 Al Nakba is the name given to the organized expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948, the year the state of Israel was established (SADAKA, 2011).Palestinian exodus began soon after the UN Partition Resolution was passed on Sept. 29, 1947 and continued even after the Armistice Agreement was signed between Israel and the Arab states in the early mid-1949. As the fighting increased, terrorist activity on both sides escalated. Although atrocities and massacres are not unusual, the barbarous extermination of the village of Deir Yassin by Irgun and Stern Gang terrorists became symbolic to the Palestinian of the kind of war it was fighting and the type of war it was opposing. The terror felt by the people was helped along by Zionist psychological tactics. Radio broadcasts sought to undermine morale and give the impression that Palestinian resistance was futile. Civilian populations were warned of impending epidemics as well as alleged dissension in the rank of Arab forces. Later, rumours were spread by Israeli forces that they possessed the atomic bomb. Exodus would be anything but one of mass panic and uncontrollable flight. Despite the efforts of Arab authorities to halt this tide, the Palestinians leave in terror accompanied by clearly directed Zionist firing of the refugees (Glazer, n.d). The Nakba and the Palestinian Painting Nakba is the dispersion of Palestinian people and the loss of their lands. Nakba greatly affected Palestinian art. After 1948, Palestinian painting had for subject refugees, dispossessed living in a tent or in the open air. At the end of the 1950s, another trend took place: artists started to paint nostalgic subjects, such as the good life they had led in the villages prior the

Nakba, the homeland, working the fields, wedding scenes. To recreate Palestinian identity, painters started to use symbols such as the colours of the flag, the flag itself, scenes from Palestinian villages, dabke dancing, barbed wire, prison bars, etc (Documenting Palestinian Arts starts with Nakba, interiew with Suleiman Mansur, 1998). Palestinian art passed through certain distinct stages. At the outset, painters painted refugees and the dispossessed, then came the nostalgic period, with the orange groves and the villages in nice romantic setting. Next came the influence of the Palestinian League Organizations and the growing feeling of power among the Palestinian people, expressed in the strong, proud and fighting Palestinian. In the 1970s, Palestinian art tried to get out of this political circle and to produce art that could transcend the local and be part of the universal art movements. They went back to the origins and chose their subjects from Canaanite, old Egyptians, as well as Islamic art, Arabic calligraphy, ornaments, embroidery, etc. The Nakba influence is always there (Documenting Palestinian Arts starts with Nakba, interiew with Suleiman Mansur, 1998). The Continuing Nakba The Palestinian catastrophe, the Nakba of 1948, never really ended. What happened since then, as Yehouda Shenshav, an Israeli sociologist and the author of Bounded by the Green Line, puts it, is a continuation of the 1948 war by other means (Kane, 2011) . The Nakba is commonly perceived around the world and even by Palestinians themselves, as a discrete historical event which happened in the late 1940s when Jewish terrorists established a Zionist state in Palestine (Finch, 2009).That year, a country and its people disappeared from maps, dictionaries and international collective memory. On international maps Israel replaced Palestine and the Palestinian space was re-invented as an Israeli space. The Palestinian people does not exist, said the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1969 (Masalha, 2009). Al-Nakba day marks the mass expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinian people during the 1948 conflict and war in Palestinian. It is also a demand for the respect of human rights and rule of law, especially the right of the refugees and internally displaced Palestinians to return and repossess their homes, lands, and properties (Badil Occasional Bulletin, 2004)

The Nakba is not only a day of remembrance and commemoration of the past but the very reality that Palestinians face in the present. Palestinians in Gaza live in the worlds largest air prison while those in the West Bank live under a brutal military occupation. Palestinians living within Jerusalem and the 1948 borders of Israel are subject to discriminatory laws resulting in unequal access to land, services and education, despite being citizens or residents and paying full taxes to Israel. The largest number of refugees in the world has been created due to Israels policies of ethnic cleansing, resulting in 5.5 million Palestinians refugees who are unable to return to their homes despite the Right of Return being guaranteed under the UN Resolution 194 (Sema, 2013). In 1998, there was a remarkable proliferation of Palestinian films, memoirs, and archival websites---all created around the 50th anniversary of the Nakba. In conjunction with this 50th anniversary, several films were released, including Edward Saids In Search of Palestine, Muhammad Bakris 1948, Simone Bittons film about the poet Mahmoud Darwish: Et la terre comme la langue. Also since 1998, several online archives have been created on oral history and refugee experience and recollections of the Nakba (Masalha, 2009). Mr. Rodrigo Mamierca Diaz, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, in his capacity as Chairman of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement at the meeting of NAM Coordinating Bureau to mark the 60th anniversary of Al-Nakba. To quote him, he said, We as members of the international community, must stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people on this occasion to reflect upon the tragedy and injustice that has befallen them and to reaffirm our determination and double our efforts to peacefully and just resolve the question of Palestine in all its aspects, including the resolution of the plight of refugees. The international community should not delay in acting to comprehensively address this issue because the Palestinian people have suffered and waited for too long for justice and the passage of so many years has only further and seriously compounded the problem which has impacted the region and beyond. Our movement stresses the need and urgency to put an end to the prolonged and illegal Israeli occupation of all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, and to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital (UNISPAL, 2008). Up to this day, the program that Mr. Diaz said is not achieved yet. On May 15, 2011, during the 63rd commemoration of the Nakba, a new form of commemoration took place. As Palestinians from all sides of the Syrian, Lebanese borders

courageously jumped off Israeli fences and strove to enter the occupied territories with the aim of returning to their lands. Most of the protestors were young Palestinians, drawn from 470,000plus refugee community from Syria. It was profoundly revolutionary moment, for these hundreds of young people entering Majdal Shams waiting, struggling, and organizing for: liberation and return. What differentiates the 2011 Nakba day from others is that it happened in a revolutionary atmosphere, the Arab Spring. Palestinians refugees who marched toward the Israeli borders were from the 3rd and 4th generation refugees, who obviously have not forgotten the injustice done to them 63 years ago. The Israeli forces attacked unarmed, non-violent protesters and equipment. The Israeli military forces even infiltrated demonstrators disguised as Muslim women to arrest and attack civilians. This marched confirmed that for the majority of Palestinians, the thought of returning to their homes in Palestine has remained the force driving the contemporary Palestinian struggle and the dream that has become part of the collective memory of shared grief, suffering, and hope (Ali, 2013). In 2012, the 64th Nakba day was organized by the PLO department of refugee affairs, as they hung official posters all over Ramallah inviting Palestinians to commemorate the memory of the Nakba. On May 15, 2012 thousands of Palestinians marched towards clock square in Ramallah as they carried Palestinian flags, black flags inscribed with the right of return and some were even carrying keys to their homes. However, unlike the 63rd Nakba, they did not plan or organized a marched towards the Israeli border (Ali, 2013). Palestinians marked their 65th Nakba anniversary last May 15, 2013. Sirens were sounded for 65 seconds and demonstrations took place at midday local time in Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Bethlehem and Jericho. In Jerusalem, they walked from Manara Square with marching bands. This was followed by speeches by officials and a concert. Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian right to an independent state had been reaffirmed by countries all oer the world and called on the Israeli government to show its positive intentions during negotiations by releasing Palestinian prisoners. If Israeli government has positive intentions it should release our prisoners, especially those who are in prison before 1993 and also the sick, the women, the children and our brothers, the Palestinian party leaders and the Palestinian legislative council members, he said (Ferguson, 2013). .

Analysis of the Exodus Painting The Exodus was one of the paintings shown by Ismail Shammout in 1953 first ever Palestinian art exhibit in Gaza. It is a 48x68cm and it is an oil in carton painting. What is depicted in the painting is the Nakba or Exodus of the Palestinians in 1948. It is a historical portrait that depicted the plight of the Palestinian people. The painting shown thousands of Palestinian refugees: women, children and the old and the sick. Their expression on the painting was sad, miserable, tired, hungry, and many negative emotions. One of the women in the painting just sat down because of tiredness and of starving and her son, in her back was encouraging her to stand up. According to Ismail Shammout, almost 5,000 refugees died in this exodus due to tiredness and lack of food and water. This painting is an example of Palestinian narrative through art. This painting tries to affect peoples understanding of the Nakba . This also contributes in the field of art history. The vivid political message in this painting is the condition of Palestinians after they were sent out of Palestine. It speaks of the Palestinian struggle and the astonishing neglect of the international community towards their cause. This also led to the realization of the so called liberation art of Palestine. Through this painting Exodus, Ismail Shammout has portrayed to the world the Palestinians experiences during the Nakba. Conclusion Palestinians suffered up to this day because of the happenings in 1948. They were taken out of their lands and they were now erased in the list of nations and the collective memory of the world. Palestinians way of portraying the Nakba in 1948 is through painting just like what Ismail Shammout did. Through painting, the Palestinians were able to send the world the message of their sufferings and miseries. Up to this day, the Nakba is still existent. The Palestinians still hope to regain their lands and to have their own independent state. They still commemorate the Nakba. They still did not lose hope that one day, they will able to return to their homeland: the Palestine. The futures of the Palestinians are still vague. If they will able to return to Palestine or they will have peace with Israelis, no one knows. Palestinians and Israelis were both victims of the imperialist Western countries. But Palestinians must have their own state so that they will not forever be refugees. They really suffered enough and they need proper help and support in order for them to have a comfortable life.

References:
Documenting Palestinian Arts starts with Nakba, interiew with Suleiman Mansur. (1998). Palestinian Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Literature, 50-53. Badil Occasional Bulletin. (2004, May). Retrieved from Badil Occasional Bulletin No. 17: http://www.badil.org/en/documents/category/51 UNISPAL. (2008, October 3). Retrieved from UNISPAL Website: http://unispal.un.org SADAKA. (2011). Retrieved from SADAKA Website: www.sadaka.ie Ali, Z. (2013). A Narration Without an End:Palestine and the Continuing Nakba. The Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies, 4-26. Ferguson, J. (2013, May 15). Palestinians mark 65th anniversary of Nakba. ALJAZEERA. Finch, B. (2009, January 6). The Nakba: an historical event or a continuing political process? Aletho News. Kane, A. (2011, January 6). Alex B. Kane . Retrieved from Alex B. Kane Wordpress: http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/ Masalha, N. (2009). 60 Years after the Nakba: Historical Truth, Collective Memory and Ethical Obligations. Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies, 37-88. Sema, T. (2013, May 15). CFPSA. Retrieved from CFPSA Website: http://cfpsa.co.za Glazer, S.(n.d.) Palestinian Exodus in 1948. Journal of Palestinian Studies. Halaby, S. (2006). Long Live Ismail Shammout--A Monument of Palestinian Art. Palestine. Retrived from Palnor Website:http://www.palnor.no. El-Zabri, H. (2006) Ismail Shammout (1930-2006)--Artist, Activist, Legend. Institute of Middle East Understanding. Palestine. Retrieved from IMEU Website:http://www.imeu.net Massad,J. (2008) Permission to Paint:Palestinian Art and the Colonial Encounter. Art Journal. Joury, M.(2003) The Long March East.Palestine.

An Analysis of the Painting The Exodus by Ismail Shammout

In Partial Fulfilment to the Requirements for the Subject History 153

Submitted to: Prof. Irene Bel Plotea

Submitted by: Hyacinth Mae Vargas BA History IV