Sliman Mansour born in Birzeit, Palestine in 1947. He is an important figure among contemporary Palestinian artists. Mansour spent his childhood at boarding schools on Bethlehem.He studied fine art at Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem from 1967 to 1970, and has been involved in the Palestinian art scene since the 1970’s.

Mansour is considered an artist of the Intifada whose work gave visual expression to the cultural concept of sumud ¹. He is a co-founder of the League of Palestinian Artists and the artist group ‘New Visions’ which was established during the first Intifada in 1987. This group particularly tied notions of land to political suppression through artist’s materials such as henna, clay and natural pigments, advocating a continuous claim to land through these. The group was formed by four prominent Palestinian artists: Tayseer Barakat, Vera Tamari, Nabil Anani and Sliman Mansour.

Since the seventies, he has contributed to the development of an iconography of the Palestinian struggle through his works on paper. Uniting Mansour’s body of work is the depiction of the orange tree (considered to symbolize the 1948 Nakba), the olive tree (considered to symbolize the 1967 war), traditional Palestinian embroidery, village life, and the figure of the Palestinian woman as the mother figure of Palestine, giving birth to and protecting the Palestinian people. One of Mansour’s most recognized works is the 1974 painting, Camel of Hardship. In this image, the figure of the porter bends under the weight of his satchel, which is significantly shaped like an eye and holds the city of Jerusalem as identified by the Dome of the Rock. Personifying Palestine through the figure of an old, weary, and isolated man, Mansour captures the concept of sumud, or steadfastness, and the continuing endurance of the struggle despite hardship. Before its international acclaim, the piece resonated locally as it was printed as posters in 1975 and displayed in homes and public venues throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

In 1988 he made a series of four painting on destroyed Palestinian villages, the four villages being Yibna, Yalo, Imwas and Bayt Dajan.

For Mansour, art aids the continuation and revival of Palestinian identity, particularly as it captures images of the land and people working in the land. By keeping roots in the ancestral homeland, Mansour enables Palestinians to continue to lay claim to it.

Mansour – also a cartoonist, art instructor and author –has contributed greatly to art education and promotion in the West Bank. He is now regarded as a pivotal cultural leader in Palestine. Co-founder of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, Mansour’s work has been exhibited in Palestine Israel, the United States, Japan, Korea and across the Arab world and Europe. He is a co-author of Both Sides of Peace: Israeli and Palestinian Political Poster Art.

Mansour has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions throughout the Arab world, United States, Europe, and Asia. Notably, he participated in the 1997 French Palestinian spring exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. In 1989, he received the “Nile Award,” at the 1998 Cairo Biennial for the series, I am Ismail and the Palestinian Prize for Visual Arts.

Awards and Honors

​1998     Palestine Prize for the Visual Arts

​1998     Grand Nile Prize, Seventh Cairo Biennial

Sliman Mansour´s work

Further reading:

– An Interview with Palestinian Artist Suleiman Mansour

https://aaron.resist.ca/cracked-and-shrinking-maps-an-interview-with-palestinian-artist-suleiman-mansour

– The return of “Jamal Al Mahamel”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/03/palestinian-art

Source:

http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org

http://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme

http://www.encyclopedia.mathaf.org

Reference

¹ Sumud means “steadfastness” or “steadfast perseverance” is an ideological theme and political strategy that first emerged among the Palestinian people through oppression and resistance in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day W

More than 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed –in its entirety or partially– by Zionist gangs as part of a programmed plan of uprooting native Palestinians from their homeland, Palestine, and breaking new ground for a bizarre colonial project called Israel, which the days of its first stage were closing in on that awful year of 1948.

Few researchers, and historians, Palestinians and Israelis, have attempted to document this tragic chapter of al-Nakba (catastrophe). Among Palestinians were Aref El-Aref who prepared shortly in the aftermath of 1948 war a list of villages occupied and its Arab citizens were forced to leave in the course of battles. He published few years later a six-part volume about 1948 war under the title al-Nakba (1956-1960). The historian Mustafa Dabbagh published an eleven-part volume titled “Our Land Palestine” (1972-1986). A thorough description of the destroyed villages or otherwise was included in the book.

Other writers followed suit including the late Palestinian geographer Bashir Najm who coauthored with Engineer Bsharah Muammer comprehensive tables of statistics covering the people and the land.

On 1987, Abdul Jawad Saleh and Walid Mustafa published a booklet concerning the mass destruction of the Palestinian villages.

At last the Israeli historian Benny Morris published on 1989 his important book “ The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947-1949”.

All in all, 418 villages were destroyed, depopulated or simply taken over by Zionists for various purposes. Others were utilized as sites for building Zionist settlements.

In 1992 , the distinguished Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi, author and editor of many valuable publications, books and researches, narrating the untold story and history of the Palestinians before and after their Nakba (catastrophe), a paramount referential research work titled “ All that Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948”. Its Arabic version appeared on November 1997.

In addition to these major works, a group of researchers prepared a list of names for destroyed villages — among them was Israel Shahak, president of Israeli Human Rights group who published on 1973 somehow modified text of Aref Al-Aref list.

Shahak based his work on Al-Aref list of 399 occupied villages, omitting from it the undestroyed villages—reducing the figure to 383 villages.

The Palestinian geographer Kamal Abdul Fattah classified on 1986 another list in preparation for the forthcoming list of Ber Zeit University.

But Christoph Uehlinger from the Swiss “Association for the reconstruction of Emmuas” village prepared a list based on Al-Aref-Shahak list, and to the preliminary list of Kamal Abdul Fattah (1983)—adapting it to the Israeli maps.

Although the Israeli authorities failed to issue a list of the destroyed villages, it republished on 1950s topographic maps –originally prepared by British Mandate –giving Hebrew names to the places printing over the destroyed villages the Hebrew word “Hrous” – meaning: destroyed.

Barring Dabbagh’s book (Our Land Palestine) and the Palestinian Encyclopedia, none of these works has referred to the destroyed village with more than a name and few statistics—merely as a single element amid general sight of destruction.

General Moshe Dayan stated in 1962:

We came to this country, which was already populated by Arabs, and we are  establishing a Hebrew, that is, a Jewish State, here. Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you, because those geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books, not  exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahal arose in the place of Mahalul; Gevat in the place of Jibta; Sarid in the place of Tell Shaman. There is not one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.
Bibliography:

-All that Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 by Walid Khalidi

-The Catastrophe and the Lost Paradise by Aref al-Aref

Al-Nakba was marked by the destruction of Palestinian villages and the exodus of over 750,000 Palestinians. Historical records confirm that in 1947 Palestine comprised more than 900 Palestinian villages. More than 400 villages were destroyed by Israeli forces as well as their houses and buildings.

The Israelis wiped off all these destroyed villages of the map. Mayor urban centers exclusive for Palestinians such as Nazareth, Baysan, Beersheba, Acre, Ramla, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa and many others were depopulated and in their places Israeli settlements were built.

Israeli and international historians confirm the number of these destroyed villages to be at least 418 and possibly up to 472.

Here we have a list of the destroyed villages within the pre-1967 borders of Israel, which were destroyed and depopulated in 1948.

The District of Acre (26 villages)

Amqa, Arab Al-Samniyya, Al-Bassa, Al-Birwa, Al-Damun, Dayr Al-Qasi, Al-Gabisiyya, Iqrit, Irbbin Khirbat, Jiddin Khirbat, Al-Kabri, Kafr Inan, Kuwaykat, Al-Manshiyya, Al-Mansura, Miar, Al-Nabi Rubin, Al-Nahr, Al-Ruways, Suhmata, Al-Sumayriyya, Suruh, Al-Tall, Tarbikha, Umm  Al-Faraj, Al-Zib.

The District of Baysan (29 villages)

Arab al-‘Arida, Arab al-Bawati, Arab al-Safa, al-Ashrafiyya, al-Birra, Danna, Farwana, al-Fatur, al-Ghazzawiyya, al-Hamidiyya, al-Hamra, abbul Kafra, Kawkab al-Hawa, al-Khunayzir, Masil al-Jizl, al-Murassa, Qumya, al-Sakhina, al-Samiriyya, Sirin, Tall al-Shawk, al-Taqa, Khirbat, al-Tira,  Umm ‘Ajra, Umm Sabuna, Khirbat, Yubla, Zab’a, al-Zawiya, Khirbat.

The District of Beersheba (3 villages)

Al-‘Imara, al-Jammama, al-Khalasa.

The District of Gaza (45 villages)

Arab Suqrir, Barbara, Barqa, al-Batani, al-Gharbi, al-Batani, al-Sharqi, Bayt ‘Affa, Bayt Daras, Bayt Jirja, Bayt Tima, Bi’lin, Burayr, Dayr Sunayd, Dimra, al-Faluja, Hamama, Hatta, Hiribya, Huj, Hulayqat, ‘Ibdis, ‘Iraq al-Manshiyya, Iraq Suwaydan, Isdud, al-Jaladiyya, al-Jiyya, Julis, al-Jura, Jusayr, Karatiyya, Kawfakha, Kawkaba, al-Khisas, al-Masmiyya al-Kabira, al-Masmiyya al-Saghira, al-Muharraqa, Najd, Ni’ilya, Qastina, al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya, al Sawafir al-Shamaliyya, al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya, Summil, Tallal al-Turmus, Yasur.

The District of Haifa (51 villages)

Abu Shusha, Abu Zurayq, Arab al-Fuqara’, Arab al-Nufay’at, Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri, Atlit, Ayn Ghazal, Ayn Hawd, Balad al-Shaykh, Barrat Qisarya, Burayka, al-Burj, Khirbat, al-Butaymat, Daliyat  al-Rawha’, al-Damun Khirbat, al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa, al-Ghubayya al-Tahta, Hawsha, Ijzim, Jaba’, al-Jalma, Kabara, al-Kafrayn, Kafr Lam, al-Kasayir Khirbat, Khubbayza, Lid khirbat, al-Manara Khirbat, al-Mansi, al-Mansura Khirbat, al-Mazar, al-Naghnaghiyya, Qannir, Qira, Qisarya, Qumbaza, al-Rihaniyya, Sabbarin,al-Sarafand, al-Sarkas Khirbat, Sa’sa’ Khirbat, al-Sawamir, al-Shuna Khirbat, al-Sindiyana, al-Tantura, al- Tira, Umm al-Shawf, Umm al-Zinat, Wa’arat al-Sarris, Wadi Ara, Yajur.

The District of Hebron (16 villages)

‘Ajjur, Barqusya, Bayt Jibrin, Bayt Nattif, al-Dawayima, Dayr al-Dubban, Dayr Nakhkhas,  Kudna, Mughallis, al-Qubayba, Ra’na, Tall al-Safi, Umm Burj Khirbat, Zakariyya, Zayta, Zikrin, Al-Nabi Rubin.

The District of Jaffa (23 villages)

al- ‘Abbasiyya, Abu Kishk, Bayt Dajan, Biyar ‘Adas, Fajja, al- Haram, Ijlil al-Qibliyya, Ijlil al-Shamaliyya, al-Jammasin al-Gharbi, al-Jammasin al-Sharqi, Jarisha, Kafr ‘Ana, al-Khayriyya, al-Mas’udiyya, al-Mirr, al-Muwaylih, Rantiya, al-Safiriyya, Salama, Saqiya, al-Sawalima, al-Shaykh Muwannis, Yazur.

The District of Jerusalem (38 villages)

‘Allar, ‘Aqqur, ‘Artuf, ‘Ayn Karim, Bayt ‘Itab, Bayt Mahsir, Bayt Naqquba, Bayt Thul, Bayt Umm al-Mays, al-Burayi, Dayr Aban, Dayr ‘Amr, Dayr al-Hawa, Dayr Rafat, Dayr al-Shaykh, Dayr Yasin, Ishwa’, Islin Ism Allah, Khirbat, Jarash, al-jura, Kasla, al-Lawz Khirbat, Lifta, al-Maliha, Nitaf, al-Qabu, Qalunya, al-Qastal, Ras Abu ‘Ammar, Sar’a, Saris, Sataf, Suba, Sufla, al-Tannur Khirbat, al-‘Umur Khirbat, al-Walaja.

The District of Jinin (6 villages)

Ayn al-Mansi, al-Jawfa Khirbat, al-Lajjun, al-Mazar, Nuris, Zir’in.

The District of Nazareth (4 villages)

Indur, Ma’lul, al-Mujaydil, Saffuriyya.

The District of Ramla (58 villages)

Abu al-Fadl, Abu Shusha, ‘Ajanjul, ‘Aqir, Barfiliya, al-Barriyya, Bashshit, Bayt Far Khirbat, Bayt Jiz, Bayt Nabala, Bayt Shanna, Bayt Susin, Bir Ma’in, Bir Salim, al-Burj, al-Buwayra Khirbat, Daniyal, Dayr Abu Salama, Dayr Ayyub, Dayr Muhaysin, Dayr Tarif, al-Duhayriyya Khirbat, al-Haditha, Idnibba, ‘Innaba, Jilya, Jimzu, Kharruba, al-Khayma, Khulda, al-Kunayyisa, al-Latrun, al-Maghar, Majdal Yaba, al-Mansura, al-Mukhayzin, al-Muzayri’a, al-Na’ani, al-Nabi Rubin, Qatra, Qazaza, al-Qubab, Qubayba, Qula, Sajad, Salbit, Sarafand al-‘Amar, Sarafand al-Kharab, Saydun, Shahma, Shilta, Al-Tina, Al-Tira,  Umm Kalkha, Wadi Hunayn, Yibna, Zakariyya Khirbat, Zarnuqa.

The District of Safad (77 villages)

Abil al-Qamh, al-‘Abisiyya, Akbara, Alma, Ammuqa, ‘Arab al-Shamalina, Arab al-Zubayd, ‘Ayn al-Zaytun, Baysamun, Biriyya, al-Butayha, al-Buwayziyya, Dallata, al-Dawwara, Dayshum, al-Dirbashiyya, al-Dirdara, Fara, al-Farradiyya, Fir’im, Ghabbatiyya, Ghuraba, al-Hamra’, Harrawi, Hunin, al-Husayniyya, Jahula, al-Ja’una, Jubb Yusuf, Kafr Bir’im, al-Khalisa, Khan al-Duwayr, Karraza Khirbat, al-Khisas, Khiyam al-Walid, Kirad al-Baqqara, Kirad al-Ghannama, Lazzaza, Madahil , al-Malikiyya, Mallaha, al-Manshiyya, al-Mansura, Mansurat Al-Khayt, Marus, Mirun, al-Muftakhira, Mughr al-Khayt, al-Muntar, Khirbat, al-Nabi Yusha’, al-Na’ima, Qabba’a, Qadas, Qaddita, Qaytiyya, al-Qudayriyya, al-Ras al-Ahmar, Sabalan, Safsaf, Saliha, al-Salihiyya, al -Sammu’i, al-Sanbariyya, Sa’sa’, al-Shawka al-Tahta, al-Shuna, Taytaba, Tulayl, al-‘Ulmaniyya, al-‘Urayfiyya, al-Wayziyya, Yarda, al-Zahiriiyya al-Tahta, al-Zanghariyya,al-Zawiya, al-Zuq al-Fawqani, al-Zuq al-Tahtani.

The District of Tiberias (25 villages)

‘Awlam, al-Dalhamiyya, Ghuwayr Abu Shusha, Hadatha, al-Hamma, Hittin, Kafr Sabt, Lubya, Ma’dhar, al-Majdal, al-Manara, al-Manshiyya, al-Mansura, Nasir al-Din, Nimrin, al-Nuqayb, Samakh, al-Samakiyya, al-Samra, al-Shajara, al-Tabigha, al-‘Ubaydiyya, Wadi al-Hamam, al-Wa’ra al-Swawda’, Khirbat, Yaquq.

The District of Tulkarm (17 villages)

Bayt Lid Khirbat, Bayyarat Hannun, Fardisya, Ghabat Kafrr Sur, al-Jalama, Kafr Saba, al-Majdal, Khirbat, al-Manshiyya, Miska, Qaqun, Raml Zayta, Tabsur, Umm Khalid, Wadi al-Hawarith, Wadi Qabbani, al-Zababida Khirbat, Zalafa Khirbat.

Bibliography:

-All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 by Walid Khalidi.

-For more detailed information you can visit http://www.palestineremembered.com/