This unique Center was established in 1999 to commemorate and document the development of the Palestinian prisoner movement. A major effort to collect data and information about all Paletinian prisoners has begun and the Center has already aquired a large collection of original documents (letters, literary works, political papers) as well as hand crafts. The Center was named after the code name for Mr. Khalil Al-Wazir, one of the founders of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fateh), whose specific charge was the political structure of Fateh in the Occupied Territories, and who maintained close contacts with the prisoners from his headquarters abroad. The Center, now located in rented offices in Ramallaha will soon be relocated to a special museum style building now under construction in the University's Abu Dis campus. This museum will host an archive of documents as well as exhibit the hand crafts of the prisoners. It is hoped that it will also be a center for researchers and students who wish to study the evolution of political thought amoung prisoners, thier interaction with their colleagues outside jail, as well as their personal histories.
The Director of the Center, who was himself taken prisoner at the age of 16, and who managed to learn to read, write and to finish his schooling while in jail, and who later studied for a higher diploma at Al-Quds University, embodies the spirit which it is hoped that the museum will present to its visitors.
|
