Dr. Adel Yahya, Director PACE

Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE)

The Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE) aims to preserve and promote Palestinian Cultural Heritage. The organization is committed to protecting the rich history, diversity and resources of Palestine. PACE offers a wide and diverse range of activities and services, which have sparked the interest of different local and international individuals and groups.

The work of PACE pursues different goals, with the ultimate objective of insuring the cultural and economic viability of the country. The first goal of the organisation is to reinforce Palestinian identity and raise awareness about the Palestinian people's common heritage. For that purpose it organises public awareness campaigns all over the West Bank, and especially in rural areas. Second, PACE seeks to build an infrastructure for tourism, which goes hand in hand with establishing and maintaining cultural exchange programs with the outside world. Third, PACE strives to enhance dialogue between the people of Palestine and people around the world by producing multilingual publications on Palestinian history and culture. Furthermore, PACE strives to alleviate poverty and unemployment in the Palestinian rural areas and to protect endangered Palestinian cultural heritage. It also runs a program of training for craftsmen and women and helps them market their products.

“Protecting and promoting Palestinian heritage at this point in time is not an easy task at all. The threats are many, diverse and are quite serious. But we at PACE have decided with the help of our friends around the world to face up to those challenges and insure the viability of our country.” Dr. Adel Yahya, Director of PACE

The DED had supported PACE and its team of six employees since 2003. The DED expert assists PACE in a variety of areas, such as the conceptual work for its publications, maintaining local and international networks, and developing new strategies for PACE's marketing, as well as its work across the board.

"As a German-Palestinian the promotion of Palestinian heritage is an especially fascinating and important field to work in. Although it is a challenge, it is very gratifying to contribute to the work of PACE and its wide range of activities, and to support the organisation and the services it provides. My involvement in re-launching tours of the West Bank, working on publications in several languages, expanding trainings to different villages, establishing a network in Germany and other countries, and developing a working strategy are just some examples of the essential cooperation between PACE and the DED." DED expert working with PACE

With the support of the DED expert, PACE has improved its strategies, the quality of its products and its public relations. PACE is confident that the Palestinian Territories will become a more attractive destination for visitors from abroad, thanks to the ongoing rehabilitation of archaeological sites, improved tourism infrastructure and literature about these places.

The PACE tour guides of different cities, villages and sites are an important medium to reach and inform the visitors. The guides are published in Arabic, English, German, French and Italian. The recently published guides of Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and Jericho were published first in German, since Germans constitute a major group of potential tourists. In addition, PACE offers tours in different cities of the West Bank in order to encourage more people to visit the Palestinian Territories and to introduce them to Palestinian culture.

Another important means of raising awareness of Palestinian heritage are handicrafts trainings. The DED supported PACE with it first training, and today PACE is implementing workshops in 16 villages throughout the West Bank, conducting approximately three different workshops in each village. The production of Palestinian handicrafts, such as olive branch baskets, straw products and others, was especially endangered, and through these workshops PACE works to rejuvenate the production of these handicrafts and encourage people to recognise its importance. Moreover, these workshops have the potential to create an income for Palestinian women in rural areas.

A further important contribution of the DED is its support for PACE's work in the field of oral history. PACE started with a project supported by the DED, The History of the Refugees – Jalazon Camp, and then proceeded to expand its work to five more refugee camps in the West Bank and expanded to include other topics, like the ‘Palestinian policeman’ and the ‘Palestinian woman’. The ultimate aim of these projects is to publish these histories, which are hard to find in print.

Yet, there is still much to do to support and promote heritage and culture in Palestine!

For more information, please contact PACE.