City Square and Country Bricks Ala Hlehel* Jadal

But is the city still a requisite for an audience of admirers and consumers of culture? Do theatres and book fairs not travel between cities and villages? Has the role of the historical center changed in relation to the provinces? It most likely has already changed, or is at the peak of the process of transition. [...] However, along with the rest of the world, we are now under the influence of cyberspace and the internet has made the majority of our actions virtual and digital. [...] The absence of the city in 1948 Palestine destroyed one of the most important pillars of cultural creativity and its consumption: the city square, brimming and effervescent with productions, writings, performances, controversies, and debate. [...] The true cultural city is one in which there are no such truths, and we—as a people that has been living according to them since the dawn of the 20th century—must rethink the Palestinian cities that blossomed up until the Nakba. [...] Hence, the question of the absence of the city cannot—in my view—be separated in any way from the more pressing and painful question of the loss of the countryside.