Talk:Fayez Sayegh

Palestine Research Center

For some reason I have mixed up Palestine Research Center with Institute for Palestine Studies, or thought they were the same.

It seems they are not. Palestine Research Center was started by Fayez Sayegh in 1965 in Beirut, it was later run by his brother. The Israelis took all of its resources (books, periodicals, films) in 1982, but were forced to return them a year later. Which they did, with the notable exception of the films. (Haaretz wrote about some of these films)

The Palestine Research Center then moved to Cyprus (around 1983), where it still exist(?).

Sabri Jiryis was one who worked there, and its localities were bombed by the Mossad made Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners in 1983; among those killed was Jiryis' wife. Bergmans' Rise and Kill First has the story about how Israel "made" the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners.

We really should have an article on Palestine Research Center. Anyone feels tempted to start? Huldra (talk) 23:33, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

I know Rona Sela has written quite a bit about the disappearance of the Palestinian films in 1982 (also in Haaretz), see Cinema_of_Palestine#The_film_archives_disappearance,_1982, but I'm not sure if there were one or two different archives which were plundered. Does anyone know? Huldra (talk) 20:51, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

Sayigh was not Palestinian

I contest the appropriateness of labeling Sayigh as a Palestinian. According to the article and its sources, Sayigh was born in 1922 in Kharaba, Mandatory Syria. His father Abdullah Sayigh was of Syrian origin and his mother Afifa Batruni was from the Ottoman village al-Bassa, a majority Christians village (Greek Catholic Christians). The Franco-British boundary agreement of 1920 was unclear whether the village should be included into French Lebanon or British Palestine. In 1923, it was officially settled to include al-Bassa into Palestine; i.e. it was part of Mandatory Palestine for 25 years.

Furthermore, Sayigh and his family were forced to leave Kharaba during the Druze uprising of 1925, and resettled in Mandatory Palestine. Sayigh didn’t remain there for too long. By 1941, he had already received his bachelor's degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB) which indicates that he must have left for Lebanon several years prior. He never returned to Mandatory Palestine or Israel.

What are the basis for calling Sayigh Palestinian? He was born in Mandatory Syria. He only resided in Mandatory Palestine for little over a decade as a child refugee. To regard his mother Afifa Batruni as Palestinian is anachronistic and historical revisionism. When she was born, her native village was Ottoman, and it could as well have been included into Lebanon. Sayigh spent most of his life in either Lebanon or USA. 193.10.249.137 (talk) 11:07, 11 December 2023 (UTC)