Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
In 1998, I met him for the first time in his small kingdom (museum, library, and collections). I was editing the cultural page of the Lebanese Al-Aman magazine at that time, when my uncle (my father-in-law), the late Professor Abdul Rahman Jamal (Abu Haitham), took me to visit him.
We sat for a long session talking about Palestinian village books, and I learned from his conversation and experience a lot of important information in the field of heritage and village books. I looked at the manuscript of his village book (old), and he was hesitant to publish it because the material was large, and he wanted to shorten it... and he urged me to write A book about my village, and he promised to help me with documents.
During this visit, he became more enthusiastic and photographed a copy of the index of his book for me, saying: This index is the general outline of the book. You can build your book on its basis.
At that time, none of these books had been published in Lebanon except “Al-Damun,” “Saffuriyya,” and “Alma,” and very few of these books.
I took the outline and began working on my book slowly over the years until it was published in 2004.
He spared no effort to encourage everyone interested in his village to write a book about it.
After that, I visited him several times with foreign delegations, in his museum. I was keen to benefit from it in every media work I did (Al-Buraq, Muslim Palestine, Al-Awda magazines, etc.).
This is a summary of the life of the late great man:
Mahmoud Youssef Dakour was born in the village of Qaditha in 1937.
He completed the fourth grade of primary school in his village in Palestine.
His family took refuge in Lebanon following the Nakba in 1948.
He completed his secondary education at the Jaafari College in Tire in 1953. He graduated from the Syrian high school in 1964. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Arabic Language and Literature) from Beirut Arab University in 1967.
He obtained a diploma in education in 1968. An educational certificate for teaching arts in 1968, and an educational certificate for teaching school principals (UNRWA) in 1974.
He is a member of the Palestinian Writers and Journalists Union. Chairman of the Palestinian Committee for Culture and Heritage in Lebanon in 1989. He founded, financed, and managed the Palestinian Public Library in the diaspora in 1953. He founded, financed, and managed the Palestinian Heritage Museum in 1989.
Many articles were written about his heritage and historical works in Arab newspapers and magazines, such as the Emirati newspapers Al-Bayan, Al-Khaleej, and Al-Ittihad, Al-Hayat, Al-Safir, Al-Kifah Al-Arabi, Al-Liwaa, Al-Buraq in Lebanon, Al-Awda, Muslim Palestine, and Al-Wafa in Palestine.
He documented Palestine before the Nakba by issuing five books related to this topic. He also collected and purchased Palestinian coins (a complete set) and paper currency (basic pieces), and revised and published many Palestinian documentary books. He also published dozens of articles related to the right of return to Palestine and its eternal heritage. He collected about 3,000 Palestinian documents dating back to before the Nakba (original and facsimile), and held dozens of museum displays in Lebanon and the Damascus International Fair.
Among his works are:
- What remains of us (Qaditha Safad) - Beirut, 2001.
- Municipal proverbs in the Palestinian village (manuscript).
- Catalog of the Palestinian Museum in the Diaspora (manuscript).
- Al-Zeeb, the Bride of Acre District (in collaboration with Muhammad Taha - manuscript).
News about Mahmoud Youssef Dakour
Achievements and Awards
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