As'ad Al-As'ad, Al-Mutawakkil Taha, and Samir Shehadeh… The First Brigade Knights in Defense of Palestinian Identity and Narrative

In a time of genocidal war that targets not only the Palestinian individual but also extends to memory, identity, narrative, and culture, the awarding of the “Maxim Gorky Medal for Literature” by the International Community of Writers' Unions, headquartered in Russia, to three of the most prominent Palestinian writers and founders of Palestinian culture in the occupied territories—Dr. As'ad Al-As'ad, Dr. Al-Mutawakkil Taha, and Dr. Samir Shehadeh Al-Tamimi—acquires a national and cultural significance that transcends the honoring of three creators to the honoring of Palestinian culture itself, as one of the most important fields of national struggle.The celebration by the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Authors of the honorees confirms that loyalty to creators is loyalty to the free word, to resistant culture, and to a generation that carried the pen as a fighter carries his banner, and confronted imprisonment, persecution, and policies of erasure and elimination with their creativity and their firm belief in their people's right to freedom and life.This honor is not merely a celebration of great literary names, but an international recognition of the status of Palestinian culture, and of the historical role played by the Palestinian writer and intellectual in defending national identity, preserving collective memory, and confronting the Zionist narrative that has sought, and still seeks, to falsify history and deny the existence and rights of the Palestinian people.Today, while Gaza is subjected to a comprehensive genocidal war, accompanied by cultural genocide targeting universities, schools, libraries, publishing houses, cultural centers, and creators, and the assassination of writers and creators, foremost among them the friend, the martyred poet Salim Al-Naffar, who perished in the genocidal war with his family, the importance of the free word increases, and the Palestinian writer and intellectual becomes the first brigade in the battle of consciousness, the faithful guardian of national identity, and the primary defender of the Palestinian narrative in the face of attempts at uprooting, distortion, and elimination.The Palestinian experience has proven that the occupation did not fear the rifle alone, but feared the poem, the novel, the play, and the article, because they preserve memory, document truth, and empower the people to tell their own story. Therefore, honoring As'ad Al-As'ad, Al-Mutawakkil Taha, and Samir Shehadeh is an honor for an entire generation of creators who made culture an advanced form of resistance, and established Palestine's presence in the human conscience.Greetings to these knights for this well-deserved recognition, and greetings to the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Authors for this loyal initiative, and to the International Community of Writers' Unions for this honor, which confirms that Palestinian culture, despite the genocidal war and cultural genocide, is still alive, capable of reaching the world, and that the free word will remain, as it always has been, one of the most important weapons of the Palestinian people in defending their identity, their narrative, and their right to freedom and independence.