Features / Palestine
Bristol’s Palestine Museum is only one of its kind in Europe
A Palestinian flag marks the small entrance to Europe’s only Palestine Museum and Cultural Centre, which is free to enter and run entirely by volunteers.
Heading up the stairs to the main exhibition, the scent of zaatar and oud wafts from the room above, marking this as more than just a centre of information.
Ron Mendel and Peace, both senior volunteers at the museum, are in a reflective mood when speaking about the success of the museum and the impact of its location on Broad Street in the heart of the Old City.
is needed now More than ever
When asked about the purpose of the museum, Ron, a 76-year-old retired history and international relations professor from New York, says: “It is not simply a place that people visit and view the displays.
“It is a place where people come and share.”
Ron Mendel is one of the senior volunteers at the Palestine Museum & Cultural Centre – photo: Maelo Manning
In recent years, the museum has hosted an extensive range of events including screenings as part of the annual Palestinian Film Festival and talks from young journalists from Gaza via Zoom.
They have also hosted embroidery workshops, an art workshop by the Palestinian street artist Taqi Spateen and the sharing of Palestinian food.
In 2016, when deciding where to settle in England, Ron visited Bristol with his partner. He describes being, “beyond astounded at what I saw and I vowed that when I moved I was going to be a volunteer here”.
Asking how he feels about the museum, eight years after he started volunteering, he says that he has “never been disappointed”.
Peace’s reasons for volunteering come from a personal directive from the Palestinian people: “When I first visited the country, I asked them what I could do to help and they said go back and tell our story.”
Flags mark the location of the museum on Broad Street – photo: Maelo Manning
Ron says that the museum is not a space of political ideology: “We don’t try to push any political ideas. We are just trying to open the eyes of people to the Palestinian experience.
“I think there is an undercurrent of misrepresentation of the movement that shows solidarity with the people living in Palestine. You can be a supporter of Palestinian rights without being against the Israeli population.”
Peace, who has volunteered at the museum since its conception and describes himself as an ‘honorary Bristolian’, mirrors Ron’s sentiment: “We are here to try and educate people and different opinions are natural.”
The walls of the staircase leading up to the main exhibition floor of the museum are dedicated to displays about Palestinian culture, cuisine and women.
Reaching the main floor, the museum takes on a more impactful tone, with visitors met with a board of recent updates which highlights the escalating tragedy in Palestine since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7 2023.
Palestinian products enrich the museum – Photo: Maelo Manning
The museum has seen the number of visitors more than doubling since October. Many of the visitors also come to peruse the fair trade Palestinian products of dates, spices and olive oil.
The museum sells extremely rare authentic Kuffiyehs, handmade items direct from Palestine: such as embroidery and jewellery and art produced by the Palestinian diaspora.
When he visited a women’s refugee camp outside of Bethlehem in 2022, Ron packed his suitcase to the brim with handmade embroidery to bring to the museum.
He laughs as he calls himself, “a mule for embroidery”.
The walls of the main floor are covered with information about Palestine with a wide array of information about the country, its culture, the encroachment of Israeli settlements upon the land and the destruction of Palestinian olive trees.
With this vast array of information and Palestinian-sourced items, Peace describes the museum as “the Palestinian embassy in Bristol”.
An interactive display housing 35 minutes of Palestinian music – photo: Maelo Manning
Aniss Daraghma, a 53-year-old Palestinian, from Tubas in the West Bank, certainly feels that the museum is an embassy for himself and fellow Palestinians.
On a recent afternoon, he was working on the establishment of a cafe, separate from the museum, on the ground floor of the unusual building, which will be called Gaza Kitchen.
Aniss previously worked on the curation of a Palestinian museum in South Africa which was eventually scrapped due to funding, with a South African flag currently fluttering above the pavement on Broad Street alongside a Palestinian flag.
He speaks of the Bristol museum’s impact on him after his youngest daughter first brought him to visit: “It made me so happy to see this museum in Bristol.”
He says his family of 12 siblings and 48 nieces and nephews cannot believe that people in England care about the Palestinians.
When asked how he felt seeing a place dedicated to the Palestinian experience he attempts to convey his gratitude but becomes overcome with emotion, placing his hands over his face as tears well in his eyes.
The museum is filled with information and items of Palestinian achievement – photo: Maelo Manning
Aniss is optimistic that the museum will grow in stature as he believes it has a responsibility to preserve his heritage as the situation worsens in Palestine.
The fame of Europe’s only Palestinian museum has spread beyond Bristol.
Ron recounts the time he visited Ramallah in 2022 and told Palestinians about the museum: “They could not believe it. They were jumping for joy they were so delighted that people thousands of miles away were doing something to pay homage to the Palestinian people. I think Bristol has a lot to be proud of.”
The museum has not only benefitted the people of Palestine but is also becoming a place that many tourists in Bristol visit during their time in the city.
“Bristol is the right place for the museum and it is amazing the reception we get,” Ron says.
“It is very impressive to speak to people and people walk away feeling astounded that there is a museum of this sort that exists.”
Fairtrade Zaytoun products prove popular at the museum – Photo: Maelo Manning
Ron says: “If you look at Bristol’s recent past, the whole centre of the BLM movement was here in Bristol, the Kill the Bill demonstrations. There is a history of protest here.”
Peace adds: “Bristol is renowned for being a radical place for hundreds and hundreds of years. We are quite nicely fit for that.”
Harking back to Peace’s first visit to Palestine, where he was told how he could help, he emphasises that it has all been worth it.
“It has taken over half my life for the past few years,” Peace says. “I am really proud and really glad to be able to do it and to be able to do it here in Bristol, my adopted town and my home.”
Aniss adds: “The museum has absolutely made me feel welcomed in Bristol. Personally, it is a blessing to meet people in solidarity otherwise you feel lonely here and hopeless.”
Upcoming event with Dr Ramzy Baroud – Photo: Palestine Museum and Cultural Centre
On Sunday at 4.30pm, Dr Ramzy Baroud, editor of the Palestine Chronicle, will be speaking at the Bristol Palestine Museum and Cultural Centre
Main photo: Maelo Manning
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