The covenant
The Majlis
المجلس
A majlis is a room where guests are received, stories are heard and nobody has to buy a seat.
This is not a terms-of-service page. It is the set of promises FALASTEEN makes to the people held in the archive, and the standard it asks visitors to carry into the room.
Article I
What the archive promises
Memory before argument
الذاكرة
The archive begins with documents, testimony, verse and the people who made them — not with somebody else’s summary of what happened.
In practice: The source remains visible, and a reader can go past our account to inspect it.
Dignity is non-negotiable
الكرامة
Palestinians appear here as a whole people: poets, farmers, doctors, engineers, parents and children — never as a prop in another person’s argument.
In practice: Names before numbers. No image of a body. No grief used as spectacle.
Accuracy over convenience
الدقّة
A strong sentence is not worth keeping when the source does not carry it. Where records disagree, the disagreement belongs on the page.
In practice: Corrections are made in public and the scope of a finding is stated exactly.
Nothing is for sale
لا للبيع
The archive has no advertising, paywall or paid membership. Access to the record does not depend on what a reader can afford.
In practice: There is no tier to unlock. Any future community seat is free.
Good-faith disagreement is welcome
أهلاً وسهلاً
Researchers, students, journalists, elders and first-time readers may challenge what the archive says and bring a better source.
In practice: Debate the record. Harassment, contempt and dehumanisation leave the room.
The teller owns the story
الحكاية لصاحبها
A story or photograph shared here remains connected to the person who entrusted it to the archive.
In practice: Publication requires agreement. A privacy or removal request is handled by a person.
Article II
What the room asks of you
Argue with the record
Challenge a claim with a source. The humanity of Palestinians is not a subject for debate.
Name what you know
Separate memory, testimony and documented fact. Each belongs here when it is labelled honestly.
Protect the living
Do not expose a person’s private information, location or story without permission.
Attribute what you use
Teach from the archive and carry it into the world. Keep the author, photographer and source attached.
Article III
Take a seat now
Nothing listed here is paid access.
Read the record
Reading is participation. Start with one village, name or poem and follow the sources outward. No account is required.
Choose a reading path →Join the board
Read approved messages or submit a question, reply, memory, correction or suggestion. Every submission is held for human review.
Enter the message board →Bring evidence
Send a correction, source or photograph privately to the editorial desk. Say what can be verified and where it can be checked.
Contact the archive desk →Record an elder
Use the oral-history guide to prepare a careful recording in which the teller controls their name, story and permission to publish.
Open the recording guide →Now open
The Majlis Board
The public discussion room is open to read without an account. Submissions use a free form and remain private until a person reviews the message, confirms publication consent and deliberately adds it to the public archive.
Enter the message boardتفضّل، القهوة جاهزة
Come in. The coffee is ready.
The room is open whether you have known this history all your life or found the word Falasteen this week. Begin with attention. Bring a source when you have one. Leave every person’s dignity intact.