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Concept
Sumud
Summary
Sumud (صمود) meaning "steadfastness" or "steadfast perseverance" is a Palestinian cultural value, ideological theme and political strategy that first emerged among the Palestinian people through the experience of the dialectic of oppression and resistance in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War. This noun is derived from a verb meaning "arrange, adorn, lay up, save". Those who are steadfast - that is, those who exhibit sumud - are referred to as samidin, the singular forms of which are samid (m.) and samida (f.).
As the term developed, Palestinians have distinguished between two main forms of sumud. The first, "static sumud", is more passive and is defined by Ibrahim Dhahak as the "maintenance of Palestinians on their land." The second, "resistance sumud" (in Arabic, sumud muqawim) is a more dynamic ideology whose aim is to seek ways of building alternative institutions so as to resist and undermine the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The ultimate symbol associated with the concept of sumud and the Palestinian sense of rootedness in the land is the olive tree, ubiquitous throughout Palestine. Another icon of sumud that has often been portrayed in Palestinian artwork is that of the mother, and more specifically, a peasant woman depicted as when pregnant.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sumud represented the Palestinian political strategy as adopted from 1967 onward. As a concept closely related to the land, agriculture and indigenousness, the ideal image of the Palestinian put forward at this time was that of the peasant (in Arabic, fellah) who stayed put on his land, refusing to leave. Baruch Kimmerling writes that the adoption of a strategy of sumud was motivated by a desire to avoid a second ethnic cleansing. Sumud as a strategy is more passive than that adopted by the Palestinian fedayeen, though it has provided an important subtext to the narrative of the fighters, "in symbolising continuity and connections with the land, with peasantry and a rural way of life.
Official source
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