Last Wedding in Tantura

CrossFireArabia
Culture
June 10, 2026

Tantura was a Palestinian fishing village of around 1,500 residents located south of Haifa. On May 22–23, 1948, during the Nakba, the village was captured and ethnically cleansed by the Alexandroni Brigade. Testimonies and historical accounts indicate that more than 200 unarmed villagers and disarmed fighters were massacred and buried in mass graves.

Tantura symbolizes far more than the destruction of a single village. It represents the violent interruption of ordinary Palestinian life in 1948: homes abandoned, families torn apart, futures stolen, and entire communities turned into memory overnight.

Yet even in loss, Palestinians continue to insist on dignity, memory, and survival. It is also a reminder that our love for one another, and for our land, remains stronger than displacement and erasure.
.
Last wedding in Tantura (العرس الاخير في الطنطورة), acrylic and oil on canvas, 2022

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

Culture News

Iraqi Book Fair: 600 Publishers From 28 Countries

Heba
September 7, 2026

The 27th Baghdad International Book Fair has attracted more than 600 local, Arab and international publishing houses and agencies from 28 countries, marking the largest international participation in the event’s history, an organizer said Sunday. The participating countries include 17 Arab and 11 non-Arab states alongside research and scientific institutions, Abdul Wahab al-Radi, head of the fair’s organizing committee, told Anadolu. He said the fair features numerous cultural activities, while participating publishers are showcasing “tens of thousands of recent publications” across its halls. Al-Radi also highlighted the strong turnout of Iraqi visitors seeking to purchase newly published books. He said the attendance demonstrated Iraqi readers’ interest in “the latest international, Arab and Iraqi publications,” helping broaden their knowledge, learning and culture. The fair also carries “another message to the world: that Iraq is well and Baghdad is well,” he added. Al-Radi said the strong attendance reflected the importance of reading and culture to the Iraqi public. The fair opened on Sept. 2 and will run until Sept. 12. According to Al-Radi, the participation of 28 countries is the highest number recorded in the fair’s history.

Culture News