On Tuesday, 29th March 2022, PalVision launched “Turab” digital platform to increase knowledge and awareness about the Palestinian national identity and enhance communication among Palestinian youth everywhere.
Turab platform is an interactive electronic platform for Palestinian youth wherever they are. It contains training courses on Palestinian identity and how to preserve it. The platform includes virtual tours of Palestinian cities and villages and important historical landmarks in Palestine using virtual reality technology, games about the Palestinian identity, a photo gallery, a youth forum to discuss Palestinian youth issues, and a resource page with many research papers and books on Palestinian identity.
The launch event was held at AlQattan Cultural Centre in Ramallah, attended by several representatives from local and international civil society institutions, project partners, press agencies, and the Palestinian public.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Rami Nasser El-Din, Executive Director of PalVision, introduced Turab project and stated that the organization seeks to “provide uncomplicated educational content for Palestinian youth about their comprehensive national identity.” He added that the project enables young people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Diaspora to experience virtual tours of Palestine with its various historical monuments, cities, and displaced villages and that PalVision is still working on increasing and developing the platform’s content.
Mr. Tariq Al-Bakri, a researcher and one of the contributors to the platform’s development said, “We do not only provide photographs, but we also provide written and audio information about the history of the place”. He added that Palestinians in the Diaspora are greater in number than those within Palestine and that Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza strip are “being deprived of seeing their homeland and all its details, which is part of what the platform provides.” He hoped that the platform would provide all young Palestinians with “an incentive to learn about their cities and villages in an interactive way.”
During the event, the attendees were able to experiment with the platform, sample the virtual tours, and take part in online games about the Palestinian identity.
Turab: The Palestinian Identity Incubator is a project implemented by PalVision, funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and under the supervision of the Taawon Foundation, and in partnership with the Arab Youth Association (Baladna), the American Friends Service Committee, and Inma’ Foundation.
