Mr. Majari, how much interest in German is there in the Palestinian Territories?
German is taught at seven church-run schools and as a pilot project at two public schools in Bethlehem. Altogether, around 2,000 students learn German. The only country in the Arab world where German is more widely taught is Egypt. Outside the schools system, German is not really a major foreign language.
What motivates those who enrol for your German courses?
The reasons for learning German are very practical ones. Nearly all course participants are male and their aim is to study in Germany. Accordingly, we offer only courses for beginners. The number of participants in the courses we run in Ramallah and Gaza fluctuates between 200 and 400 a year. Many course participants in Ramallah travel daily from all over the West Bank – which can take many hours because of the Israeli checkpoints. As part of the Partner School Initiative, the Goethe-Institut plans also to offer German classes for schools in the north of the West Bank – in Nablus for example.
How much importance does your audience attach to contact with Germany?
The Goethe-Institut in the Palestinian Territories has teamed up with the Centre Culturel Français to form the German-French Cultural Centre. Although Germany is highly respected, our visitors expect us to make a significant contribution to cultural life here. We are also a kind of space for artistic experiment, free from social, political and religious pressure. What’s more, we are the only place where films by critical Israeli artists can be shown. So we are a cultural centre with a difference and at the same time one of the major players in the local cultural scene. Having said that, it is not exactly easy to work under the conditions that prevail here. When we started up, lots of events had to be cancelled because of the escalating situation. Bringing guests to the country or sending Palestinian partners to Germany requires a great deal of coordination and our efforts are not always crowned with success.
Farid C. Majari
has been director of the 11-year-old Goethe-Institut in Ramallah since 2002. In January 2009, he will transfer to Beirut and head the Goethe-Institut there.
In the context of cultural relations policy, the Federal Foreign Office also engages in helping to preserve threatened cultural heritage sites in developing countries. In the West of Afghanistan, for example, it funds the documentation of archaeological sites, a task addressed by the German Archaeological Institute. In Iraq, the National Museum, the Antiquities Administration and other institutions receive support for the protection of archaeological excavations, such as those at the site of the ancient city of Babylon. In Bhutan, support has been successfully delivered for a project planned by Pro Bhutan e.V. and financed by donations to reconstruct a traditional wooden bridge to the country’s most important fortress-monastery (Foto). These are just three examples of nearly 2,100 projects in 135 countries supported through the Federal Foreign Office’s Cultural Preservation Programme since 1981 – at a cost of 40.7 million euros.
