Yesterday, students of the "Rawda Bishara Atallah" scholarship program at the Arab Culture Association organized the "We Build Our Cultural Spaces" initiative, which manifested in volunteering days in Jaffa and Acre. This initiative aimed to build a library and cultural space that encourages the exchange of ideas and discussions, enhances the culture of reading and learning, and bolsters the status of the Arabic language among the youth. The initiative collected thousands of books through announcements and reaching out to the association's audience and friends over the past few weeks. Consequently, the general public and Palestinian cultural institutions in the interior and the West Bank contributed thousands of literary and research books to be available to the people of Jaffa and Acre and the cities' visitors.

In Acre, the student initiative in the scholarship program built a library in partnership with the "Nawaya" gallery, which is considered a cultural space offering several seminars to the city's audience. The gallery's administration provided the space for a sustainable library to serve the people, suitable for the place's goals and vision for development. At the end of the day, the writer Eyad Barghouti conducted a seminar for the students, discussing Acre's role in the cultural and political life of Palestinians before the Nakba, the impact of the Nakba on the city's development and cultural scene, and the current government policies marginalizing the Arab Palestinian part of the city and their effect on people's daily lives. Artist Khairy Foudy also discussed the journey of the "Wala'at" band and the obstacles it faced, as well as his artistic career as a son of the city, before presenting some artistic pieces with the students and the gallery founder Yazid Al-Saadi.

In response, Esraa Hajirat, a Rawda Bishara Atallah scholarship student from Bir al-Maksur and a participant in the volunteering day in Acre, said: "The most important aspect of the day for us was the revival of libraries in Palestinian cities. We collected books from families, institutions, and publishers from all over Palestine to be in the heart of Acre and contribute to the development of this beautiful space in partnership with the Nawaya gallery. These volunteer initiatives taught us that building the individual and the community is a reciprocal relationship that benefits each other if it is part of a professional volunteer work based on belonging and love for the land. We invite the people in Acre to come to the cultural space and participate in its seminars and activities."

In Jaffa, activist Yara Garabli, the coordinator of "Youth of Jaffa," opened the discussion about the reality of Jaffa and its people and the role of youth movements in it, their achievements, and obstacles in the city's national and cultural journey, and the necessity of organizing professional and collaborative work to counter policies aiming to distance the youth from their belonging to their city, its identity, history, and language. The students then began building the library at the movement's headquarters to be a cultural and knowledge space for the people of Jaffa, the group's audience, and its youth cadres.

Sama Masoud, a psychology student at Tel Aviv University and a participant in the volunteering day in Jaffa, commented: "Since joining the scholarship program, we have been organizing annual volunteering days. The aim of these days is primarily to instill the value of volunteering in us and the actual belonging to our people through providing everything possible for its service and development. On this day, we worked to build a library in Jaffa, allowing its people to access more than 1500 Arab literary and research titles from various Arab publishers, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge through reading and organizing various cultural activities in this space."

Furthermore, the scholarship program coordinators, Az Odeh and Lureen Kanaan, affirmed: "Cultural institutions and publishing houses are a central engine in enhancing and reviving culture and knowledge paths, and this is our central role in the Arab Culture Association. The goal of this initiative was to empower the young generations and the general public to access sources that enrich their knowledge and open horizons towards a world full of inspiration and creativity, which shapes their identity and confronts projects impoverishing our society and marginalizing its identity and culture. We thank the dozens of cultural institutions and publishers that contributed to the success of this day by providing their publications to support this initiative."

It is worth mentioning that the scholarship program has been ongoing since 2007 at the Arab Culture Association with support from the Galilee Foundation - London and aims to build a pioneering and active student vanguard through an intensive and annual educational and academic program that combines educational workshops, academic training, "This is My Country" tours, study days, and student initiatives in different towns.