MUPA Museum of Palestine

Palestine –
a different
perspective
on its history

For a century, Palestine has been described, explained, interpreted — almost always from the outside looking in. MUPA was created to reverse that gaze.

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MUPA Cinematic Archive Scene
INTRODUCTION

History,
seen
from within.

Here, the modern history of Palestine is not told through the familiar lens of Western media, but through the words of those who lived it, judged it, defended it, or challenged it first-hand.

Voices and testimonies of 20th-century figures who, for better or worse, shaped Palestine's fate are presented unfiltered.

Alongside the words come the images: photographs and film footage largely unknown to the general public, never featured in school textbooks or the evening news. People, faces, neighborhoods, everyday scenes, beautiful images, but also disturbing images of destruction, rubble, and hardship — moments that speak louder than a thousand analyses, casting new light on events we thought we already understood.

Palestine Historical Archives and Family Group
COLLECTIONS

Voices,
Images,
Documents.

Testimonies, photographs, and records that reveal how a land was lived, remembered, and contested.

  • 01 Voices
  • 02 Images
  • 03 Documents
Palestinian family portrait archive entry
Voices
Historical cityscape photograph
Images
Archival diary document
Documents
Historical territory map record
TIMELINE

Enter the
Timeline.

Move across places, dates, and events that shaped Palestine’s modern history.

1917 — Balfour

A declaration issued far from the land itself reshaped Palestine’s political future.

1936 — Revolt

A mass uprising against British rule and the transformations imposed on the country.

1947 — Partition

The UN proposed partition, turning the land into a map of competing futures.

1948 — Nakba

Mass displacement, destruction of communities, and the beginning of a refugee history that continues across generations.

1967 — Occupation

Occupation reshaped the land through control, restriction, and fragmentation.

1987 — First Intifada

Popular resistance transformed streets, neighborhoods, schools, and daily life.

1993 — Oslo

A peace process promised a state but left the central questions unresolved.

2000 — Second Intifada

Violence, closures, military operations, and separation deepened across the territory.

2007 — Gaza Blockade

Gaza entered a new era of isolation, restriction, and recurring war.

2023–Present — Unfinished Present

The story remains open, marked by mass displacement, destruction, and ongoing crisis.

  • 1917 Balfour
  • 1936 Revolt
  • 1947 Partition
  • 1948 Nakba
  • 1967 Occupation
  • 1987 First Intifada
  • 1993 Oslo
  • 2000 Second Intifada
  • 2007 Gaza Blockade
  • 2023–Present Unfinished Present
1917 Balfour milestone scene 1936 Revolt milestone scene 1947 Partition milestone scene 1948 Nakba milestone scene 1967 Occupation milestone scene 1987 First Intifada milestone scene 1993 Oslo milestone scene 2000 Second Intifada milestone scene 2007 Gaza Blockade milestone scene 2023–Present Unfinished Present milestone scene
TIMELINE

Enter the
Timeline.

Move across places, dates, and events that shaped Palestine’s modern history.

  • 1917 Balfour

    A declaration issued far from the land itself reshaped Palestine’s political future.

  • 1948 Nakba

    Mass displacement, destruction of communities, and the beginning of a refugee history that continues across generations.

  • 1967 Occupation

    Occupation reshaped the land through control, restriction, and fragmentation.

  • 2007 Gaza Blockade

    Gaza entered a new era of isolation, restriction, and recurring war.

FEATURED STORY

1948 /
The Nakba.

A threshold of rupture, dispossession, and the systematic dismantling of Palestinian society.

In 1948, the Nakba—or "catastrophe"—reshaped Palestine from a physical homeland into a landscape of exile. More than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their cities and villages, seeking refuge in neighboring lands or fragmented territories, leaving behind intact lives, family houses, and centuries of inherited culture.

This section presents the history of that displacement not as a political abstraction, but as a lived experience of loss. Through personal diaries, village records, house keys carried into exile, and photographs of abandoned streets, MUPA documents the physical destruction of communities and the beginning of an ongoing history of dispersal that continues to define generation after generation.

Historical Nakba Archive Record
STATEMENT

Palestine – a different perspective on its history

MUPA does not offer a definitive truth. It offers a different perspective on historical reality. And it aims to provoke reflection.