Our friend, an American businessman and supporter of Palestine, wrote this incredible endorsement of our museum! At our fundraiser on Monday, September 24th, he gave us a check for $5,000 from his business. We are honored to have him as a partner.

Why I Support the Museum of the Palestinian People

I am so proud to be associated with the Museum of the Palestinian People, and believe that the
Museum’s mission is a noble one. Rather than tell everyone why they should donate to the
Museum, I thought I might simply tell you why I am donating, and why I am so happy to be
associated with this wonderful project.

I first met Bshara, the museum founder ‘online’ about a year ago, when I found the website for the Museum and decided to send him a Facebook message offering my support. My initial impression of the
museum was that it was a wonderful project, but one that would be really difficult to pull off; I
need not remind people here how challenging it can be at times to be a supporter of Palestine
and Palestinian civil rights here in the US Capitol. Often at best, the cause is given lip service; at
worst, Palestine’s advocates and supporters are labeled any number of slanderous things, and
sometimes these tactics even scare would-be supporters from speaking up. As a result, the
story of Palestine, often, is told not by Palestinians, but by others who have never been to
Palestine, never met a Palestinian person, and never cared to read about the history of the
Nation. Of course, these others end up making the Palestinians themselves the other, losing
their identity and story in the process.

What caught me immediately about the project was the Museum’s unrelentingly positive tone;
it seeks to tell the story of Palestine and her people not through the ordinary methods of tales
of atrocity, hardship, and despair but instead through beautiful stories of passionate people,
brilliant artists, and hardworking citizens who want and desire and deserve the same exact
things we all do as humans, from Baltimore to Budapest, Ramallah to Riyadh.

To be certain, stories of hardship are essential parts of the story of Palestine, and particularly
with reference to the Nakba, But the Museum takes a different approach; it seeks to tell the story of Palestinians and Palestine in a positive light, allowing her people to show that even in the face of some of the most horrific treatment the world has ever known, the Palestinian people will not be silenced, forgotten, or crushed into the dust of history. Quite the opposite. Rather, they will write remarkable
literature, paint beautiful paintings, grow incredible olives, tell incredible stories; the list is
endless.

Right away, I felt the Museum was essential here in Washington. Washington is too often the
center of dialogue for the Middle East, yet nowhere here can one find a collection of Palestinian
history and art like that which will be housed at the Museum. This Museum will correct that.
The Museum of the Palestinian People is a museum for everyone, not just Palestinians, and
could not be timelier.

Despite initially thinking the project would be difficult to pull off, I am happy to report the
project is now almost complete. We are now so close to opening that you can almost feel the
energy from the crowds of people who will walk through the Museum every day. Bshara and
the rest of the team have pulled off the Hat Trick of the year here. At a time when Palestine
and her supporters are being actively pushed out of Washington and blacklisted in diplomatic
circles, the museum team is working to plant a permanent Palestinian flag in one of the best
neighborhoods in Washington; the irony is beautiful, and the work behind it inspiring!
My friends, please don’t let others tell her story; its time for Palestine to tell Palestine’s story.
Let’s all work to ensure people of all walks of life have a permanent place here in Washington
where they can learn about Palestine and her people. I ask you, not as an American, not as a
Muslim, not as a Washingtonian, but simply as a human who believes in the civil rights of other
humans to please, support this Museum as I do. So far, both my company and I have donated
funds and time, and we will continue to do so. I invite everyone to join me.

–W.R. Gregory, UltiSat Inc Partner
25 September 2018