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Developments in the Gaza Strip constitute the most prominent theme of the events and activities of the Eighth International Arab Book Fair in the Turkish city of Istanbul, which is witnessing intense participation from several Arab countries.
It is noteworthy that Arab publishing houses participated in this year’s exhibition for the first time, and more than once, due to the great interest and demand from visitors.
The exhibition is organized by the International Association of Arabic Book Publishers in Turkey, in cooperation with the Turkish Publishers Union and the Turkish Publishers Association, with the support of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
According to the organizers, more than 250 publishing houses representing 30 countries are participating in the exhibition, displaying more than 150,000 titles in the exhibition, which lasts for 9 days between 9-17 December.
The exhibition includes about 100 diverse cultural and artistic events, in addition to intellectual seminars, book signing parties, and poetry evenings, in addition to several events on Palestine and Gaza, in light of the continued Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which as of Tuesday evening has left 18,412 dead and 50,100 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian sources, and massive destruction of infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian sources. UN sources.
The Palestinian issue is present
The exhibition witnessed the spread of Palestinian flags, and centers for collecting aid and donations for Gaza, as developments in Palestine and the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip dominate the events, activities, and interest of visitors in the exhibition.
Publishing houses receive questions from visitors and interest in books related to Palestine and its map, as well as seminars and side events at the exhibition, which focus on understanding and awareness of the developments taking place in Palestine.
Funds to collect donations were spread in several places inside the exhibition under the supervision of the International Relief and Freedoms Organization in Turkey (IHH), which supervises relief work.
Good post, hope to repeat it
Mehdi Tawassi, executive director of the Al-Idrissi Intellectual Foundation for Research and Studies (a Moroccan publishing house), said, “This is the first time we participate in the exhibition in Turkey, and this participation is excellent in terms of organization and visitors.”
He added to Anatolia, “We were impressed with the participation, and we hope to repeat it in the coming years. The turnout is good, and what visitors are most interested in are books of hadith, culture, thought, and literature.”
Tawassi continued, “With regard to the Palestinian issue, we have the book How Do I Understand the Palestinian Issue, which was ranked first in sales in Morocco, and we have a map of Palestine, and in these times we are all in solidarity with our people in Palestine.”
For his part, Khaled Salama from the Golden Heritage House Asfar, which publishes precious books from Saudi Arabia, said, “We participated in the exhibition last year, and it was a good participation, so we decided to repeat it this year as well.”
Salama pointed out, “The rainy weather affects attendance a little, but thank God the situation is stable and good. We are a heritage house that publishes jurisprudence and we have a group on Hanafi jurisprudence that is required in Turkey.”
He pointed out that “there are some visitors who ask about Palestinian books, but we are a heritage publishing house, and we intend to participate next year, which will become clear at the end of the exhibition.”
Heavy turnout
Nour from New Thought House from the Emirates said, “The participation is beautiful and the atmosphere is wonderful. This is our third participation, and every year we notice the interest of readers, and they amaze us with their beautiful and intense interest in the house and in Arabic books, and they are eager every year to participate in the exhibition.”
Nour continued, “Readers usually ask about many things, most of which are about personality and how to strengthen oneself, as well as traditional and old books. Therefore, we have a book unit called O Boy by Abu Hamza Al-Ghazali, and in it we tried to revive the heritage.”
Nour added, “We found a great demand for it, and there are those who love heritage and understanding personality and heritage. We are starting from the idea of how to understand oneself. We have various books for children, novels, and books about personality and management.”
Ahmed Ragab, Director of External Marketing at Dar Al Maaref from Egypt, told Anadolu Agency, “This is the first time Dar Al Maaref participates in the Istanbul exhibition, and it is clear that it is a good experience. We are happy to be there, and we hope that it will be repeated in the future.”
Rajab added, “I was surprised that we had a large audience here, but because we did not come, we were surprised by the visitors asking about literature, especially about the works of Taha Hussein and the series of Arab relics that are more than a hundred years old in Dar Al-Maaref.”
Rajab concluded by saying, “Even for children's books, we saw that there was demand and questions about them, especially when visitors visited us and asked us about them. This experience was successful, and we hope to participate every year.”
The Palestine House of Culture pavilion also enjoys a distinguished presence, as those in charge of the pavilion reported that they felt great interest, especially from new generations, in learning the history of the Palestinian issue.
The pavilion includes pictures and maps of Palestine, as well as books and pictures of prominent Palestinian intellectuals, to answer the inquiries of visitors to the exhibition interested in the Palestinian issue, so that Palestine and Gaza will be the most prominent topic in the book fair.
The exhibition's pavilions also include pictures of the most prominent landmarks of Palestine, Al-Quds Al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
