About the archive
Everything Palestinian, kept with its sources.
كل ما هو فلسطيني، محفوظًا بمصادره
QADIYA · قضية means to hold everything Palestinian, from the great turning points to the smallest event: its places, people, culture and evidence, each connected to the others and to its sources, and told on a map through time for anyone who wants to know it: families, students, teachers and researchers. It is an independent, noncommercial project, built for the cause. This is its first working version, an early pilot, and so far the work of one person.
01
Why this archive
The record of Palestine is scattered across the world: in libraries and archives abroad, on news sites, in family albums, and on social platforms owned by companies that can take it down at any time. A photograph, a testimony or the name of a village can disappear with one decision made somewhere else.
We gather it in one place, with its sources, and keep our own copy of what we are allowed to keep, so it stays when the original goes. And we tell it, so that anyone who comes can see it, learn from it and understand it.
02
Alongside the archives that came first
Palestinians and their institutions have kept this record for decades, in archives, encyclopedias, oral histories and maps. Much of what is here rests on that work: the Institute for Palestine Studies’ interactive encyclopedia, PalQuest, is among the sources we cite most.
QADIYA does not replace any of it or claim its collections. It connects what they hold to places, people and time, names each source and links back to it, so that readers find their way to the original. We keep a copy only of what we are allowed to keep.
03
What it will hold
Everything Palestinian, each piece connected to the others:
- events, from the great turning points to the daily record;
- places: every city, town, village and camp by its Palestinian name, the villages emptied in 1948 among them;
- people: those who made and lived its history;
- culture: food, music, crafts, dress, literature and everyday life;
- evidence: documents, photographs, recordings and films, each with its source.
04
Roadmap: what we are building
The map you see is the first piece. This is where it goes, step by step; each step comes when the one before it is sound.
Live
The map through time
Events, places, heritage and people on one map and one timeline, each with its sources, photographs and Arabic.
Live
Landmarks across history, in 3D
Places as they stood across the years, drawn from photographs, maps and plans. The first is on the map; more will follow, each from real references.
Live
On This Day
What happened on today’s date across Palestine’s history, the most important first, from the timeline’s start: only dates known to the exact day, and the days remembered kept apart.
Next
A first reviewed collection
One collection checked by historians and Arabic editors, to set how every record is reviewed before it is trusted.
Next
Films, books, music and art
The works, connected to the people, places and moments they tell.
Later
A community platform
Anyone can add what they know or hold: an event, a photograph, a document. Historians and the community review it before it is published, and every contributor is credited.
Later
Memories
Families’ stories and testimonies of their places and lives, the villages emptied in 1948 among them, kept in the teller’s own words and shared as they choose.
Later
An AI assistant
Ask the archive in Arabic or English and get an answer from its records, always with the sources it rests on.
Later
An open foundation
An open interface, so schools, researchers and other projects can build on the archive.
05
What is here now
Counted from what is published, as this page is read. Last change published: 2026-10-17.
- events
- 100
- places
- 1,158
- photographs
- 35
- people
- 112
- traditions
- 84
- sources cited
- 148
from 1898 to 2024; 97 of them in Arabic too
1,126 with a position on the map
and 1 video, each with its licence and credit
each with their sources, and their part in events
food, music, crafts and dress, where each is practised
each passage cited where it is in its source
By era
An event across two eras counts in both.
By weight
- Turning points14
- Defining moments69
- Notable events16
- Daily record1
And 4 places seen in 3D, 3 of whose versions are still stand-ins until they are made from their references.
What is missing, honestly
- Few events yet in: Before British rule.
- People and culture have barely begun: 112 people and 84 traditions so far.
- The places’ positions come from open data (Wikidata) and are marked approximate until they are reviewed.
- The events have not yet been reviewed by historians (below), and their Arabic is the agent’s translation.
06
How we work
An event is not the articles about it
An event is something that happened, once. A source is a document, article, photograph or testimony about it. Many sources can tell one event; that makes them several accounts, not several events, and not proof that they agree. A statement published on a United Nations site still belongs to whoever made it.
Every statement rests on a source
Each chapter of an event cites the passage it rests on, where that passage is in its source, and which version of the source we read. We start from primary sources, such as United Nations resolutions and reports, the International Court of Justice and OCHA’s figures, and from specialist references such as the Institute for Palestine Studies’ encyclopedia. Numbers are given with who gave them.
Dates say what we know
An exact day, a month, a year and a stretch of time stay distinct: an event known only to its year is never given a day. A day of remembrance is recorded apart from the event: Nakba Day falls on 15 May, which does not make the Nakba a single day.
Places keep their names
Places are named by their original Palestinian names, in Arabic and in English. Each is a record of its own, within its district, with the events that happened there.
What shows first
Every event has an editorial weight from 0 to 100, with a written reason, which places it in one of four levels: turning points, defining moments, notable events and the daily record. The map shows the twelve weightiest events for the time and place chosen; the others come up as you zoom in. Weight is a decision about what to show first. It is not a measure of any life or of anyone’s suffering. The map
Pictures, only with permission
We add a photograph or a film only when its licence is clear: in the public domain, or under an open licence shown with its credit. Each is kept on our servers with its credit, its licence, a link to the original, and a fingerprint (SHA-256) that shows if it ever changes. We never make up a portrait, a document or a scene and present it as real.
Maps and 3D, honestly
The map’s layers, such as the settlements, the wall and Gaza’s closed areas, are drawn from dated sources, and only from the date their data describes. The landmarks in 3D are honest visualisations, not reconstructions: the layout, the kind of building and roughly how much of it are sourced, the details are representative, and each version says how close to the place it can be.
Nothing is silently overwritten
A correction is a new version of a record; the earlier one is kept in its history. A record that is withdrawn keeps its history too. Earlier versions are for the archive’s editors, not shown to the public: a withdrawn record, or a detail removed for someone’s safety, leaves the public site. The data we gather is kept as one collection, in order, so the archive can always be rebuilt from it. Today the archive is kept with one hosting provider, with restore points and exported copies; copies kept independently, elsewhere, are part of the work ahead.
Open to other archives
What we publish can be read by other archives and gazetteers in their own standard forms: the events with their dates in EDTF, the international form for dates known to a year or a month, approximately or uncertainly; and the places in the Linked Places Format, each with its names, its position and how precise it is, and its links to the same place elsewhere (Wikidata first), with what each link rests on. Only what is published is in it. The export
07
The part AI plays
An AI agent works on the archive. It researches events from the sources above, drafts their text with its citations, and translates it into Arabic. What it makes is marked as its work and enters review: nothing it proposes publishes itself. It must never invent a source, a date, a quotation or an image; where a source cannot be read, the event waits.
The events, people, places and traditions here were researched by the agent and published by the archive’s founder for this pilot. They have not yet been reviewed by historians; that is the next step. Until then, read them as a starting point to check against their sources, not as a verified reference. Arabic translated by the agent says so on its page, and quotations are taken from their Arabic originals where they exist.
08
Who we need
History needs historians. Today this archive is one person’s effort. We want to work with historians, archivists and researchers who know how history is recorded: to set how each kind of record is gathered, sourced and reviewed, and to review what is already here.
And we hope it becomes a free, shared effort: translators, photographers, families with their albums and their stories, 3D artists and developers.
The community will fill it in
Much of what is missing, the daily record above all, will come from people themselves. Later we will build a way for anyone to add what they know or hold (an event, a photograph, a testimony, a family’s story) and a way for the community to verify it.
What is added will pass strict guidelines and verification steps, set with our historians and partners: what it must show and cite, who checks it and how, and what happens when accounts disagree, which stays visible rather than hidden. Nothing is published until it has passed them. And before a collection is accepted, we agree with whoever holds it how it is credited, what may be shown, and what is only kept.
09
Get involved
QADIYA is an independent, noncommercial community project. It is not a company or a registered charity, and it has nothing to sell: it is built for the cause, and it grows with the people who join it. What you see is an early pilot, gathered with AI help from cited sources and not yet checked by historians.
- Historians and researchersStart with five records in your field: check them against their sources, and help set how each kind of record is reviewed.
- Archivists, families and photographersHelp us shape one collection: what it holds and what you know of it, how it is credited, what may be shown and what is only kept.
- Translators and Arabic editorsReview a batch of records in Arabic: the names, the historical terms, and how it reads.
- Designers, 3D artists and developersBuild the map, the landmarks drawn from research, and the tools behind them.
- Organisations and partnersArchives, universities, cultural and community organisations: let readers reach your collections through ours, under your name, or support a defined piece of work, such as the first reviewed collection.
10
If something is wrong
Tell us: the page, the statement, and a source that shows what is right (and a way to reach you, if you would like a reply). The founder reads every report. A correction is published as a new version, and the old one stays in the record’s history. Every correction we have made
Report a correctionIt goes to the address above.