From 1982 onwards, Palestinian photographic and film archives have been repeatedly targeted and emptied by the Israeli government, resulting in a significant loss of Palestinian visual culture. The Israeli government continues to hold and censor this material by preventing scholars, Palestinian scholars especially, from accessing the images; citing 'safety and security concerns'. Established research asserts this was done as an act of 'memoricide', commonly defined as the colonial overwriting of history. In this case it would be erasing Palestinian presence to fortify Israeli claims of indigeneity. This paper poses an alternative interpretation: that this censorship is an attempt to weaken or prevent future Palestinian resistance, as well as global Anti-Zionist resistance movements. Ergo, that memory and the archives (both those of the state and the mundane) have acted, and continue to act, as a cornerstone of Arab resistance against the influences of racism, colonialism, imperialism, and Zionism. Drawing on both archival and contemporary Palestinian photography, this research aims to track the qualities of resistance embedded within the images which have persisted. Complementing this will be a case study of South African struggle documentary photography, and Indigenous archival reclamations to observe the decolonial methodologies within photographic practices; through examination and comparison to Palestinian resistance photography, similarities and differences in tactics of resistance will be identified, allowing for specific location of these images' significance within shared memory. Despite all this, it may appear insignificant whether the archives were looted to support a narrative or to prevent resistance. Regardless of the reason, they were, and are, taken. This research asserts that it allows for more focused resistance and a clearer understanding of what may be enfeebling the current resistance.

Keywords: Palestine, Israel, Archive, Photography, Film