To revive the dream of return .. Memory of Palestine on the walls of a camp in Lebanon

Mohammed Khaled - North Lebanon

In the alleys of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, young Rita Abu Taha roams from one neighborhood to another, accompanied by a group of young men in the camp, carrying drawing tools. She stands in front of the walls of some houses to begin writing the names of the villages from which Palestinians were displaced during the 1948 Nakba.

The naming of village names is not a random matter in Nahr al-Bared camp, since it has witnessed the gathering of the members of the same village in the same neighborhood since the establishment of the camp in 1948 in the aftermath of the Nakba and subsequent waves of displacement and displacement.

Writing the names of the displaced Palestinian villages is an initiative launched by the Palestinian Youth Organization to promote belonging to the new generation. "I was not only writing on the walls of houses, but I was already serving the Palestinian cause and sending a message that we are right," says Rita.

"I sensed that through the interaction of people with activity, I was happy then, all the people of the neighborhood gathered around me to see what to write, the young before the big, of whom benefited and provided additional information."

"The Palestinian refugees regard this camp as a place that does not give up their right to return to Palestine," said Ghazi Abdel-Al, one of the initiators of the initiative. "This initiative coincided with the Land Day and before the Nakba, and the organizers wanted to accomplish a new and unique activity. "He said.

"There are many activities and initiatives, but this time we wanted to complete a new activity. The idea was to adorn the entrances of the lanes by writing on the walls of the houses, and we do not want to cut the Palestinian issue with drawings only."

Educating emerging generations
Basic information and abbreviations about the villages written by the initiators, such as the name of the village, its location, its population, when its inhabitants were abandoned, and in what year it was occupied and what was known in ancient times, information that the authors say is simple and easy for the young to easily preserve and obtain information about their villages and their original towns.

"We have a real problem especially with children, some of them do not have any information about his village and his village is believed to be the camp," said Samer Lubani, a media officer for the Palestinian youth organization.

"This is very dangerous, especially with regard to the Palestinian issue and serves the occupation, especially with the absence of material on the geography and history of Palestine in the schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was a simple initiative that strengthens the presence of the Palestinian cause."

Strengthening the Palestinian national sense and the belonging of the emerging Palestinian generations to the recognition of their countries and villages of origin, is the aim of the initiative, in addition to strengthening their adherence to the right of return and raising awareness of the refugees on some projects aimed at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

"The aim of this initiative is to strengthen the sense of belonging of the young generation, to educate them about their Palestinian cause, to promote identity, and to refute the Israeli narrative that we are a people without land," says Samer Lubani.

This initiative has received great interest and attention from the people of the camp who supported this activity by allowing young people to write on the walls of their homes. Not only that, but there was great interaction from the people who expressed their admiration for this idea and also provided some information about their villages and corrected some The other.

"Palestinian refugees need such initiatives to raise national awareness of the Palestinian issue," says eight-year-old Hajj Hussein from the village of Damoun.

Khalil, a 12-year-old from the village, said: "I knew I was from the village of Damoun, but I did not know all this information. Now I keep it by heart. I order every day in front of this wall that reminds me of my village, which we will return to someday."

Members of the Palestinian youth organization are waiting for the reconstruction of the Nahr al-Bared camp, which was destroyed in 2007, so that they can complete their activities and write the rest of the names of the Palestinian villages at the entrance to the neighborhoods.