YouTube, murals, music and theater .. Weapons of the Diaspora camps

Hamam Al-Assas - Amman

To the north-west of Amman, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world, Ahmed Hamdan is active through his "patch" program between the alleys and markets of Baqa'a camp, sometimes questioning the residents of a Palestinian cause and documenting the memories of Palestine before its occupation in 1948.

Hamdan, 24, told Al-Jazeera Net that the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora are in dire need of using all available means to express their commitment to their right to return to Palestine, while the talk of what is known as the deal of the century escalates.

The idea of ​​the "patch" program was created to break the stereotype of the al-Baqa'a media camp, which often shows the image of poverty, unemployment and lack of services.

Like this picture, Hamdan believes that the camp has another bright face, which does not appear in the media, which led to the production of its own program via the YouTube platform to be a platform to express the voice of the camp and its children.

Justifies the university student to resort to the platforms of communication in the production of episodes of his program "patch" given the margin of freedoms that exist in this vast electronic space that is not provided by most media institutions.

In dealing with the stereotypical scenes of refugee camps in the international media, Hamdan Ahmed Kittakt and Khalil Ghaith have already expressed the voice of the camp, but in a special way.

Resistance to art
"The painting is stronger than lead sometimes" With these words Palestinian artist Khalil Ghaith expresses the impact of art in resisting the occupation. In 2002, he drew a painting that refers to Israeli products of foods and drinks in the form of food for the remains of Palestinian children.

Ghaith wanted to urge the world to boycott these products, whose proceeds go to the Israeli war machine. His painting was printed on thousands of publications in the campaign to boycott the occupation products at the time, and received a global media response, which led to a decline in the sales of American and Israeli products.

Ghaith's story dates back to 1968, when he was abandoned from the Jericho refugee camp in Palestine to Baqa'a refugee camp following the Israeli aggression on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At the time, Ghaith ridiculed his life since childhood in portraying the life of asylum by drawing the faces of the refugees in detail, sharpness and cruelty in what is known as the "portraiture", as it was evoked by scenes of asylum and refugees' nightmares filled with troubles and the hope of repatriation.

Wallpapers
Ghaith, who gained the title of "refugee artist" through the media, used to draw on the walls of schools and the walls of the camp to document the suffering and perpetuation of Palestinian refugees.

He adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the camp is a destination for many foreign activists and supporters of the Palestinian cause. Therefore, the walls are one of the means that raise their attention and reach messages that reflect the steadfastness of the Palestinian through art.

The artist's studio in Baqa'a camp is a kiss for Palestinian activists, who usually come to discuss the Palestinian issue. He has known the children of the camps since his youth because of the presence of his paintings most of the Palestinian national events.

Statue of Return
Ghaith's artistic activity was not limited to drawing paintings. He worked on making a sculptured statue of a Palestinian old man. He began with his coarse sections mixed with the pain of separation and the hope of returning to put him on the roundabout of Palestine inside the camp.

He concludes his speech by expressing the aim of this statue by saying: "The first is to print with Israel, but we as refugees have rights, and we will always demand our right to return."

Gharba band
For his part, Alaa Al-Azza (30 years) expresses his feeling when playing oud instrument in the national activities and weddings of Palestinians inside the camps. "When I play the oud with a sense of my life, I have a Kalashnik (rifle) and a murderer," he says in a local dialect.

Al-Azza, a teacher in UNRWA schools, knows the national singing team "Gharba" as a Palestinian project that resists the entity of occupation with words and melodies.

Says that the "national song" is part of the Palestinian heritage extending before the occupation, in addition to its importance in the history of important stages of the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Al-Azhar explains to Al-Jazeera Net the popularity of this type of national and heritage arts among young people - despite the means of singing and globalization - that adhesion to the children of the camps with the national song, as it carries among its tunes and words the status of Palestinian refugees.

The Story of Incorporation
In his local dialect, Ahmed Kettak, 45, explains why the band is named by this name. He adds that the story of the establishment dates back to 2004, the day he was a volunteer in a summer camp for Palestinian orphans.

He wanted to use a national band, but he could not because of the high cost of the order. At the time, Katakt and his friends felt the need to establish a national singing team to fill the need for the largest refugee camps for this "committed" art.

Difficult beginnings
The team faced many difficulties because of the modest possibilities available as an individual project. It remained a guest of many sports clubs and orphanages for training purposes because of the inability of the band to secure a seat for several years until it was able, with personal effort, to provide a modest room for training The band and its launch.

Kittk, who works as a quality controller at an industrial company, adds that all the obstacles that the band has been exposed to have only been reinforced by his and his colleagues' insistence on completing the band's mission. "The national song is an immortal message that we must give to our children, until we return to Palestine."

Right of Return
The history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over the decades has proved the failure of any plans or programs that would pressure Palestinian refugees to give up their right to return to their homes.

In late 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 194, paragraph 11 of which states that the General Assembly "decides that refugees who wish to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be allowed to return as soon as possible."

Israel's denial of the return of Palestinian refugees from the date of this resolution in 1948 - and any practices or deals that would disrupt this decision to this day - is a continuing violation of international law. No one has the right to report on behalf of Palestinian refugees.