Ain al-Hilweh – On one wall of Ain al-Hilweh camp was written the slogan "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine", and in another corner children carrying plastic guns and wanting to liberate Palestine and return to it, but the recent clashes in the camp - the most violent and long-lasting - have led people to question and fear for the "right of return".
We are followed by people's gaze at every step we take inside the camp, and their mouthpiece says or asks: Is there a conspiracy aimed at displacing them and destroying their camp? Wherever you look at the axes of clashes, you see nothing but destruction, burned and destroyed apartments, and shops whose owners try to get out of them because they are no longer suitable for sale or purchase.
The clashes that erupted in Ain al-Hilweh camp between Fatah and the Muslim Youth Gathering have returned to the Palestinians fears of liquidating their cause and canceling the right of return stipulated in UN Resolution 194, considering that the camp is the capital of the Palestinian diaspora and represents a moral symbolism for this right and return to Palestine, they endure the bitterness of the Nakba and the suffering of refugees for more than 7 decades in the hope of achieving the dream of their grandparents and fathers, which turned into commandments that do not die.
To Palestine on foot
One of the women who wanted to break this deadly silence in the camp was um Ahmad Hourani, who said she was willing to travel on foot to Palestine, wishing to "die in her country."
"We are not afraid because we have experienced many wars and we have withstood and confronted," she said, adding, "I am afraid to lose my right to return to Palestine."
In the same context, Mohammed Majzoub, a resident of the camp, asserts that "there is a conspiracy to cancel the right of return, for the first time in the camp, clashes continue for two consecutive months and people are no longer assured of their fate inside the camp, the majority of the camp's residents were displaced from it for fear of their lives."
"The right of return is diminishing, and the recent battles aim to destroy the camp and not hand over wanted persons, and everyone contributes to this issue more than the field and its leaders," he said.
Hajj Mohammed Taha from the town of Saffuriyya in Ain al-Hilweh camp goes more than superficial analyses to point out that "the American deal of the century under former President Donald Trump came to clearly reveal the suspicious scheme aimed at canceling the right of return by dropping the status of 'refugee' on young people who were born outside Palestine, and limiting it to the elderly, most of whom were deported, asking: How can we not be afraid after that the right of return will be cancelled and resettlement imposed?"
Yahya Miari, a young man from the town of Akbara, confirms that the post-Nakba generation was born in Lebanon and did not see Palestine, but memorized it by heart from its parents and grandparents, but in its conscience it still insists on returning and endures the difficulties of life, and lives deprivation in order to achieve this goal, stressing that no Palestinian generation can waive this right or accept to negotiate it.
Our presence in Ain al-Hilweh camp coincided with the deployment of the joint security forces, which consist of all Palestinian factions, which aim to stabilize the ceasefire, stabilize the truce and reassure the camp's residents.
Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Ajouri, commander of these forces, said, "This is a positive first step, followed by the simultaneous evacuation of schools within 48 hours, provided that security and stability return to the camp and our people return to the camp."
Ajouri continued to Al Jazeera Net that "fears of renewed clashes because there are people who do not want this camp stability, but all national forces and Islamic currents insist on stabilization."
But in order to find out what the camp residents were talking about and the fear they felt and worried about the right of return, we had to reach the lines of contact between the combatants, and it was remarkable the great extent of destruction in these neighborhoods and the heavy weapons used in the clashes, which left 27 dead and more than 200 wounded.
In the Hittin neighborhood – which witnessed fierce battles in which rockets were used – Fadl Dahabreh, whose house and his son's house were destroyed and burned, says that "he has lived in the camp since 1994, we have not seen clashes of this magnitude and ferocity, it was a war in every sense of the word, my house and my son's house were completely destroyed and burned and the two houses turned into ruins."
"What we want is for calm and peace to return to our camp, to live in our homes safely and return to the way we were before, a friend loves his friend and a neighbor visits his neighbour," he said.