Nakba 59th anniversary- a day to rembember before it is due

15th anniversary of Al-Asria project – Jabalia refugee camp

59 years of Nakba

On the 15th anniversary of the founding of Al-Asria center in Jabalia
refugee camp, the older kids – some of whom were age 6 when they joined
the project and are now university students – founded a cultural forum
named ir shababeek, literally "windows", which means a lot in a place like
the Gaza strip. When all of us suffer the daily hardships of life in a big
prison, we need to find our own different windows, to help us ventilate to
survive and continue trying to improve our lives with the few resources we
have, and the great obstacles we face.

The center was founded to give the children of Jabalia a place of their
own, away from the refugee camp alleys and violence of the occupation. It
was also created to give chances for boys and girls to be together, and to
assist the kids to have important roles inside their communities, and let
them help each other with love and care. With internet services and
meeting solidarity groups from abroad, they can realize that there is
another side to the world, with people who love and care and fight against
injustice and for peace.

Shababeek invited me as a guest speaker, the title of the lecture is early
marriage and its health, psychological and economical consequences for the
family and community and development. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian
children, like those in Jabalia, were born inside refugee camps along with
their parents, grandparents and even great grandparents.

Here life is so cruel, harsh and inhuman. You wake up every day with the
dream of going home (return), and home is only a few kilometers away. The
whole world is not silent but impotent when dealing with the Palestinian
refugees case, and the situation gets more complicated day after day. Most
of the world feels that its responsibility is confined to charitable acts
to help relieve the refugees.

But this is not the story, you can learn more about the real story from
the children themselves, who were not born in Palestine and still dream of
Palestine. It is the 59th anniversary of the Nakba.

I try hard with others to help and make life easier, and this cultural
center I founded, like many others are a haven for the kids, but this is
not enough. The children know their rights and know a lot about the right
of return. They have learned many local stories as an important part of
their heritage and history. They listened to their grandparents' stories
of the cruel ethnic cleansing of Palestine 1948, they recite humanitarian
stories that are not mentioned in the traditional history books.

Those kids like all Palestinian people are willing to live in peace,
willing to share the land of Palestine in one democratic state based on
respect for human rights, based on justice. Any peace which is not based
on justice is a vulnerable peace. The right of return is the pacemaker of
this justice.

On the 59th anniversary of the Nakba and the foundation of Israel, my
message is a message of peace and love, that only by adopting a just
solution can the conflict be resolved.

In solidarity, trust ,love , truth , hustice and peace

Mona ElFarra