In 1948, the state of Israel was established, and since then, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a prominent, volatile, and divisive issue in world affairs. The plight of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were and continue to be displaced, however, is a story some say often gets forgotten.
Falling on the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Israeli state, known by Palestinians as the Nakba, meaning 'catastrophe' in Arabic, the Palestinian Awareness Series is sponsoring a series of lectures and events discussing the lives of Palestinian refugees and addressing the current state of world affairs and its impact on individuals. The series is sponsored by the Arab Students Association, the Muslim Students Association, the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Students Association, the Global Justice Project, and the sociology and fine arts departments.
According to the official estimate by the United Nations, 711,000 Palestinians were displaced outside of Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Now, these refugees total more than 4.4 million, according to 2007 estimates by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. These refugees live primarily in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic, 36 percent of the Palestinian population was living in poverty in 2006, and 22 percent was unable to meet basic needs of food, clothing, and housing.
Though the lights of Israel can be seen at night from some of these refugee camps, Dunya Alwan, co-founder of the organization "Birthright Unplugged," said they might as well be a world away.
Alwan works to raise awareness about the conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for Palestinian refugees by bringing people of Jewish descent to refugee camps. "The idea is to unplug the notion, the wrong notion, of a birthright that people are entitled to," Alwan said. "They [Israeli government] want to have Jewish people feel that it's their birthright. We want to have an opposite presence."
Individuals talk with both Palestinians and Israelis, visit the refugee camps, and try to share some of the Palestinians' experiences, going through the Israeli checkpoints on Palestinian buses and staying with Palestinian families for a night.
"We try to walk in the shoes of Palestinians as much as we can," Alwan said.
Alwan said that water shortages, limitations on movement, and the increasing number of Israeli settlements among the Palestinian camps compound difficulties for Palestinians.
Israelis, for the most part, are generally not as aware of these issues, said Eitan Bronstein from Zochrot, an Israeli advocacy and educational organization seeking to raise awareness among Jewish Israelis about the displacement of the Palestinians. Bronstein said that when Israelis are taught about the history of the state, the issue of the refugees is largely ignored.
"The foundation of the state is discussed only from an Israeli point of view," Bronstein said. "When the kids are studying at school, they get a vague reference to the refugees, that's it."
Bronstein organizes tours of Palestinian sites that were destroyed, as well as demonstrations to illustrate the extent of Palestinian history in the area. "We try to raise awareness of these issues, especially among Jews in Israel," Bronstein said.
For Muhammad Jaradat from Badil, a Palestinian rights organization, the history of the region has not been forgotten. "Palestine was a lively and lovely well-organized society. Palestine was not a desert; it was already blooming, and people were living there," Jaradat said. "Then in 1948, they were uprooted and transformed from prosperous people to being a burden on the human community."
Jaradat said that displaced Palestinians should be allowed to return to Israel according to international law.
Jaradat said that he believed that the issue would eventually be resolved and that ultimately, the solution would be one democratic state governing both Palestinians and Israelis, although he said he did not believe that this would likely be achieved in the near future.
"We are not in a hurry, but we are also not waiting or crying. Not now, not tomorrow, but maybe after tomorrow these things will happen. It is sad, I may not see it in my life, but I am sure that the coming generations will enjoy these rights," Jaradat said.
While the Palestinian-Israeli issue has not been easily navigable in the past, and resolving the seemingly inherent conflict created by two different groups who claim the rights to the same land seems impossible, there are those between both Palestinians and Israelis who believe that the key to achieving a solution between the two groups lies in brokering understanding and increasing awareness among both sides. Alexandra Saieh, organizer of the Palestinian Awareness series and A&S '09, said she hoped to gives students a new perspective and share a different story that is not often told at universities in the United States. Saieh spent last summer in Ramallah in the West Bank, and said that although she had had certain expectations, she was surprised by the situation there and how little it is reflected in the media. She organized the series of events to increase discussion and awareness of the issue.
"I was sort of frustrated by how little the subject was talked about in American universities versus European universities," Saieh said. "I feel like the bias is sort of towards Israel because we are an American university, so I wanted to just bring another side that is not depicted as much by the U.S. media."
The series began on March 28 and will continue through April 16, including a lecture by Dr. Ghada Karmi, author of "Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine," today at 4:30 p.m. in Carney 204.
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