“The desire [is that] we want to go back… and we are happy to live under any jurisdiction, Israeli, Palestinian, but the “just solution” for us is that we go back.”
A Palestinian Refugee and activist from Azza Camp in Bethlehem, talks about the history of internally displaced refugees, their aspirations, current activism and issues in the community. The talk was put on by the Alternative Information Center, a joint Palestinian and Israeli anti-Zionist organization based in Beit Sehour. The speaker requested to remain anonymous.
A few quotes from the talk:
“If you want to speak about ‘just resolution’ then you have to see and interact with the people on the ground. The grass root people are the ones who will decide in the end. Not the intellectual, not the elite, not the people who live in luxury in Palestine, but the people who live on the ground. The people who have been used for the past 65 years. The people who [have been marketed by other people], and they are not gaining anything, because millions of dollars were taken on behalf of the Palestinian refugees, and if you go visit any Palestinian refugee, it is almost the same situation.”
“We use nonviolent direct action… and our approach is non-violence as a way of life, so it is not just to say ‘down with the Israeli occupation’ but also we have campaigns to develop the situation within the Palestinian Authority. There is a main factor of violence [used by] the Israeli government. We call it 'structural violence.' This structural violence is very important. Why? because it is invisible. On my way to Bethlehem I will pass the checkpoint… if the soldiers are in a good mood... they will let me stay maybe just 45 seconds. But imagine there are 1000 Palestinians… each one has to wait 50 seconds. The last one will wait two hours. This thing creates stress… You will go to tired to your work, have a stressful day, go back to the checkpoint and have more stress then go to your house. Then you have the domestic violence… For example [the husband] will violate the wife, the wife will violate the children, the big brother will violate the smaller brother, so the last one will find no one and he will break a remote control or something. So this kind of structural violence is important for Palestinians to understand so that they can tackle it. Because if you notice, those checkpoints [usually] do nothing. It’s not out of security, they will not [even] check you. But their presence will give you the feeling, saying the Israeli occupation is here… and you are not even a human being... So we try to raise awareness to understand violence, and to understand the mentality of Israel because they do not do anything spontaneous, everything [is] deliberated. They want us to feel the Israeli occupation [in] every single aspect of our life.”
"If you loose hope, then you are dead and I will tell you one of the theories for the Israeli occupation. They try to equalize life and death in front of the Palestinian eyes. Once life and death [are] equal, then you don’t care if you live anymore… and if you perceive life and death in equal level, this will push people to die and to live the same. So the only way to get out of this trap is to be optimistic. Or, at least, to keep planting hope. To keep reviving yourself… Sometimes people ask, ‘what motivates you as a Palestinian to continue living in this hard situation’? Yes, it is true, sometimes, if I think logically, nothing would recharge my battery to be optimistic but the only thing is just the inner strength that you should have, otherwise you will be dead in your place. So the only option is to be full of hope. And the only option is to embrace your frustration and despair and have it, live with it. Next day try to change it. And be happy. And live your life. It is not enough to survive… No, you have to live. And since we are [not going anywhere] we need to find something to keep us here, to keep us alive. What will keep us alive? Life itself."
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