The memory of the Palestinian refugee is full of old and renewed scenes of the suffering caused by the Israeli occupation which is considered the last ongoing and the longest occupation in the past and current century. The events that happened in 1948 are all in recent memory.
On World Refugee Day which falls on June 20 there is a renewed talk of supporting refugees around the world by protecting them and listing them in health care education and sports systems.
Palestinians in their cities camps and towns inside and outside Occupied Palestine talk every year about their ongoing tragedy sometimes in the form of art exhibitions public meetings or by heritage or folklore shows.
The Palestinian Catastrophe (Nakba) caused the displacement of nearly 800000 Palestinians from their cities and towns in Palestine most of them moved to live in the diaspora. Their number now exceeds 7 million refugees.
The Himam Youth Center chose to memorialize the occasion in a way that recalls memories of the past and hope for return after 73 years of being refugees. It held a heritage exhibition describing part of the Palestinian life before the Nakba.
Muhammad Matar a member of the Himam Youth Center says that the exhibition was held on the occasion of World Refugee Day which means a lot for the Palestinian refugees around the world.
Matar told the PIC “We are holding a day for Palestinian heritage as we have collected everything related to the past and tools of daily life during the history of Palestine. We have clothes drinking and cooking utensils and old furniture.”
Similar to other volunteer initiatives established by the Himam Center more than 10 young men and women collaborated in collecting heritage materials Palestinian clothes and old household items and put them on display.
Meanwhile three young men installed enlarged images of Palestinians who lived through the Nakba and others from daily life dating back more than 100 years.
Sarah Rayyan a volunteer at the Himam Youth Center says that the initiative on World Refugee Day attempts to connect the Palestinian refugee to his rights and to remind the world of his suffering under the Israeli occupation.
She told the PIC “We have a variety of materials all of which are old expressing the past life of the Palestinians who lived the Nakba and the journey of asylum that has not ended yet. Our message is to adhere to our rights and heritage.”
Rayyan’s task was to prepare the traditional clothes and prepare the speech that she will deliver to the guests over a period of several days.
Several youths wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh were standing in the corners of the place while the girls wore the Palestinian traditional dress embroidered in bright colors.
Yasmine Mohamed Saeed one of the initiative’s coordinators said that the process of collecting the exhibition materials took a whole week.
She explained in a statement to the PIC that they received belongings from volunteers and donors who heard about the initiative. “We have the Palestinian Arab House corner the photos corner and the traditional clothing corner” Saeed added.
