Ahmed Atef Safi | Student, Department of Radio, TV & Cinema.
Istanbul University
In the summer of 1948, a soldier came to the village of Beit Nabala and told the residents that the village would be a battleground and they had to head to the east. He assured them that they would return within a few days. The villagers feared for their children and themselves. They have already seen the horror and panic on the faces of those who were displaced before them. Thinking that the situation will not last for more than a few days, they headed east. But some stayed to protect the village. 72 years have passed, people who stayed were not found or traced ever.
This is how the story of every Palestinian refugee looks like. All that they hold now is their history, hope, and the memory of all the loved ones they lost in this never-ending struggle. They got scattered all over the world and the image of their home is still in their heads. As time passes, this image gets fader and fader and thus the Palestinian identity is constantly at risk.
For the young Palestinian refugees today, it is a big challenge to preserve the Palestinian culture and identity while the uprising Israeli efforts to shadow the Palestinian culture and marketing it as "Israeli Culture" is being noticed. When it comes to working with the Palestinian culture and making proper marketing strategy with it, the new generation does not get a wider motivation or clue because they have mostly heard about their home towns from stories only!. But creative minds always find a way.
A group of young Palestinians started a website called "Zochrot" which is a huge archive for every detail about all Palestinian villages and towns in 3 different languages — Arabic, English, and Hebrew — an act which will immortalize the rights of land for the Palestinian people. In the cultural aspect, fashion designers have incorporated traditional Palestinian dress patterns into modern clothing and singers remade traditional songs with modern touches to increase their acceptance among the modern generation, thus paving a way to protect the identity.
Palestinian refugees have been struggling for years now. With time, their lifestyle and culture have been influenced by the host community. The Palestinians should constantly be reminded themselves of their age-old historical and cultural legacy keeping in mind the fact that even if they cannot return home, the generations to come will.
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