Tuesday, April 4, 2017
On Sunday, we took a tour of Balata Camp. I had asked Jafar and Saad if they could take Elizabeth and me. They also invited three Danish volunteers. We went to the camp and then a friend of Saad's who lives in the camp met us to show us around. The camps were established right after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Many people were driven from their homes. They were camping out in many different places and the United Nations told them they couldn't assist them with people all over the place, so they asked everyone to move to one of their camps. All the camps are on land that the UN leased for 99 years - either from a government or from a private owner. Many refugees in the camps still have the keys to their houses in Israel. I'm sure the Israelis who are now living in the homes changed the locks long ago, but it's a symbol for them. At the entrance to Balata, there is a big key. At the top it says 1948 and "We will return" in Arabic.
There are only two streets in the camp - the one with the market and the one with the UN school. Here's the wall of the school:
Here's the street with the market. On this day, it had been raining all day, so there were few people outside. I saw more people and lots of vegetables for sale on another visit.
Here's an alley. Most people's doors to their homes open onto an alley like this. You can see our friend Saad (his back is to us), the guy who gave us the tour, and Jafar.
Here's a cemetery. (It looks the same as the cemetery across the street from my house.)
The guy who gave us the tour invited us into his place for coffee. It was beautiful!!! I haven't been in any other refugee homes, but I know that most are not like this.
On Sunday, we took a tour of Balata Camp. I had asked Jafar and Saad if they could take Elizabeth and me. They also invited three Danish volunteers. We went to the camp and then a friend of Saad's who lives in the camp met us to show us around. The camps were established right after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Many people were driven from their homes. They were camping out in many different places and the United Nations told them they couldn't assist them with people all over the place, so they asked everyone to move to one of their camps. All the camps are on land that the UN leased for 99 years - either from a government or from a private owner. Many refugees in the camps still have the keys to their houses in Israel. I'm sure the Israelis who are now living in the homes changed the locks long ago, but it's a symbol for them. At the entrance to Balata, there is a big key. At the top it says 1948 and "We will return" in Arabic.
Here's the street with the market. On this day, it had been raining all day, so there were few people outside. I saw more people and lots of vegetables for sale on another visit.
Here's a cemetery. (It looks the same as the cemetery across the street from my house.)
The guy who gave us the tour invited us into his place for coffee. It was beautiful!!! I haven't been in any other refugee homes, but I know that most are not like this.
I feel that I should say that I have friends in Nablus who are refugees. If they grew up in the camp, they consider themselves refugees. They have never been to the city their family is from. You would never know that they are refugees unless they tell you. (Sometimes I ask).
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