Inside Palestine’s Refugee Camps

Posted on by

In her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West Bank: Balata and Aida camps. 

With millions of displaced Palestinians around the world, hundreds of thousands are refugees in their own country—many have lived packed into these refugee camps after being ethnically cleansed from their villages just miles away.

 

Inside Palestine’s Refugee Camps

**

Aida camp is located between the municipalities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Jerusalem and is near two large Israeli settlements – Har Homa and Gilo – considered illegal by the international community.

“Gilo is less than two km away and they have 24-hour fresh water, gardens and schools for children. We live just next to this settlement and we suffer from lack of all of these. We’ll never accept this. My home village is 40 minutes distant and I can’t reach it. It is not easy to be a refugee in my country,” Alazzo complained.

14199134_1037761189677493_7023609121076104305_nAida has been a hot spot since the Second Intifada (also called as Al-Aqsa, a Palestinian uprising started in 2000) and refugees became highly exposed to violence as a result of military operations.

The increasing number of injuries in the camp are due to excessive force documented by the UN. In 2015, there were 84 incursions by Israeli security forces, 57 injuries (21 were minors), 44 arrests (including 13 minors), and one fatality with the death of a minor.

Walking through the alleys and narrow streets of Aida, it is common to hear stories about men and boys taken from their homes by Israeli security forces.

“We’re always afraid of our sons being taken by Israeli army. I never leave them alone. It is normal for the Israeli soldiers to take kids. It’s a scary life,” Sumayah Asad, a 40-year-old mother of six, told IPS.

It was a Friday morning, a sacred day for the Muslims, and she was handing out chocolates and sweets as gifts to whoever passed in front of her house. Asad said she was celebrating her 12-year-old son’s release after five days in detention.

“I’m happy now to see my son released from the Israeli occupation. Soldiers came to my house at three in the morning and caught my boy. They let him out after discovering he hadn’t done anything. Kids should be playing or be in the school, not in jail,” she said.

Although not everyone agrees that coexistence is possible among Jews and Palestinians, Munther Amira, 45, who was born in Aida and whose family came from the village Dier Aban (South Jerusalem), remains optimistic that peaceful change can be achieved.

“Yes, we can coexist. The idea of coexistence is based on human rights and should include our right of return. Here in Palestine, Christians and Muslims already live together. It’s difficult to develop a democracy under an occupation,” he told IPS.

By Fabíola Ortiz of Inter Press Service

**

Watch a crucial introduction to The Empire Files coverage from Palestine, How Palestine Became Colonized.

Listen to Abby’s firsthand account of life under occupation in the West Bank, settler terror & being banned from Gaza during her trip to Palestine on Media Roots Radio.

**

FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles & @AbbyMartin

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles

Leave a Reply

RELATED NEWS

  • Media Roots Radio: War on BDS, Where Every 2020 Candidate Stands on Palestine
  • Media Roots Radio: Schrödinger’s Super Patriot – The 2001 Anthrax Mystery Part 1
  • Abby Martin on the Gary Null Show
  • Loud & Clear: US Sanctions Suppress Journalist Pushing Back on ‘Corporate Tyranny’
  • ABBY'S VIEWS

  • Abby Martin Confronts Nancy Pelosi Over Pentagon Spending at COP26
  • Empire Files LIVE – Election Special with Abby Martin
  • Abby Martin: Abolish the Supreme Court!
  • Tech Censorship Helps Trump Campaign
  • Abby Martin Election Update: $10B Reality Show
  • GOP Sabotages Mail, Biden vs Trump Foreign Policy
  • Abby Martin Election Update: Trump Gets COVID
  • Abby Martin: Telling Our Own Stories, Cultivating Our Own Narratives
  • United States Of Distraction: Fighting The Fake News Invasion (2020)
  • Empire Files: Afghanistan War Exposed––An Imperial Conspiracy
  • Empire Files: The Forever War – From The Killing Fields
  • Media Roots Radio: Cartoon Fascism, The Lesser of Two Republican War Criminals
  • Media Roots Radio: Abby Sues Georgia in Historic Free Speech Lawsuit
  • Abby Martin Sues Georgia Over Israel Loyalty Oath Law [Full Press Conference & Interviews]
  • Abby Martin on Biden: The Sexist the Media Ignores