UPDATE:Campaign for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights

UPDATE:Campaign for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights

Community and International Mobilization
Nakba Day 2002:

Nakba memorials of the Palestinian community in Israel start traditionally on the day Israel celebrates its independence day according to the Hebrew calendar. On 17 April 2002, Palestinians inside Israel organized collective visits to several depopulated Palestinian villages, among them Suhmata (Upper Galilee), Miska (Southern Triangle), and Umm al-Zeinat (in the Carmel Mountain). Around 7,000 people participated in the fifth Al-Awda (Return) March from the Acre-Safad intersection to the depopulated village of al-Birwa (near Acre). Participants raised the names of the destroyed Palestinian villages and banners demanding the right of return for internally displaced Palestinians and refugees in exile. Other slogans called for the end of Israel's military occupation and Sharon's war crimes committed against Palestinian towns and refugee camps.

 Participants included internally displaced Palestinians and their supporters, Palestinian NGOs, community organizations and public representatives. Most noteworthy was the first-time participation of Jewish-Israeli groups, such as Zokhrot, Sawt Badeel, Re'out, Bat Shalom and others. The participants marked the sites of the four cemeteries of al-Birwa village with signs in English, Arabic and Hebrew. Other Nakba activities organized inside Israel included guided tours through the Palestinian neighborhoods of Haifa to educate participants about the forced eviction of the city's Palestinian residents (organized by the Haifa Popular Committee Against the Occupation), public debates and discussions on issues related to the Palestinian Nakba and the right of return, and the launching of a special Project for Human Rights Education by the Arab Association for Human Rights (Nazareth) in schools and educational institutions.

The program includes lectures about the right of return as a human right, video screenings and guided tours for students and teachers. In the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories Nakba commemoration events scheduled for the 15 May 2002, according to the western calendar, were severely curtailed due to Israel's ongoing military campaign. Most public activities planned for the West Bank were unable to proceed. The anniversary, however, was marked by a minute of silence at 12 noon on 15 May followed by calls from the mosques and the ringing of church bells. In the West Bank, Palestinians designated the Jenin camp as the site of their 2002 Nakba memorial.

In the Gaza Strip Nakba commemoration events were overshadowed by the ongoing threat of an imminent Israeli military attack. Nevertheless, numerous marches and public events were held raising the refugees' demand for the right to return and restitution of their lands. Due to the fact that Israel has divided the Gaza Strip into four closed areas, since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada, however, Gaza Strip residents launched right-of-return marches and rallies in the four separated areas: the northern Gaza Strip - Jabalya refugee camp; central area camps; Rafah and southern Gaza Strip; and the Gaza City district.

Jenin Designated as Site of 2002 Nakba Memorial
Residents of Jenin refugee camp, the camp-based Emergency Committee for Relief and Reconstruction of the Jenin Camp, and UNRWA have agreed in principle that in the framework of camp rehabilitation and reconstruction of a public memorial site should be established, in order to commemorate and educate about war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people and its refugees. The Emergency Committee-Jenin Camp invited Palestinian, Arab and international experts, artists and solidarity groups to contribute to the effort for the creation of unique memorial site that will both serve to commemorate the victims of war crimes and educate about Palestinian rights and the struggle for freedom.

Suggestions concerning planning and artistic design as well as future use and promotion of the Jenin memorial locally and world-wide should be directed to the Emergency Committee for Relief and Reconstruction of the Jenin Camp. Supporters of the Jenin memorial project are welcome to visit the camp in order to discuss their ideas in detail. Contact: Emergency Committee for Relief and Reconstruction of the Jenin Camp, Fakhri Turkman, general coordinator; tel/fax: 04-2437163.

Palestinian Refugees Visit Bosnia to Learn about Return and Restitution: Over a period of one week (10-17 June 2002), a delegation of Palestinian refugees from the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Europe, and internally displaced inside Israel, traveled throughout Bosnia- Herzegovina (BiH) to study refugee return and real property restitution since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. Delegation members met with international officials and BiH government officials responsible for the implementation of refugee return and restitution. Meetings with international organizations included the Office of the High Representative (OHR), and the Commission for Real Property Claims (CRPC), both established under the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA).

 Meetings and field visits were also held with refugees and displaced persons from the Bosniac, Serb, and Croatian communities in BiH. In Sarajevo the delegation met with the Association of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a multi-ethnic, nongovernmental organization established in 1992 based on an initiative of various refugee unions. The Association works for the protection of refugees and displaced persons and their right to return to their pre-war homes. In Banja Luka, the delegation spent one day visiting with returnees who had recently repossessed their properties with legal assistance provided by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Discussions focused on the return process and various problems and obstacles faced by the refugees. Discussions were also held with refugees who are still unable to return due to ongoing secondary occupation of their homes. The study tour also included site visits to villages that were depopulated and destroyed and then reconstructed after the war. Throughout the study tour, refugees and displaced persons in BiH expressed their solidarity with Palestinian refugees.

International and local officials, as well as refugees themselves stressed the importance of enshrining not only principles of international law in any peace agreement but also implementing mechanisms to facilitate return and restitution. The delegation was organized by BADIL Resource Center and hosted by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A video documentary about refugee return and real property restitution in Bosnia-Herzegovina through the eyes of the members of the study tour will be available later in summer 2002.