Press Releases

Palestine’s First World Refugee Day: Putting Right of Return Back on the Agenda!

5 July 2012 - Manger Square (Maydan Al-Mahd) and the Bethlehem Peace Centre, Bethlehem.

Bethlehem - 25 June 2012. Under the motto “Return is not an ideology, it is a legal right”, the festival is the biggest public event gathering Palestinian civil society organizations.

A new phase in Palestinian activism and political discourse? Addressing the biggest portion of Palestinians, the refugees (67%), this event not only reminds of the centrality of the refugee problem, it also marks a shift towards a unified Palestinian political discourse, one which is rights-based, in the legal sense of the term.

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By commemorating World Refugee Day, Badil and more than a dozen partners divert from traditional public events, usually held on Nakba day. The festival aims to attract the general public as well as local and international observers to a wide range of cultural activities: from folkloric dance to academic publications, from traditional food to exclusive unpublished Naji Al-Ali cartoons. Live music, theatre, films, and audio-visual presentations. First-time in OPT, exhibition of Palestinian posters.

The goal is to raise awareness and to launch public discussion on the issue. The different activities are artistic expressions of current tendencies among Palestinian refugees, in addition to the mapping, research and analysis of research centers and NGOs.

About Badil:
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights is an independent, community-based non-profit organization mandated to defend and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees and IDPs. Our vision, missions, programs and relationships are defined by our Palestinian identity and the principles of international law, in particular international human rights law. We seek to advance the individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people on this basis.