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BADIL Launches the First Online Al-Awda School
BADIL Launches the First Online Al-Awda School

PR/EN/140820/35

On 13 August, BADIL Resource Center, implemented the first online training sessions for the Al Awda (Return) School, which is being held electronically via the Zoom application. The program targets 35 youth participants (half young women) from all regions of mandatory Palestine, , in addition to Lebanon, and aims to raise awareness and enhance the capabilities of rights holders to raise their voices on the rights of the Palestinian people.


The school’s first sessions dealt with the issue of the planned Israeli annexation of significant parts of the West Bank, as an integral part of the Zionist colonial project that has been ongoing for over 100 years, highlighting the shift from  de facto (in practice) to de-jure annexation (in law) of Palestinian land. Annexation, which is the acquisition of territory by force or the threat of force, is a violation of a peremptory norm of international law and is prohibited regards of its form.

 
The online Al-Awda School’s training sessions will continue throughout the month of August and will address issues relating to the conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, the Israelization policies pursued by Israel against Palestinians within the Green Line, normalization and its policies and objectives, in addition to a general review of the Oslo Accords/Agreements.

 

The Al-Awda School is one of BADIL’s core programs, which aims to enhance communication between Palestinian youth on both sides of the Green Line, and in exile to enhance identity and cohesion. In addition, the schools aim to empower and equip the youth with the skills and knowledge necessary to raise their voices to demand the rights of the Palestinian people, especially Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons.