Press Releases

BADIL - Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights implemented its second Al Awda Training School for the current year, which lasted for three consecutive days (12-14 July 2024), with the attendance of 32 Palestinian youth (16 women, 16 men) from different areas of Mandatory Palestine.

This training school focused on Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) through a critical examination of the United Nations Resolution 194, the Oslo Accords, and the manifestation of colonial policies in the behavior of colonized people.

Building upon the issues and topics addressed in the first training, this advanced course: highlighted the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and their rights, featuring a speaker from Addameer; a comparison of historic Palestinian resistance to the current situation, amidst the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip; and the suppression of Palestinian resistance in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948 Palestine.

Furthermore, as part of a session on social, political, and economic issues in the colonial context of Palestine, the school hosted two members of the Palestinian Youth Forum (PYF) to highlight the educational curricula in the 1948 Palestine, Israel's manipulation of it as a tool of colonial suppression, the educational curricula under the mandate of the Palestinian Authority and its transformation due to the Oslo Accords. An additional session addressed colonial and conditional funding to Palestinian civil society organizations.

BADIL also organized a field visit to Al Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron, where participants were introduced to local institutions, committees, and community centers operating in the camp. The visit also included meetings with family members of martyrs and prisoners. Residents of the camp also shared their stories on the Israel’s restrictions on the camp and its surrounds since the start of Israel’s genocide on the Gaza Strip.

The Al Awda Training Schools are an integral part of the programs implemented by BADIL in collaboration with community-based organizations active among refugees (Yafa Cultural Center in Balata Camp, Not to Forget Association in Jenin Camp, Ibda’a Youth Association in Dheisheh Camp, Lajee’ Center in Aida Camp, the Students’ Council at Bethlehem University, and the Association for Psychological and Community Development in Jalazon Camp). These schools aim to enhance social cohesion, unity and identity among Palestinian youth in Mandatory Palestine, as well as to empower them with the skills and knowledge necessary to advocate for the rights of the Palestinian people, particularly Palestinian refugees.