Today, May 15, marks the 75th anniversary of the Nakba (which means “The Catastrophe”) when 750,000 to 1,000,000 Palestinians were forcibly and violently removed from Palestine to create the state of Israel between 1947-1949.
75% of the indigenous Palestinian population was deliberately and systematically dispossessed in order to establish a Jewish majority state in Palestine.
No Palestinians were ever compensated for their loss of livelihood, land, and homes, and have not been allowed to return to their homeland in 75 years.
The Catastrophe didn’t start in 1948 and it certainly hasn’t finished. It has been ongoing for 75+ years with no end in sight.
Currently over 5.9 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees across the Middle East and the diaspora around the world. Many live without citizenship in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. They lack basic human rights and access to education, employment, and healthcare. They have no path to citizenship in any country and are denied the internationally-recognized legal right to return to their country and live at peace with their neighbors. Today, four generations of Palestinian refugees inhabit dozens of refugee camps scattered throughout the Middle East.
They are still waiting to return home.
On this 75th anniversary, I acknowledge and join with Palestinians in their struggle for justice, their rights, and for freedom.
To commemorate and remember the Nakba today, I am sharing a new poem about making art and survival in Palestinian refugee camps. Share if it resonates and to stand in solidarity with refugees, and also please consider making a donation to support my upcoming volunteer storyteller trip to work in Palestinian refugees camps in Lebanon and Jordan this June.
There must be beauty
As any ordained beauty hunter
Must know in her bones and
Most times be relied on
To find it and capture what she discovers —
And I do but only because
It means survival most times
Art sometimes
Hope every time —
I turn the lens to
See it all around me,
The beauty in unbearable places
I don't mean not beautiful
But unjust and unmerciful.
The name we use is
Undefined, untranslatable
جَوّ.
There's no way else to say the
Atmospheric, energetic feeling
Of despair and dispossession
And the, you know, air-mood-feeling
That has no words
But I swear you'll know it
when you come upon it
And I'll trail behind snap snapping
My shutter, ministering
toward beautiful life
Because that's what I do.
I cite the beauty in plants
Bursting through concrete
And call it Resilience, and
Birds shedding down
On wires I pray don't start fires
But take flight, and I call it Light.
If you've met the bounds of a
Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut,
You know there won't be birds here just
Kids who want to grow up
Men who want to provide
Women who want to leave a legacy
Sittis who want to grow old
People who want to return
البلد الام.
Can you only care what
Clean water and citizenship means
If you can't have it?
Or electricity and power, too
That can't be sold
But can be bought?
My calling is finding the beauty
In the midst of tragedy
In the bowels of the camps and
In the darkness I enter into willingly
Because they aren't able to leave.
I'll keep my word to those
Without their homeland for 75 years
To whom I can't relate to but I do see
Past her cover and his intensity
And their crumbling walls and open sewage.
I haven't forgotten what I know and
As long as I keep coming back
And wandering through,
I'll stay looking up and out for
Any way that can lead to beauty
Or survival because
والله
I swear to God
I don't know the difference.
Thanks for supporting me and Palestinian refugees if you’ve already donated. I’m getting so close to my trip being fully funded! I leave June 4, which is quickly approaching in less than 3 weeks.
I just need $400 to reach my overall $5,000 goal.
As an artist and as someone who cares deeply about Palestinian refugees, I am truly honored to leverage my creativity, skills, and privilege to continue the work of shifting narratives about Palestinians and tangibly supporting them as they face their 75th year of exile.
Join me as I continue to champion and affirm the dignity of Palestinian refugees. You can make a direct donation to my Venmo or PayPal! (This is so helpful because I can put it to use immediately. Any amount helps get me to my goal!)
Thanks for supporting my trip and Palestinian refugees. I couldn't do this work without you. Together, we're making an impact.
Grateful,
Shelby....this is absolutely breathtaking. I love this so much!!! I can feel your passion in every single line....just wow!!!
I would love to part of your facebook group!!!