CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES in Palestine

Throughout the summer, BADIL Friends Forum, composed of some 30 activists of organizations and initiatives based in West Bank refugee camps, undertook a number of activities among the Palestinian public in general, and refugees in particular, to promote awareness and mobilization for Palestinian refugee rights:

Visits of refugees from West Bank refugee camps (eyewitness of the 48 Nakba, youth and children) to their villages of origin in order to study the past and the present situation of their homes and lands.

Media projects (in cooperation with QUINOA, a Belgian volunteer group): these projects included a children's photo workshop and photo exhibition in Aida camp, a video documentary about the experience of Aida camp refugees evicted from their homes in Beit Jibrin, and a promotion clip of IBDA Children Center and Folklore Dancing Troupe of Deheishe Refugee Camp. A video documentary and radio program for use in the framework of the Campaign in French speaking European countries will be completed by Quinoa in Belgium.

Additional media work currently under implementation by BADIL Friends includes: a radio and a video series on the Palestinian refugee question titled "Natreen Awdeh" (Awaiting Return) to be broadcast in cooperation with Radio Bethlehem 2000 and local TV stations in Palestine, and a poster for the promotion of the right of return.

Two broad public meetings with Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta were organized by the BADIL Friends Forum in Deheishe camp (24 August) and Balata camp (25 August). In these meetings, entitled "Return is Legal, Possible, and the Only Way to a Just and Stable Peace in the Middle East", some 500 refugees discussed aspects of international law, the practical implementation of the right of return and current Israeli positions.

On 26 August, a smaller forum of Palestinian activists (BADIL Friends Forum, National Committee for the Internally Displaced) met with Dr. Salman Abu Sitta in Bethlehem. This meeting served to clarify future strategies of the Campaign for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights.