Walking today in a Palestinian refugee camp, I almost felt like I know what I wanted.
With my life, I mean. The career I want to pursue. I know I absolutely love people, and I absolutely love spending time with them. I wonder if being with people is why I exist in the first place. To give people a little bit of what they give to me, some validation that I live for them.
As I sat with people who not only believe and support Palestine but actually lived the cause and had a thing to say to free their lands, I felt a sense of belonging to a cause so dear to my heart.
I interviewed a Palestinian woman called Amal who has a leading role in a Palestinian movement/political party and is now part of mediation groups. She started telling us the incredible stories of the strength and stubbornness of Palestinian women.
Amal told us what happened during the Israeli invasion in 1982 when they destroyed the whole camp and kidnapped and imprisoned the men, how women stood high, holding their illiteracy in one hand, and the years of housewife-ing in another, and rebuilt the camp.
They rebuilt their houses brick by brick, reopened their husbands’ and fathers’ stores, and taught themselves how to do business. They protected their streets and made sure they were safe enough for their children. When men came back from the war, they were surprised that the completely marred camp they left is now blooming.
Amal also told me the story of her imprisonment, how the Zionists performed the worst kind of emotional and mental torture to break her; still, she stood strong, how they used the women’s menstrual cycles to humiliate them, how they would only call on the women in the middle of the night for interrogation, using the women’s fear of night and rape against them.
She went to tell me about the resilience of women in times of conflict and the mediation skills they have by nature. Amal told me when things got intense one time in the camp, and two parties started shooting at each other, how women held their babies, brought their chairs, and sat in the middle of the streets, daring the men to shoot.
They have a cause, and they live for it. I would like to live for their cause too.
I think I might want to visit the camp again.