The Nakba has been a part of my life since birth, but it became a reality for me in the past two years. I was born in the Khan Younis camp, known as the largest gathering of refugees expelled during the Nakba in 1948. Whenever people asked my name, they would always follow up with, “Are you a refugee or a citizen?”
As a child, I would often wonder, “What is a refugee?” I attended a school run by UNRWA and my documents always identified me as a refugee. I spent time trying to understand what it meant for my grandparents to flee their land in Beit Daras and end up in a refugee camp.
Nakba Day was always significant, but it became even more personal when I began working as a journalist. I visited a refugee camp for the first time in years and heard stories from elderly men and women about their homeland and the life they once knew.
I started to grasp the depth of these stories when my grandfather shared his own experience of displacement. He described the forced journey to Gaza, the loss of their child along the way, and the struggle to rebuild their lives in Khan Younis.
In 2023, the war in Gaza brought the Nakba to life for us once again. We were forcibly displaced, our loved ones arrested, and we struggled to find basic necessities to survive. The scenes of displacement and loss mirrored those my grandparents had faced in 1948.
The cycle of pain and loss continues, as we navigate through a war that threatens our very existence on our land. The world may be more connected now, but the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza remains unchanged. Mereka adalah siklus, satu yang telah kita kutuk untuk hidup melaluinya sebagai Palestina lagi dan lagi.
Akankah sejarah mencatat ini sebagai Nakba 2023?
Tahun dari sekarang, apakah kita akan berbicara tentang Nakba ini sama seperti yang kita bicarakan tentang yang asli selama 77 tahun? Apakah kita akan bercerita, mengadakan peringatan, dan menyimpan kenangan tentang impian kembali yang telah tinggal bersama kita sejak kecil?
Sejak saya menyadari apa artinya menjadi seorang pengungsi dan belajar bahwa saya memiliki tanah air, saya telah bermimpi untuk kembali.
Rasa sakit ini, kita tidak akan pernah lupa. Saya masih ingat perkemahan dan kehidupan saya di sana.
Saya tidak akan pernah melupakan saat Israel menghancurkan rumah saya dan membuat kami tanpa tempat tinggal selama dua tahun, 24 tahun yang lalu.
Sekarang kita menjalani hari-hari penuh penderitaan mencari keamanan, berjuang untuk bertahan hidup.
Kita akan menceritakan kepada generasi masa depan tentang perang ini, perang eksistensi.
Kita menahan lapar, ketakutan, haus, dan rasa sakit agar kita bisa tetap berada di tanah ini.
Nakba belum berakhir. Nakba 1948 berlanjut di tahun 2025.