ISRAEL-RETURN CAMP Israeli Arabs go on summer camp in demolished village of Iqrith

Record ID: 143357

  • Title: ISRAEL-RETURN CAMP Israeli Arabs go on summer camp in demolished village of Iqrith
  • Date: 19th August 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND INSTRUCTORS DANCING PALESTINIAN STEP DANCE – DABKEH
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6U6CFK9FMKTP9ZQD4MGR7560U
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Through participating in a five-day summer camp, decedents of Palestinian residents who were forced out of the village of Iqrith in 1948, are reviving the life that their anchors once lived on the lands of the now demolished village.
    Entitled "The return camp", an estimate of 100 children, the forth generation of Iqrith descendants, are taking part in the event which was launched on Tuesday (August 18).
    The participants are the children and grandchildren of the refugees of Iqrith, who were expelled from the village in 1948 war, and now reside in 20 different villages and towns in North Israel.
    The camp allows the participating children to sleep at the site in tents and spend the five days living in the life style their grandparents lived in before 1948.
    "This camp is a primary camp for all the people of Iqrith which makes us come back to this town and get to know our roots here in the town where our grandparents were exiled. It makes us cling to this land so we can come back to live on it with the young men who three years ago came back to live here and to continue the struggle to return to this town," said participant Fadi Jeries.
    Three years ago, at the end of the annual summer camp, a group of 15 young men decided to stay and live in Iqrith.
    Inspired by the experience they lived through, they said their decision to stay came from their desire to be residents of their original village, in a move that they think will raise awareness for the younger generations about their origins.
    The group holds social and educational activities around the year to keep Iqrith refugees connected with their land.
    They have built small structures and planted trees and flowers but they say many of which have been destroyed and uprooted by Israeli authorities.
    "I'm from Iqrith. This camp was created because when we became refugees we spread over many areas so we couldn't always see each other, therefore this camp, which brings us together five days a year, allows us to see each other and live in the way our grandparents used to live for five days," said participant Aleen Sbait.
    The staff members leading the camp are also originally from Iqrith. They have been participating in the summer camp for the last 20 years before becoming organisers of the event.
    "This camp develops the cause of belonging to the land and to the heritage of Iqrith in terms of people's stories and events that happened here and anything related to the lands, houses and it's distribution, how people lived here. All these topics we talk about during the camp," said Ibrahim Attallah, head of Iqrith People Committee.
    The workshops at the camp vary from arts to Dabkeh- the traditional Palestinian step dance. But all activities aim to strengthen the Palestinian identity for the children participating, said camp coordinator, Haitham Salim Sbait.
    "We have educational and social activities. We have national and social activities that aim to deepen and stabilise the national consciousness for the children and implanting their belonging to their town and land. We have cultural activities that talk about our customs and traditions and how our grandparents used to live. We have activities that aim at developing the ability of the children to discuss and present their point of view without fear and without shyness," said Sbait.
    According to testimonies of the residents, the Israeli army ordered the residents of Iqrith to leave their houses on November 6, 1948. They say the army had asked them, after taking over the village for a week, to leave for two weeks to the nearby village of al-Rameh.
    But they say they were never allowed to come back to Iqrith.
    On Christmas night, the army destroyed all the houses in the village and since then the residents were forbidden from entering the lands of Iqrith until 1969, according to the testimonies.
    After 1969, residents were allowed in to restore the church and cemetery.
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