SANABEL

“Even though I was only five, my whole world changed when my family left Jordan to return to Deheishe Refugee Camp. In Jordan, I was free. In Deheishe, the camp was fenced all around and it seemed like a prison. Still, when I moved here, I felt like I was finally home.

The circumstances of the refugee camp raise many questions for me. Where do I belong? Why am I not living like other children? Before the last Intifada, I didn’t know what the Occupation really meant. Now I realize that until the Occupation is over and I can live in my homeland, Palestine, I won’t have a normal life.

All my life my parents told me that I belong to Palestine, that it is my land, and that someday I will return to my family’s village of Zakaria. Two years ago, I went there to visit. Not much remains of the village, but my grandfather’s house, the mosque and school still exist. When I first saw the house, I felt like I was going to explode. As I knocked on the door, I had this dream-like feeling that my grandfather would answer, and that this is where I lived all my life. It didn’t seem that another family could possibly live here, but the minute the door opened, my dream was shattered – a Jewish Iraqi woman answered the door. She said it was her home now.

I’ll become a full human being when I can return to my land in Zakaria.“