[IslamCity] Palestinian Wall Painting Commemorates Nakba

[S A Hannan]

Palestinian Wall Painting Commemorates Nakba A part of the wall painting symbolizing the peaceful life enjoyed by the Palestinians until 1948.  By Suleiman Besharat, IOL Correspondent BALATA, West Bank, May 15, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – On Nakba, marked every year on March 15, a 50-meter wall painting in the entrance of the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West bank tells it all. A soft glowing sun rising over vast swathes of green land with waving orange trees symbolize the peaceful life enjoyed by the Palestinians until 1948. The scene, however, is abruptly interrupted by people lying in pools of thick blood with its darkish red color against a backdrop of frightened mothers carrying their babies and running for their lives, symbolizing the bombardment of the onetime tranquil Palestinian villages of Askalan and Tal Al-Rabei, now known as Tel Aviv, by Zionist gangs. Another section of the masterpiece shows an old Palestinian man holding firmly to the key of his home usurped by the Zionists, telling his grandchildren "one day we will be back." A fourth part of the wall painting illustrates the deplorable living conditions of the Palestinian refugees in their makeshift tents. On April 18, 1948, Palestinian Tiberius was captured by Menachem Begin's Irgun group, putting its 5,500 Palestinian residents in flight. On April 22, Haifa fell to the Zionist mobs and 70,000 Palestinians fled. On April 25, Irgun began bombarding civilian sectors of the Palestinian city of Jaffa - the largest city in Palestine at that time, terrifying the 750,000 inhabitants into panicky flight. On May 14, the day before the creation of Israel on the rubble of Palestine and bodies of the Palestinians, Jaffa completely surrendered to the much better-equipped Zionist gangs and only about 4,500 of its population remained. In Heart An old Palestinian man watching photos of the Nakba at an exhibition. The wall drawing is the collective work of fifteen Palestinian painters, whose grandparents were forced to leave their homes in 1948, Sabri Zawqan, from the National Assembly for the Defense of the Right of Return, who supervised the drive, told IslamOnline.net Monday, May 15. "They spent an entire week drawing several paintings to document the different phases of the Palestinian dilemma," he added. "Every year, Palestinians come up with new ideas and methods to express their resolve to return to their homes and convey their sufferings to the entire world," said Zawqan. The West Bank refugee camp of Askar, in east Nablus, has further hosted the "Bells of Return" exhibition of paintings and portraits drawn by children from different refugee camps. Nevine Al-Qisi, 12, drew a key linked with a lungs-shaped map of Palestine with Al-Quds (occupied east Jerusalem) lying in the left side and the word "heart" inscribed. Halima Ahmad, 13, for her part sketched an old man with a key of his home which he left in 1948 hanging from his neck, while his wife carries some of their belongings. They are both holding the hand of their grandchild. The exhibition further displayed belongings of some of the 1948 Palestinians like clothes, pots and axles. Return Culture Zawqan, like millions of Palestinians, live for the day they will be able to return to their motherland and pass this dream on from one generation to the other. "If they were to forget, the Palestinians would not forget the right of return even if they were in their death throes." Zawqan, 35, said Palestinian artists and painters have been promoting the culture of return. "We are instilling this culture in our children so that they would not give up the right of their forbears; and thus keeping the cause vivid in their minds," he explained. In 2005, the first Palestinian atlas was launched to document for the generations to come territories usurped and occupied by Israeli troops. Up to 50,000 maps charting Palestinian sites that date back to 1799 are found in the English-language geographical encyclopedia. Also read: The 1948 Nakba (Historical Analysis) Back To News Page Please feel free to contact News editor at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. 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