Radio Lajee

Sabreen: I love weddings and it’s a very important part in our life. It comes to my mind all the time because my sister married last summer – so, I wrote about the wedding.

[Music plays: featuring a small group of three Palestinian women singing.]

Sabreen: This is a traditional Palestinian wedding song. The day before the wedding is called ‘Al Henna”. On this day, the older generation of Palestinian women dance to it. It talks about marriage, happiness and new beginnings.

In the past, the Palestinian wedding was open to all people without invitation; because people living in the villages were close to each other. Most girls got married between the age of fifteen and twenty and the men got married between 20 and 25.

To marry, the groom must first ask permission from the ‘bride to be’s’ family.
Once the permission has been received, they discuss what money and gold the groom will provide to the bride. In Arabic this is called “a muher”.

[Music plays: featuring the sound of 1 Palestinian woman singing a kind of a Capella chant]

Sabreen: One day before the wedding the male friends and family of the groom would attend a ‘Saharah’ which would be held in the front garden of the groom’s family house. And the female friends and family of the bride attend ‘ al henna’ and celebrated inside the home of the bride’s family. The female family members painted their hands with henna.

Um Raed is a neighbour of mine. She’s old enough to remember what traditional Palestinian weddings are like.

[Sound of an older woman speaking in Arabic]

Um Raed Translation: The 2 families of the bride and the groom decide on a date for the wedding. Then, the groom’s family start to prepare an apartment or room for their son to live in. They prepare everything: They paint it, clean it, furnish it…
And then a week before the wedding, the bride’s family invites their friends and neighbours to celebrate with them every night in their home.

Usually people started celebrating a week from the wedding. This depended on the family’s financial situation and also, the weather. So, for example, they may celebrate for 2 to 3 days leading up to the big day…or sometimes for a full week.

Then, on the wedding day itself, the groom’s friends perform what we call in Arabic, “Al-Zaffeh.” This involves carrying the groom while they are in the middle of dancing and singing from his home all the way to the bride’s house. There, the bride’s family welcome the entourage at the entrance to the house, while the bride remains inside with her friends. Usually the bride’s father, eldest brother or uncle, escorts the bride to the entrance of the house to meet her groom. Then, the family makes the groom promise to take care of their daughter.

After that, the groom ushers the bride – nowadays into a car – but in the past they would lift the bride on to the back of a camel or horse. And then, the 2 families perform a second “Al-zaffeh” but this time for the happy couple, until they reach the groom’s house.

Sabreen: Then the groom would receive a lot of advice from his friends.

[Music plays: featuring the sounds of a group of men singing – the lyrics offer different pieces of advice to the groom]

Sabreen: Now, weddings are a little different but I’m happy that many of these traditions are still alive today.

I wanted to produce this story about the role of the Palestinian woman because I believe that people living outside the Arab world have the wrong idea about us.

The Palestinian woman is an integral part of our society. She participates in the Palestinian struggle just like any man. She has a major role in political, social and economic life.

She is the wife of the prisoner,
the nurse to the injured and handicapped,
the university student and professional
in many cases, the bread-winner
and always the mother, cook and cleaner.

And sometimes, Palestinian women are even political prisoners.

Khoula Al Azaraq is the Director of the Women’s Committee for Social Action in Bethlehem.

She is the mother of 2 boys and 2 girls

She has also served 4 years in prison for her political work with Fatah during the first Intifada.

How do you think the international community sees the Palestinian woman?

Khoula Al Azaraq:

I think that this picture is not clear enough. Most of the people outside of Palestine don’t know exactly what the Palestinian women are doing here in Palestine.

They just maybe see the TV and see some examples; the Palestinian mothers don’t care about their children, or they just play the traditional role, doing housework and taking care of the family. But I think we are in Palestine doing a lot as women. First of all, we share our national struggle against the occupation side by side with men. And, we participate in the political activities.
In the first Legislative Elections, 5 women won in that election and I think it is a good achievement even if the number is very little compared to the number of men…but if we compare this experience to other communities not suffering from political conflict – the women in some communities can’t even vote, let alone be members in any Legislative, Municipality or even Local Council. But in Palestine it was our first experience and we achieved something. Besides this, in 1996 in the local council elections again there are at least 2 women in all of the councils and in some councils all of the members are women and some of the municipalities are lead by women. And I think this is a big achievement and reflects the mentality and attitudes of the community – that the people in Palestine are ready to accept women in decision-making positions.

When we reach the 2006 elections, the number of women who won in the elections was 17 – I think this is a huge achievement even if some of these women are from religious parties but they are still women and they won. This community believes that women can play an effective role in all levels of life. That does not mean that we’ve achieved everything …we’ve achieved a little. But we need to continue and to work hard to have more achievements. There are still a lot of obstacles against women in Palestine. Palestine is an Arab community and Islamic community and there is a traditional culture which the people still believe – and there is a lot in this culture that is against women’s rights. But this kind of struggle it needs time and patience and a lot of belief that in the end we can change this kind of culture.

Linda Al Azzeh:
You said before that the international community has the wrong idea about Palestinian women. What do you think we can we do to change this perception?

Khoula Al Azaraq:
I think that it’s a responsibility for the Palestinians who are living outside or working outside to speak about the women’s struggle in Palestine and also for our foreign friends who are coming from their countries to visit Palestine and they can see for themselves what’s happening here in Palestine / what the people think. I think they can talk about their experience in an honest way and speak about what they are seeing exactly. For example; the issue of violence against women – I think this is a global issue. Some foreigners, some of the community in Europe and the United States try to say it is a third world issue. I think it is a global issue. In Europe there is still violence against women because she’s a woman. And I have made a lot of friends from France, Spain, Italy…and they talk about this issue and they say that a lot of women are suffering from violence. But in these communities there are clear laws, clear legislations that support women because these are stable communities. In Palestine there are not any legislations - Palestinian legislations, that support women that deal with women’s issues or family issues. We still use the Egyptian Laws in Gaza and Jordanian Laws in the West Bank and they are very old. We are as a Palestinian movement struggling to have our own legislation. We suggested a draft - all the women organizations signed this draft, and we gave it to the Palestinian Legislation Council and the Palestinian Government to study it and to formalise these legislations based on this document. Marriage, education, divorce, women’s marriage age – all of these things… but until now it hasn’t been adapted by the Parliament.

Linda Al Azzeh:
Many people are not aware of the fact that women were extremely active in the First Intifada. How vital was their involvement?

Khoula Al Azaraq:
I think all of the world outside who witnessed what was happening in Palestine during the First Intifada are aware that women played a major role in that Intifada: in demonstrations in supporting prisoner’s families / martyr’s families, in taking care of land, in the popular education when they closed the universities and schools – women they had a major role [in fact] we call it [the] Women’s Intifada. The women were leaders in that Intifada and many women were injured, arrested and killed in that Intifada. But in the Second Intifada the situation changed and this has affected women’s participation in this Intifada. But, in the first one (and I was active in that Intifada) women played a major role.

Linda Al Azzeh:
What message about Palestinian women would you like to tell to the world?

Khoula Al Azaraq:
I would like to say that Palestinian women strongly believe in a better future for their families for the whole Palestinian people and we deserve this future.

Marhabba again, welcome back! Today I will make for you Maqlouba – Maqlouba is the most popular dish here in Palestine. Maqlouba in Arabic uses the verb “yaqloub” it means ‘upside-down’. Why upside-down? You will find out later, “insharla”.

“Ty’eb hella”. You will need: 5-6 pieces of chicken breast, 4-5 cups of rice, 1 cup of “sharia” which we always cook rice with here in Palestine. It’s like golden [coloured] vermicelli. Like. 4-5 carrots cut into small pieces, 1 cauliflower - if you don’t like carrots or cauliflower you can use potato or eggplant. You will also need 1 Litre of corn oil, cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, all spice, 5 bay leaves, chicken salt and cardamom seeds. And that’s it.

Ok. I like to use chicken breast. So, to prepare this chicken breast, you should take one lemon. Squeeze the lemon juice into the chicken and put some salt and leave it in the fridge for 2 hours. And, after you wash the chicken, put it in the saucepan and put water from the tap – to cover it – a lot of water “yanni”…and put it on the stove.
Leave the chicken until the water boils. Take another saucepan and put into it 1 Litre of corn oil. So I will put the corn oil on the stove to heat. Once the oil is hot I will put into it the cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into small flowerettes. And, if you don’t like the cauliflower, I mentioned it before, you can use potatoes or carrots or eggplants. And, if you don’t like oil, you can put it into water and cook until the vegetables are tender. Leave it – it’s time to prepare the rice.

So, I will wash the rice. Sometimes I wash it one time but sometimes I wash it three times. It’s a habit…like my mother told me never wash it two times, just one time or three times – I don’t know why. If you wash it twice, you should wash it three times.
So, after I wash the rice 3 times, I add hot water to cover the rice, it should be covered. Some people add saffron because they like it to be a yellow colour, but I don’t like to use it. It’s OK.

And now the oil in the other saucepan should be hot enough to put the vegetables into it. Once the vegetables turn golden remove them from the oil. Here in Palestine, we use turmeric for the cauliflower. People who have problems with gas in their stomachs - so we use turmeric to get rid of this problem,.. So, use turmeric – if you have problems in your stomach with gas. [Laughs]

Let’s return back to the chicken, the water has boiled and there is fat on top of the water. Just remove it and then add the spices…add curry powder – 1 big spoon, add 4 to 5 bay leaves, 1 small spoon of cinnamon, 1 big spoon of chicken salt, 10 cardamom seeds and also put 1 to 2 big, big spoons of salt, 1 small spoon of black pepper and a pinch of all spice and then leave the chicken to cook for 45 minutes.

Let’s return to the rice…Put the gold vermicelli into the frying pan with corn oil and fry it until the colour changes to light brown. Remove the water from the rice, now put the light brown vermicelli into the rice with some salt and mix it together.
So now, get a strainer and a big bowl, take the saucepan with the chicken and empty it into the strainer. Don’t get rid of the soup, we will use it later. Now, take the chicken and put it back in the same saucepan. Remove all the spices and now we can put the vegetables into the saucepan on the top of the chicken and we will do the same with rice and vermicelli. Put the rice and the vermicelli on top of the vegetables. The rice at this point is only partly cooked. Now we will add the soup into the saucepan to cover the rice. So we have 3 layers: the chicken, vegetables and the rice …then the soup. Four. [Laughs]. And then we can put it back on the stove on high and cover it until the water boils. When it boils, you should turn the heat down…From when the water boils it takes around half an hour to be ready so go and watch TV or something else – whatever you want. [Laughs]

Mmmm, it smells delicious – it’s ready to eat. So now we can turn off the stove and serve the Maqlouba. To serve it we need a big flat tray and we need to take the saucepan – take the lid off the saucepan and put the big flat tray on the saucepan like a hat. So, now it’s time for the fun part – we get to flip the saucepan over so that it’s upside down. We serve Maqlouba hot with salad and some yoghurt – hope you enjoy it! Sahtain o’affyah!

Please note: Due to the highly political nature of the ideas expressed in these interviews, the participants have asked to remain anonymous.

PERSON ONE:
Yanni [Arabic for "I mean"], before Gaza I believed in peace. I don’t see peace happening after this.

PERSON TWO:
What’s happening in Gaza makes me very sad. And the situation now in Gaza’s very bad. The Israeli soldiers kill the children and the women and families – people without guns, people that are not fighters. They demolished the houses…When I saw the images on the TV yanni, that makes me sick. And that makes me think, maybe that will happen here in the West Bank. You start to think yanni, maybe in the future that will happen to your family to your brothers…And that makes me feel very, very sad.

PERSON THREE:
The massacres…the daily killing in Gaza…All of these things push up again to the main priority that we need our national independence first of all. We need from the international community - from all of the people outside, to support our struggle against The Occupation, to put more pressure on the Israeli Government to leave the West Bank and Gaza and just leave the Palestinians…and they can deal with themselves alone. And I believe that they can build their own state and this state will be a democratic one, a state that believes in equality and all of these human rights.

PERSON TWO:
The Israelis say they want to save their settlements from the rockets but I think [this is] no reason to kill this number of the people, to kill the children, to demolish the houses on the people. That’s not reason. I think if the Israeli’s want to save the settlements or save their people from the Palestinian rockets, I think a good way is to give the Palestinian people their rights.

REPORTER:
Do you believe that the Palestinian Authority should change its relationship with Israel as a result as what is happening in Gaza?

PERSON FIVE:
They should. But, they will not. I believe that the Palestinian Authority were involved in the war in Gaza. They knew about this before it happened. I don’t have faith in the Palestinian Authority. They’re not concerned with their people – the Palestinian people. Like refugees – the right of return and also…Jerusalem and also the prisoners. No one’s concerned about these hot issues. They’re just concerned about their own interests. Not about Palestine. Also not about Palestinian people.

PERSON TWO:
I think with this situation, it’s stupid if you talk about the relationship or meetings between the Palestinian Government and the Israeli Government. Until now around 1000 people have been killed in Gaza. If our Authority wants to continue their relationship with Israel – I think they will lose the Palestinian people.

PERSON FIVE:
I think this is all about the Israeli Elections. [Tzipi] Livni wants to prove herself as a strong leader in Israel. That’s it.

PERSON TWO:
These things that are happening in Gaza… mean that the Israeli Government don’t want to make peace with us. With this war, the Israeli Government throw the peace out into the sea.

REPORTER:
So do you believe it is still possible then to find peace with Israel after this? And if so, how?

PERSON TWO:
I haven’t lost my family. So, I feel in the future, we can make – not peace – but, one democratic state for all the people. Everyone under same life, same situation, same rights…With our right to return. But, for the people who have lost all of their families as we see day after day on the TV from Gaza, I don’t know how these people think about this. If you lost your family…I think it would be different to think about this. If I lose my family it’s difficult for me to think about this, but, if I saw something change in the future and the world decided to give us our rights as a Palestinian…and The Occupation ends…I think I could also change something in my mind.

PERSON FIVE:
I once believed in peace. But now, I don’t know. Maybe…I hope so.

(opens with music by Raafat al Hajan)

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there was a cat called Mousa. He was a black and white coloured cat with scruffy hair. Mousa the cat liked to walk. One day, he walked down the street and bumped into Fareed- a kitten, who was sitting down in the gutter looking sad.

MOUSA: Hey Fareed, what’s happening?

FAREED: I want to play football. But, there’s no where to play here in the camp since they built the wall…And I don’t get to see my friends now.

MOUSA: Where did you play before?

FAREED: We played in the field over there. The only place to play now is on the street and my parents won’t let me because they think it’s too dangerous with all the cars.

MOUSA: Hey Fareed, don’t be sad. Every time life gets me down, I go for a walk.

(clicks fingers)

MOUSA: Walk with me.

(sound of tabla)

NARRATOR: The cats walk off together and walk past the mosque. They notice Fatima, an old lady cat struggling with her groceries.

(sound of walking and rustling shopping bags)

FATIMA: Ye sitt-tee my son, can you please help me carry the fruit and vegetables.

MOUSA: Mashi, sitt-ee. Grandmother, I am happy to help you.

(sound of shopping bags exchanging hands)

NARRATOR: On the walk to her house, Mousa notices that Fatima looks sad.

MOUSA: Sitt-ee, why are you sad?

FATIMA: W’alla el mote arr hum ye-sitt-tee. Every Friday I used to go to al-Aqsa Mosque. I am now 87 and would love to see it again (coughs) before I die. But because of the wall, (coughs) I can’t go anywhere near it.

FAREED: W’alla ye-sitt-tee, I miss the Kayk Jerusalem.

MOUSA: Ye-sitt-tee, every time life gets me down, I go for a walk. Come for a walk with us!

FATIMA: Ye-sitt-tee I am very tired, (coughs) I just want to stay in my home.

MOUSA: Marshi Sitt-tee. It’s OK. We will go now. Salaam!

FAREED: Salaam sittee

FATIMA: Ma’salaamah. Shokran. Goodbye and thank you.

(sound of tabla)

NARRATOR: Mousa and Fareed continue on their walk.

FAREED: Mousa, I’m hungry meow, meow.

MOUSA: OK. Let’s go to eat felafel. Yalla!

NARRATOR: The two cats walk to their favourite felafel shop in Bethlehem. Only to find Saleh, the owner, has already closed.

(sound of theme music)

MOUSA: Al-arf-yeh

SALEH: Allo Mousa, a Zedaq-afee

MOUSA: Why is the shop not open? It’s only early!

SALEH: Because…there’s no point anymore. I have to close. I can not afford to keep going. Actually, since The Wall was built, I’m just not getting the same level of business. No tourists come here anymore, they all stay in Jerusalem…and I have a big family to support, so it’s time – I think - to search for new work.

MOUSA: Every time life gets me down, I go for a walk. Come for a walk with us!

FAREED: But, I’m very hungry…Where can I go to eat?

MOUSA: Khallas, it’s OK. Come Fareed! Come to my home to eat. Let’s walk!

(sound of tabla)

NARRATOR: The pair walk to Mousa The Cat’s house. When they get there, Sara – Mousa’s sister, is sitting on the computer.

MOUSA: Marhabba!

SARA: Ahlain. Oh Fareed habibi, how are you?

MOUSA: Fareed today…is not good. But now I think he’s better.

SARA: Meow…Laish?

FAREED: Because I can’t see my friend anymore, he lives in Jerusalem. And now because of the wall, I can’t go and play with him, meow.

SARA: W’alla! Like me. My best friend, who used to study with me at my school lives on the other side of the wall. Meow. Now I can only chat to her on MSN Messenger and the phone. Don’t be sad Fareed. It’s normal. It’s life. You can always play with Mousa.

MOUSA: Sara Khallas. I didn’t bring Fareed here to be sad. We’re here to eat.

SARA: OK, our mother made Maqlouba, I will bring some for you.

(sound of theme music)

NARRATOR: Mousa and Fareed eat together and decide after the day they have shared to become friends.

That night, Fareed had a dream. He dreamt that the wall fell down and he was able to play football in the field next to the camp and to visit his friend.

Over the next few days, weeks and months, the pair were seen together on many a long walk.

THE END

The cast in order of appearance:

Narrator		Rowayed Nidal
Mousa		Mohamad Waleed
Fareed		Mohamad Waleed
Fatima		Linda Al Azzeh
Saleh		Nidal Al Azza
Sara		Amal Abu Srour

Glossary of Arabic words and phrases used in this radio play:

Ye sittee		A term of endearment used between the old and the young
Mashi		Sure, will do
W’alla el mote arr hum		I swear to God, this life is worse than death
Kayk Jerusalem		A delicious Palestinian sweet
Salaam		Literally means peace but used daily as a ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ greeting
Y’alla		Lets’ go / move
Al arf yeh		To your health
A Zedaq Afee		Good health to you too
Khallas		Enough / Finish / Finished
Marhabba		Hello
Ahlain		Welcome
Habibi		Sweetie / darling
Laish		Why
W’alla		I swear to God
Maqlouba		A popular Palestinian dish made with chicken, rice and vegetables

AMAL: Hello! Hi! Marhabba! Everybody welcome to my kitchen. I’m Amal from Palestine. Today we will do ‘Fried Tomatoes Palestinian Style’…So, we need 5 tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and 1 capsicum / green pepper.

So, we should cut the pepper and the tomatoes. When I am too busy, I don’t remove the skin of the tomatoes…But, if you have time, you can remove the skin. If you don’t have the time, “khallas” (in Arabic) – don’t worry about it. We just slice the tomatoes into bite-size pieces and also the capsicum, we cut it into small pieces and the onion also, we should cut it into small pieces.

So, we will start the “Qallayet Bendorra” / Fried Tomatoes Palestinian Style. We should put [some] olive oil into the frying pan…and we should put [the] onion into the olive oil. I learnt from my Grandmother to not let the olive oil boil – it’s not good if the olive oil boils. We should wait [until] the onion turns golden.

I love cooking…and this is very delicious - I like to do it all the time. This meal is very good for those who don’t have [much] time.

Now [that] the onion has turned golden, we can put the tomato pieces and the green pepper into the onion. Leave it to simmer for 7 minutes and cover it.

After around 7 – 10 minutes check to make sure that the tomatoes and the green pepper are tender. [Then] take the lid off and let [all] the moisture [in the pan] evaporate. And then, I want to add some salt and black pepper…as you like.
It smells delicious. “Taybe”, “zarkey”, yummy… “Zarkey” in Arabic, yanni delicious. [Laughs] “Yanni” means, ‘means’…

So, we need to turn the heat down, then we should take the garlic…and use the garlic press – (it’s good the garlic press, I like it very much) and put it into the fried tomatoes. I like the smell of the garlic.

I started cooking when I was 14. I used to help my mother in the kitchen. Now, I cook for my whole family – I enjoy it. As a Palestinian, food is a very important part of our life.

Sometimes, I don’t [use the] green pepper. [This dish] is very delicious with eggs. In Syria, they call Fried Tomatoes with Egg, “Juzz Muzz” – I don’t know what it means.
So, I’ve finished now this delicious, yummy Fried Tomatoes or “Qallayet Bendorra” in Arabic. Generally, we serve it here in Palestine with hot, flat “khoubbers” [laughs] – hot, flat “khoubbers” – hot, flat bread in Arabic. So, I hope you enjoy your meal!
Sahtain o’affyah!

SAJA AJARMA: Hello, I’m Saja. I live here in the refugee camp. Today, I’m going to show you what my life is like.

[Sound of an alarm clock]

I wake up every morning at 7am. I have a shower, wash my hair, then I have to get dressed in my school uniform. It’s green and white – it’s pretty ugly. I don’t like it.

Then, as a Muslim, it’s time to pray. I pray five times a day. And before I pray, I must be clean. I have to wet my hands, hair, feet and wash my face. The first prayer of the day is called, ‘Fajr’.

Then I join my family for breakfast. Every morning, my mother prepares bread, cheese, egg, hoummos, tomato and tea. Here in Palestine, we make tea with fresh herbs like mint and sage. I like my tea with mint.

After breakfast, I walk to school. I have to be there at 8am. My school is only a five minute walk away.

When I get there, I meet my friends. My favourite class is English. My teacher’s name’s Kefah. We have seven different subjects each day: maths, science, Arabic, geography or history, English, religion and art. At 1.30pm the bell rings and school is finished for the day. I leave straight away and walk back home to my family.

My father and my two sisters and one brother are all at home to eat lunch - which is our biggest meal of the day. My mother is a really good cook. She makes lots of different traditional dishes but my favourite is ‘Melouhea” it is made from a green vegetable of same name, similar to spinach and my mum makes it with chicken and rice.

After lunch I pray. Then, I do my homework and watch TV. My favourite show comes from Turkey. It’s called ‘The Flower’s Tear’…
[laughs in response to sound of the television] I love this.

Then, I like to play computer games until dinner, which is around 7pm. I love MSN Messenger and chatting to friends – but my parents don’t let me use this at home.
I watch TV with my family and pray and then I go to bed. That’s it.

LAYAN AZZA: Hi, I’m Layan Azza. One of the Radio Lajee team. I’m 18 years old and have lived in Aida Refugee Camp all my life. It was established in 1950 and has changed a lot.

My grandfather, now 75 years old, was one of the first refugees to arrive here. He was 14 years old.

How long have you been living in the camp?

MOHAMAD AZZA (Layan’s Grandfather): Around 60 years.

LAYAN AZZA: Can you describe what Aida Camp looked like when you first arrived?

MOHAMAD AZZA: The camp was just a piece of land…Some trees and big rocks. And every family, they had a tent from UNRWA and they built it and they put the stones around the tent.
It was very hard for us, especially in the winter. Some nights it would snow and the tent [would] fall down on the family…on the kids and the family. And maybe some head of that family [would spend] all the night holding the tent, till the morning.

LAYAN AZZA: What did you take to camp with you from your home in Beit Jibreen?

MOHAMAD AZZA: We didn’t take anything…heavy things. We took our dress, special dresses…and some mattresses and covers…to cover us and our kids during the night when we were walking from our village to Hebron. We walked from our village to Hebron [over] 2 nights and we had some mattresses and covers only. We couldn’t carry anything heavy because we didn’t have any cars with us or anything. Because we were thinking maybe we’ll return back after 2 days, 3 days, a week…2 weeks.

LAYAN AZZA: Did you get your keys to your home?

MOHAMAD AZZA: Yes, it was with my mother and father. The key means to me that I have to return to my home, to my village, to my land…one day. I hope that.

LAYAN AZZA: How was the situation here? What sort of life did people have here in The Camp?

MOHAMAD AZZA: The situation was very, very hard for the people. There was no work. They don’t have money. They didn’t have any food - they didn’t have anything. Except what UNRWA gave them. In the first ten – fifteen years, they gave the people every month some flour, rice and sugar or something. That’s it. People were poor, they were very sad living in their tents. They can’t go out because they don’t have any anything with them.

LAYAN AZZA: You were still a kid at school when you came here, so…were there any classes or teaches in the camp?

MOHAMAD AZZA: We had teachers…but we didn’t have any chairs, any desks, any things…We sat on the earth - on the ground. Around 3 or four years [were] like this. And after that, UNRWA started to bring chairs and desks to the students and big tents.

LAYAN AZZA: That was my Grandfather, talking about The Camp when he arrived 60 years ago.

[Sound of kids playing in the school courtyard]

Now it’s different; we have 2 schools: one for the boys and one for the girls. We don’t live in tents anymore. Now we have houses and electricity. Some people have satellite TV and a few people have internet. Water? Water is still a big problem…But, it is also a big story – for another time.

When my Grandfather came here there were around 160 people…but now, we have around 5000 people living in the same space. So we are crowded!

I hate living in the camp because I know my family once had land. But now, somebody else is living on that land.

MIRAS AL AZZEH: I’m Miras. I’ve been dancing Dabke for 5 years. It means a lot to me, so I made this story about it. Hope you like it.

(sound of children at a Dabke dancing class)

Nasim Abu Isha is one of the Dabke teachers at the Lajee Centre. He runs classes every Thursday for 2 hours. Our troupe now has 20 dancers; 12 boys and 8 girls.

NASIM ABU ISHA: I started learning Dabke since 1998. Before [I was] ten years or eleven, I saw my friend dancing Dabke. I was surprised…[I thought] how do you do that? I can’t do that. So, I started step by step learning how to dance like him. Then I finished training and I preferred [the idea of] being a teacher so I started with [the] Lajee [Centre] teaching Dabke.

When I teach Dabke I feel like I’m free…and I try to translate this feeling into moves. Maybe the people will understand. Maybe, maybe not. But I hope that they understand my message. But, when you teach Dabke, the people who are learning…they start making a new life, especially the children. I hope to make the children [feel] free, especially while they are growing up.

MIRAS AL AZZEH: 14 year old Maysan is one of the dancers in Nasim’s class.

MAYSAN: When I dance Dabke, I feel that I’m defending Palestine. I feel that I’m like [a] mirror, showing the people our tradition and identity. Also, with each movement, I feel that I’m breaking the Israeli separation wall and the checkpoints.

MIRAS AL AZZEH: Dabke wasn’t always political. Sabreen Asad is also a member of Nasim’s class. She explains the history of Dabke before 1948.

SABREEN ASAD: Dabke is the Palestinian traditional folk dance. It can be performed by both males and females or collectively. Before Al Naqba – ‘The Catastrophe’ in 1948, Dabke was performed at weddings, harvest seasons and other celebratory occasions.

MIRAS AL AZZEH: My grandfather is now 76 years old. He was born in Beit Jibreen and he can still remember what Dabke was like back then.

GRANDFATHER, MOHAMMAD AL AZZEH: Every region had its own version of Dabke. In the north, the dance was punctuated by lots of jumping and vigorous movements; whereas in the south, the movements were softer and more routine.

In each village there were many Dabke troupes. At times of celebration, each group took part in the ceremony and would enlist a special dancer (who we called a ‘Louweir’) who would instruct and lead the other dancers. Generally, all groups would sing and play the flute (which we call, in Arabic, a ‘Shoubaba’) while they danced. Today, the children who dance Dabke, keep our tradition alive.

MIRAS AL AZZEH: When I hear my grandfather say that, it makes me feel happy and proud because I know that when I dance Dabke I’m protecting my country’s heritage.

As a Palestinian, I don’t know what the future will be, but I hope to dance Dabke forever.