Palestinian Wall Painting Commemorates Nakba
Islam Will Replace Collapsing Amerikan Empire
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
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.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-03/14/article02.shtml
Up to 50,000 maps charting Palestinian sites that date back to 1799 are
found in the English-language geographical encyclopedia.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-05/15/article04.shtml
Also read:
The 1948 Nakba (Historical Analysis)
http://www.islamonline.net/English/In_Depth/PalestineInFocus/Nakba/01.shtml