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Refugees
in our Own Land - Chronicles from a Palestinian
Refugee Camp in Bethlehem
by Muna
Hamzeh
This remarkable
book is a gripping eye-witness account of
what it is like to live in Palestine as
a refugee in your own homeland. Born in
Jerusalem, Muna Hamzeh is a journalist who
has been writing about Palestinian affairs
since 1985. She first worked as a journalist
in Washington DC, but moved back to Palestine
in 1989 to cover the first Palestine Intifada--the
war of stones. She then settled in Dheisheh,
near Bethlehem--one of 59 Palestinian refugee
camps that are considered the oldest refugee
camps in the world.
Immediately
accessible and fully up-to-date, the first
part of the book consists of a diary which
Hamzeh wrote between October 4th and December
4th 2000, telling the story of the second
Intifada. Facing the tanks and armed guards
of one of the best equipped armies in the
world, the Palestinians have nothing. They
fight back with stones. The anguish and
terror that Muna and her friends face on
daily basis is tangible. Who will be the
next to die? Whose house will be the next
to burn down? This deeply moving personal
account brings to life the harsh realities
of the Palestinian struggle.
The second
part of the book provides the background
to these current events. It describes what
life has been like for Dheisheh's refugees
since 1990, and explains why the second
Intifada was a natural development of the
Oslo peace accord. Refugees in Our Own
Land: Chronicles from a Palestinian Refugee
Camp in Bethlehem is a rare insider's
look into the hearts and minds of Palestinian
refugees. It is a tribute to the bravery
of the Palestinian people, and a wake-up
call to the world that has ignored so much
of their struggle and their suffering.
About the
Author
Muna Hamzeh
is a unique author in the sense that she
gave up a career in the media to return
to her source...a refugee camp. Educated
in the USA, she left her family to take
up residence in the refugee camp. She has
been in the refugeee camp for the last 9
years and this gives her voice a unique
authenticity. As she explains "my work
has developed both from my experience as
a professional journalist who has been writing
about Palestinian issues since 1985, and
also from the insight I've gained after
continuously living inside a refugee camp
for nine years. My background both as a
Palestinian and as an American has helped
me gain a unique outsider's view of the
camp." She is currently working as
project coordinator on a major internet
project intended to connect Palestinian
refugee camps in the Palestinian Territories,
Lebanon and Jordan on the internet and create
a refugee web-site.
Related Links
Photo
Essay about Dheisheh Camp, by Husam Qassis
and Jaggi Singh
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