The pain of displacement – Excerpts
Zionism is the political ideology that has saw the demise of Palestine and the exile of its people. (Photo: File)
No matter where we are, in time and place, we carry our refugee ID cards, our precious status, our parents’ burden and our ancestors’ pain.
In fact, we have a name for it. It is called waja’ — “aching” — a character that unifies millions of Palestinian refugees all across the globe. With our refugee population now dominated by second, third or even fourth generation refugees, it seems that our waja’ is what we hold in common most. Our geographies may differ, our languages, our political allegiances, our cultures, but ultimately, we meet around the painful experiences that we have internalized throughout generations.
We mask the unbearable aching somehow, but it is always close to the surface. If we hear a single melody by Marcel Khalifeh or Sheikh Imam, or a few verses by Mahmoud Darwish, the wound is as fresh as ever.
Excerpts from The pain of displacement – Ramzy Baroud, Arab News
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