From Tents to Checkpoints: A Palestinian Refugee’s Return Home

"I couldn’t bring myself to pack for my trip till the night before we left. Something about the thought of where I was going didn’t seem real. Falasteen has always been more of a dream than a reality. I used to listened to my parents tell stories about the struggle of my family’s history. I listened to family talk about the land they left behind, I went anti-occupation rallies for the thousands of people killed, and I even began organizing and giving speeches at events and demonstrations. I wrote poems about return, I read books, I ate Falasteeni food and danced debka with Falasteeni family and friends. And despite the fact that my life almost completely revolved around being Palestinian, Palestine was simply the paradise that lived in the people I love.

I didn’t know what to pack. How do I pack 63 years of my family’s exile into a duffel bag? My parents were stateless refugees who never returned, my grandparents died in refugee camps, and I was about to be the first of my family to step foot on homeland. How do I pack 63 years of heartbreak?" J. Dubbs

From Tents to Checkpoints: A Palestinian Refugee’s Return Home (Part I)