Keys of hope for return to homeland

BEIRUT — Mohammed Khatib was carefully polishing two copper bowls under a dim yellow light in the Shatila refugee camp, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The two bowls, part of the collection of the Memories Museum of Palestinians, came from an 82-year-old Palestinian woman who fled Palestine more than 50 years ago, said Khatib, the founder of the museum.

Khatib, 77, born in a Palestinian village eight kilometers from the Lebanese border, came to Lebanon with his parents as refugees when he was several months old during the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and has lived in the Shatila refugee camp ever since.

After completing studies in Spain in 1979, Khatib returned to Shatila to become a community doctor.

Despite having lived most of his life in Lebanon, Khatib, like most Palestinians living and working in Shatila, is dedicated to returning to his homeland.

Palestinians here have never considered themselves as belonging to Shatila, he said, noting the idea of returning home was always on their minds.

Continued conflict in the region dimmed their hope, but the belief in returning to their homeland remained strong, which prompted him to set up the Memories Museum in Shatila in 2005 to commemorate their homeland and identities, Khatib said.

Over nearly 20 years the Memories Museum, in a residential building in the alleys of Shatila, has been crammed with collections of old objects used by Palestinians, including fishing nets, warriors' swords, food trays and copper teapots that preserve the history and traditional culture of Palestine.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees says nearly one-third of the registered Palestine refugees, more than 1.5 million people, live in 58 recognized Palestine refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Talking about his plans, Khatib said, "If I had the choice I would give up all my property just to return to my home in Palestine, even if there is only a tent."

Xinhua