Subject: AL-AWDA: Thank You Letter From Palestinian Refugee Children in Lebanon
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 18:56:43 -0400


SOME GOOD NEWS--A LETTER FROM PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN IN LEBANON

October 15, 2000

Dear Friends,

The past two weeks have been very dark for all Palestinians and for all
who want to see justice. But even as we grieve, it is important to take
note of hopeful victories.

In September we wrote to you on behalf of a brave group of Palestinian
children from refugee camps in northern and eastern Lebanon who had no
schools to go to. These young people were sitting-in and staging a hunger
strike in front of the Beirut office of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for the Palestine Refugees. Their demand was simple: they
wanted the right to learn and to have a future. Their sit-in lasted twenty
seven days and nights.

As a result of our appeal, the children received hundreds of email
messages of support, solidarity and the simple caring words that every
child deserves to hear. In addition, hundreds of emails and faxes were
sent to UNRWA urging the agency to fight for the necessary resources from
donor states.

At long last, on October 9, UNRWA announced that, "Due to the steep
increase of Brevet [high school entrance qualification] holders in the
school year 1999/2000, as well as the difficult economic situation of
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, UNRWA has decided to establish two new
secondary schools in North Lebanon and Beqaa areas." One of the schools is
to be funded by the PLO.

The children believe that the support they received by email helped in
making their education a priority. There is no doubt that it gave them
hope. They have written a letter of thanks to every person who wrote on
their behalf, and have asked us to share it with you. We give thanks to a
supporter in Beirut who brought it from them and translated it, and we
proudly share it with you.

The struggle for secure education is not yet over. UNRWA's funding is
never certain, and the rights of refugees always at risk. Therefore we
must keep our solidarity alive and active.

Ali Abunimah (USA)
ali-AT-abunimah.org

Arjan El Fassed (The Netherlands)
arjan-AT-al-awda.org

Zahi Damuni (USA)
zahi-AT-al-awda.org

****************************************************************************
*

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Yes, we feel we can call you friends because you stood with us during our
sit-in in front of UNRWA. You were with us when nobody was, and this is
true friendship. We read your emails many times, which made us feel warm
and secure and strong enough to continue our struggle. This is what
friendship is all about.

Yesterday UNRWA informed us that it decided to establish two secondary
schools for Palestinian refugees in north Lebanon and the Bekaa. The PLO
will finance the one in north Lebanon, and UNRWA will finance the Bekaa
school. The establishment of the two schools will be gradual starting with
the first secondary level for this year, and completing the secondary
cycle by 2002-3.

We don't know how to thank you for supporting us. Your support meant the
world to us. It kept us strong. It kept us holding fast to our struggle.
It is sad that UNRWA would not listen to us for the first ten days,
because we had no support, and we are only refugees. Luckily, when people
started writing to UNRWA offices they agreed to meet us and listen to our
demands. It needed support from the outside to get our voices heard. We
have always been required to fight for our basic rights.

We are grateful because you opened our eyes on how to use technology to
make the world listen to us. It is the first time we used these means to
achieve our aims and to spread information about our condition. We held
many protests before for our basic needs, but no one knew about us and no
one cared. We were not on TV, even in Lebanon. We were not in the press
and even our fellow Palestinians outside the camp would not know about us.
You know, in Lebanon and the whole world, Palestinians are only in the
press when they make mistakes, even small mistakes. We used to feel so
isolated and alone. But not this time. We were strong with your support
and your emails even played a major role in making UNRWA hear our demands.
Please keep up your support for us and for all refugees, because without
your support we count for nothing in this world.

We were happy to achieve our aims and win schools, but the spilling of
blood in Palestine and South Lebanon has tempered our happiness with
sadness.

We went home sure that if we all stand together for our rights, we will
achieve them. We hope to achieve our right to return to our homeland soon,
and live in peace forever. Thank you so much for your help. You made us
hopeful. You made us regain our trust in ourselves, and in a just, fair
world. Keep up your work for just causes all over. Until we meet all
Palestinians and our supporters in Palestine, under an olive tree...

Much Love,

Strong, Hopeful, Refugee Students
Lebanon

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION, FOLLOW THESE
LINKS:

http://www.abunimah.org/features/000920unrwa1.html
http://www.abunimah.org/features/000921unrwa2.html
http://www.abunimah.org/features/000925unrwa3.html
http://www.abunimah.org/features/000926jtunrwa.html











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