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Seven Days In Beirut

In early 2018, a researcher at the Palestinian Return Centre in London, Pietro Stefanini, attends a conference where he sees a video by a young Palestinian man. In it, Ahmed Shehadeh speaks passionately about the 70-year ordeal he feels his family has faced living stateless in Lebanon. 'I challenge anyone to stay in a refugee camp,' he says, 'not for 70 years, because we were forced out of Palestine 70 years ago, but for just seven days'. Inspired by Ahmed's challenge, Stefanini takes time out from his day job and travels to the Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut – a long-established shanty-like community where around 50,000 Palestinian refugees live – but without Lebanese citizenship. This film documents Pietro's stay, from Ahmed's meeting him at the camp entrance until he departs the alleyways and the maze of overhead electrical cables, notorious for falling and electrocuting residents. Students my age have graduated from college as doctors and engineers, but they're unemployed,' he says. 'I studied nursing but I can't find work. That's why we need different citizenship, Lebanese or anything, even if it's Somali or Indian. Ahmed was born in the camp but his grandfather, Abdullah Shehadeh, was forced out of Palestine during the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948, following the creation of the then new state of Israel. Palestinians refer to this as Al Nakba, 'the catastrophe'. He and his father and siblings went to the border with Lebanon and eventually came to Burj al-Barajneh. The camp was set up by the Red Cross in 1948 to accommodate the influx of Palestinian refugees from what's now northern Israel. As family patriarch, Abdullah is known as 'Hajj' and assembles his sons, daughters and grandchildren to greet Stefanini. He points mournfully to the picture of his wife of 62 years and says she's being treated in hospital. 'I wish she were here with us today,' he says, 'to tell you about Palestine, its natural wealth and heritage… She's been with me since 19

English
  • Runtime 50 minutes
  • Production Code 5801477800001
  • Network Al Jazeera
  • Created November 13, 2018 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified November 13, 2018 by
    Administrator admin