Khaberni - After ten months of being forced to displace from Tulkarm camp in the occupied West Bank due to Israeli aggression, Hakam Irheil does not know whether he will be able to return someday.
In mid-January last year, Israel launched a wide aggression on several camps in the north of the occupied West Bank, and amid the aggression that affected Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps in Tulkarm and Jenin camp, Irheil (41 years old), a father of four children, was displaced and his house was demolished.
He says, "Before the operation, each child had their own room in our house, we were in a camp (but) our life was better, better."
Today, Irheil lives with his family in a nearby school and fears that this temporary shelter will become a permanent situation.
In a report published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch stated that 32,000 Palestinians are still displaced forcibly due to the Israeli operation.
"War Crimes"
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the Israeli army has destroyed more than 850 homes and other buildings in three camps in the north of the occupied West Bank over the past ten months, as well as paved wide roads instead of the narrow alleys that the camps are known for, to facilitate the passage of its military vehicles.
The organization concluded that Israel's forced displacement of residents of three camps "amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity," and that forcing Palestinians to displace from the camps constitutes "ethnic cleansing."
Irheil’s family is among the 19 families taking shelter in the school.
Irheil explains, "There is no privacy here at all, I live in a room that is a school classroom, with the five of us (his wife and four children)."
He adds, "I hung up covers (as curtains) for my daughter to sleep alone," to give her some privacy.
In the outer hallways of the school, the displaced have planted plants and placed a sink for washing dishes, as well as hung ropes for drying clothes.
Demand for Return
On the outskirts of Tulkarm where Nur Shams camp is located, displaced people organized a protest on Monday demanding their right to return to their homes.
About 150 protesters reached a new gate placed on the road to the camp before stopping at the entrance where the street, which used to make its way uphill towards the homes, was filled with its destroyed debris.
During the gathering of the protesters, gunshots were fired from inside the camp where the Israeli forces are stationed, and a photojournalist was shot in the leg, causing panic among those present.
The Israeli army claimed that the protesters "entered a closed military area," and acknowledged firing at one after he "refused to comply with orders."
The Nakba is still clearly present in the collective Palestinian memory, and residents of the camps like Irheil fear that history may repeat itself, especially since they thought in 1948 that their displacement was temporary.
Residents discuss among themselves possible dates for return, without any official confirmation.
Irheil says, "We demand to return to the camp even if my house is demolished. I want to return at least to see its place and it demolished."
He points out that the Israeli army sets a return date for the displaced, then soon retracts it.
