BEIRUT: The Palestinian community in Lebanon is caught between two worlds. While there are now Palestinian children being born here whose grandparents have never laid eyes on Palestine, the idea of staying connected to their origins in the hopes of one day returning home remains strong.
Schools in the Palestinian camps struggle to give their students a sense of connection to their roots, while still fostering a feeling of belonging in the present. Teachers fight to fulfill the desires of their communities - that the children know their Palestinian heritage - and the needs of the modern Lebanese state - that children grow up with a consciousness of their host country.
History departments in schools have long grappled with trying to form their classes in such a way that their students emerge with a dual identity. But for schools funded by the United Nations, under the control of the Lebanese Education Ministry, and run by Palestinians, this is not a simple task.
Ashraf Abed al-Rafur is a history teacher at Khan Younis School in the Sabra refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Beirut. He teaches 13-15-year-olds in middle school there.
"[Palestinian children] should maintain their dignity and their respect for themselves and their heritage," says Rafur, speaking about the importance of dual identity for students.
The Education Ministry mandates a history curriculum for the ninth grade, the highest year taught at the school, but the institution has leeway to make its own decisions for seventh- and eighth-grade history classes.
As a result, seventh- and eighth-graders at Khan Younis get a blend of both Lebanese and Palestinian histories, with an emphasis on Palestinian history, while ninth-graders use the Education Ministry, textbook which focuses on 20th century world history and on Lebanon. They are tested on world history at the end of the ninth grade.
"Students learn Palestinian history daily from mothers, fathers, their peers, and life in the camp. Then they learn it from school at the end," Rafur explains, detailing what he sees as an important distinction between teaching Palestinian and Lebanese history.
Students already have a strong attachment to Palestine by the time they arrive at school, and so the classroom is more of a last stop for learning Palestinian history, whereas school is really the first exposure for many Palestinians to Lebanese history.
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Khan Younis' principal, Khaled Saris, said that it is the teachers' challenge to persuade the students to take ownership of Lebanon's history as well.
"The camps, although they are misery, they keep the identity of the Palestinians," he says.
The key to making students appreciate the two histories, Saris adds, is finding common themes between them. He says that by drawing a comparison between the two places, students will achieve a greater understanding of both.
Saris does so by giving comparative examples of both countries. Lebanon and Palestine are both lands that have been occupied by foreign forces, he says.
Saris argues that by comparing the two peoples' histories under occupation, the students can use their real experience
here in Lebanon to come to a better understanding of the situation in Palestine.
One connection that the schools in the camps make between the two histories is the celebration of Martyrs' Day by both countries on different dates. On each of the two days, Palestinians use the occasions to commemorate martyrs both in Palestine and in Lebanon. In so doing, history teacher Rafur argues, the students can see the commonality of their two identities and can mentally justify this dual existence.
"We always commemorate national days to implant in our children the understanding that they have a country that is occupied by the Israelis and that they one day must liberate that land," Rafur says.
Saris argues that his commitment to teaching the dual identity is made more difficult because of the unequal rights Palestinians have in Lebanon.
"It is a different situation in Lebanon because of the hostility," Saris says. "In Syria and Jordan for example, Palestinians are more accepted in society and so they adopt the culture. They integrate more. But, in Lebanon, Palestinian culture is maintained more than elsewhere."
Over 60 years after first becoming refugees, the Palestinians still manage to walk the line and manage their dual identities. Whether another 60 years away from their homeland will erode that strong connection, only time will tell. But one thing is clear: Educators in the camps seem intent on ensuring that students continue to embrace both cultures and histories.
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