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Book Review
**Autobiography of Adel Basbous**
Dora Silwan Wadi Sir and Vice Versa
Are You a Refugee or a Displaced Person?
The history of the Palestinian cause and the marches of its people is nothing but wars and migration. Despite this, the belonging to Palestine remains deeply rooted within the Palestinian psyche, and the hope for return has not faded for sixty-seven years since the Nakba.
The autobiographies and memoirs of Palestinian refugees revolve around the Nakba of 1948 and the tragedies of migration that families have endured. Palestinians found themselves living lives they did not plan, which automatically reflected on the memories of the refugees and the documented narratives of writers, most of which express the pain of uprooting from their land and living in refugee camps while enduring its harsh experiences. All of this served as a foundation for the refugees to move forward toward success, a state that neither time nor circumstance could change.
**Autobiographies**
In the introduction to her book "Gathering Scattered Papers," author Selwa Al-Jarah, born in Haifa in 1946, writes:
"I will write about myself, about Selwa Al-Jarah, her life and experiences, her successes and disappointments in a journey that extended from the Palestine where I was born and grew up in love for it, to Iraq."
Refugee and Displaced at the Same Time
After nearly two decades of occupation in Palestine and after the refugee had adapted to the new reality, a second war struck: the June War of 1967, which would see the remaining parts of Palestine fall under occupation.
"The world began to call us displaced," wrote Mourid Barghouti in "I Saw Ramallah."
Thus, there emerged two segments in Palestinian society: the refugees, a product of the Nakba, and the displaced, a product of the setback.
This is similar to how writer Adel Basbous introduced himself in his autobiography "Dora Silwan Wadi Sir and Vice Versa," published by Al-An Publishing and Distribution in 2024:
"In a school in Wadi Sir, the teacher asked us who among you is a refugee and who is displaced?"
When we did not understand the question, he explained:
"A refugee is someone whose family fled to the eastern bank after the 1948 war, while a displaced person is someone whose family moved from the West Bank to the eastern bank this year, meaning 1967."
I replied:
"Sir, I am both a refugee and displaced at the same time: I am a refugee whose family tasted the bitterness of displacement in 1948 and then drank from the same extremely bitter cup again this year, 1967."
**Tents and Camps**
In his autobiography "A Homeland of Words," writer Abdel Bari Atwan, originally from Asdod, notes:
"That small village where my father and mother lived until the Nakba of 1948. When the villagers reached the Deir al-Balah refugee camp, they found that the United Nations had established large cities made of fabric, organizing the tents in a way that placed those coming from the same place side by side. The whole family had to share the tent with three of my aunts, my grandfather, and two uncles. Only God knows how that happened. But my mother carried me in that tent; I was born in February 1950."
**Dora Silwan Wadi Sir**
Adel Basbous's memoirs:
"I opened my eyes to this life in the late 1950s in Dora, where our origins trace back to the occupied Dawayima during the Nakba of 1948. The family had no choice but to settle in Dora and adapt to the new situation, which was not comfortable, not only due to the difficulty of meeting living requirements like housing and work that generates income but also because of the label or 'stigma' that began to follow them wherever they went. The term 'refugee' was a new designation alien to their ears, harsh on their hearts, and shocking to their minds."
After years of hardship, the family decided to move to the town of Silwan in the Jerusalem district, where they would remain until the June War of 1967.
**Crossing the Bridge**
Regarding that, Basbous continues:
"On the morning of Monday, June 5, in Jerusalem, the war began. I heard the elders expressing fear of its outbreak... the Jews are coming."
The truth is that the fear of the residents was not from the enemy's weapons but from signs that began to confirm that the West Bank had fallen under occupation!
The fear of a repeat of the Deir Yassin and Kafr Qasim massacres dominated the minds of the residents, and the urgent question became: "What will happen to our daughters and women?"
Thus, everyone prepared to leave
Ruqayyah Al-Alami
