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By 'Amr Abu Khalil
I am a psychiatrist who went to the Lebanese refugee camp Nahr Al-Bared in a delegation sent by IslamOnline.net to try alleviate the pains of those who have suffered. I did not aim to take sides or state a position.
Many factors have contributed to the suffering of those refugees. They suffer from the chronic feelings of injustice and discrimination. They have been shocked by those around them whom they thought would lend a helping hand to counterbalance the impact of the disaster.
Mixed Feelings
There were mixed feelings toward the pain caused by the injustice committed against them. There was a prevailing sadness for the young neighbors who died during the military operations. I was deeply touched when I came to understand their tremendous sadness. I found myself delving into this terrible ocean of pain, not from a political perspective but rather from a professional one.
I found myself searching for a real psychological treatment that does not involve painkillers and analgesics that would soon lose effect. Professionally speaking, I witnessed a human tragedy named "Palestinians of the Diaspora." For me, those people are no longer figures and statistics. I felt their tragedy in flesh and blood. I felt their souls that have suffered long.
In the Name of Humanity
Palestinians in the Diaspora are a reality that needs to be dealt with humanely. They are humans who have searched for their identity but were unable to claim it. They yearn for their homeland; they demand justice, which is more like a mirage in their eyes. We cannot regard them as an item in a news brief that we hear inattentively. They are just like you and me. They are humans who have the right to a dignified life, the right to a homeland, and the right to an identity.
This file should not be closed, forgotten, or put on the shelf. Those people need our day-by-day support because they actually live that tragedy.
Amr Abu Khalil is a counselor at the Family Section of the Arabic IslamOnline.net. He is a member of the psychological support team. He can be reached at adam@islamonline.net.
Sources:
Translated from the Arabic onIslamonline.net
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