"The promise of a land from the one who doesn't own it to the one who doesn't deserve it."

Assalamu 'Alaikum, friends. This is long overdue but here's the second interview. Meet TNT_Writer
- a
Palestinian living in Lebanon.

K. Assalamu Alaikum. It feels redundant to ask this question at this time, but how are you doing?

T. Wa alaykom assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatoh. Alhamdulillah all is good from Allah. How are you?

K. Happy to hear. All is well on my end as well, thank you for asking. I think without further ado we should get started. I wanted to begin the interview with the basics. Name, age, location - however much you're comfortable to share.

T. Okay. My name is Tania Naboulsi, originally from the city of Nablus in occupied Palestine. I'm 37 years old and currently I'm a refugee in Beddawi camp in north Lebanon.

K. How did you end up in Beddawi camp?

T. I was born in Lebanon, in Albeqaa area. My mom's family (parents, brothers and sisters) were in El Baddawi camp. My mom returned there and I lived my whole life in the camp, since I was 45 days old. But if you're asking about the nakba in the year 1948 and how my maternal family got to Beddawi camp, then that's a different story.

K. Please tell us about the Nakba of 1948 and how your family ended up in Lebanon.

T. So the Nakba didn't happen in one day, even though the 15th May, 1948 is considered the Nakba day.

The British occupation was preparing the ground for the Jews to come and take Palestine. Like they promised to them by the Balfour declaration. We call it the promise of a land from the one who doesn't own it to the one who doesn't deserve it.

Anyway, they brought the jewish immigrants to Palestine by ships. The first jews came from Russia. They helped them steal the land in twisted ways, like demanding high taxes from the peasants so eventually they would have to sell their lands. The Palestinians that had to sell their land, they thought they were selling it to Arabs. But in reality they were working for Zionists. They only managed to get 6% of the land by this means. So the propaganda that the Palestinians sold their lands is a lie. Also the British occupation provided military training to the zionist gangs and gave them weapons, till eventually they turned into an organized army. Even before that they were committing massacres against the Palestinian people. About 250 villages were destroyed and endured ethnic cleansing. Killing, burning with torches and raping and cutting the bellies of pregnant women either to kill the child or steal them. Every atrocity you may think about happened to my people.

My grandparents from my mom's side were from AlTantoura village south of Haifa. All the atrocities that I spoke about earlier happened in this city. You can find it on google. A lot of videos were shared recently about men from the zionist army who committed the AlTantoura massacre between 22nd and 23rd May, 1948. They killed the men and made them dig their own graves and let the others bury them and then die after them. Recently one of the mass graves was found under the parking lot. They turned AlTantoura village into a resort now.

My eldest aunt got sick with typhoid fever back then, she was 8 years old, and to save her the family had to bring her to the American University Hospital in Beirut Lebanon. Alhamdulillah that she was saved, but lost her hearing. At that point AlTantoura village fell in the hands of the zionist army and gangs (which makes it a war crime because it was made by an organized army of a "state") so they couldn't go back. My family hoped to go back in two weeks like they were reassured by the Arab revolution back then, but those 2 weeks turned into months and months turned into years.

In the first 4 years, my family moved from one Lebanese area to the other until Beddawi camp was established and they moved from living in a mosque in ancient Tripoli to Al Baddawi camp for the Palestinian refugees. And we are still living here till now Alhamdulillah. And we're still hoping to go back and free our country in shaa Allah.

K: God, I can't begin to imagine the difficulties. I'm sorry to hear that your family had to go through this and Palestinians have been enduring it for years. Do you still have family that are currently living in Palestine?

T: Yes, some relatives from my mother's side are still in Haifa or Ifradis, the village where the people of AlTantoura had to move after the massacre. Also, I have long distant relatives in Nablus, the Naboulsi family, like the martyr Ibrahim AlNaboulsi.

K: Did you speak to your relatives in Palestine recently? Could you tell us what it's like there?

T: I did. The situation in the West Bank is like being under two occupations, the Zionists and the so-called Palestinian authority. The PA is working for the Zionists and a lot of people are being captured or killed by them because they have what they call security coordination with the Zionists. And the Zionists are doing the same. I'm talking about hundreds of captives, if not more, and some were killed in captivity.

As for the so-called 48 lands, the Palestinians are not allowed to speak, let alone protest, about what's going on in Gaza. They are being captured and imprisoned and attacked the second they reach the streets Subhanallah.

K: Could you elaborate on the 48 lands?

T: The 48 lands are the lands that were occupied in the year of 1948 and are what the zionists and the international governments call it (Israel). It's not , it was, is and will always be Palestine in shaa Allah. It's the land from where the Palestinian people were kicked out to the west bank and Gaza Strip and to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to live in refugee camps and all over the world. Especially after being massacred and had their homes destroyed.

K: I also would like to know more about the PA, it's the first I'm hearing of them. Who are they and how did they form?

T: PA stands for the Palestinian Authorities, that was made by Oslo's treaty. We don't acknowledge nor accept them and they don't represent us as people. But like how the international governments accept to call our land (Israel), they acknowledge the PA as the representative of the Palestinian people in the UN and other places. Which doesn't make sense, since they also only exist in the West Bank. So the Palestinian people from the 48 lands are not under their jurisdiction in any way whatsoever. And as I said they help the zionists by the Oslo treaty in catching the resistance and anyone the zionists want and they kill too. So we can use PA as (Personal Assistant) to the zionist government.

K: Do you wish to visit or return to Palestine?

T: Let's make something clear for everyone, Palestine is not a place to "visit". Palestine is the land we will return to. I don't just wish to return there, but I am bi ithnillah, returning home. It's a promise from Allah to us. Palestine will be free, in shaa Allah, and if it's not in my time, then our kids will go back and bury us there in our lands.

To clarify my response on 'visiting' - Palestine is under occupation. To go there for a 'visit' means to ask for permission from the occupation, and then when you're finished visiting you will go out from your own land by yourself. I don't know, or think, there's anything that can be more humiliating for us and for our country.

Palestine is to be freed and returned to. I will not even go back to Nablus at first. First and foremost I will return to AlTantoura village, my mom's and grandparents' village in the so-called 48 lands.

K: What a beautiful answer. I wish to see every displaced Palestinian back home someday. May Allah grant it for you. Now, I wanted to ask you about your life in Beddawi camp. What's it like there?

T: It's good, Alhamdulillah. To me, it is a temporary home until I get back Home (which is Palestine). I'm a single woman, a volunteer member of the Arabic Palestinian Cultural Club in the camp, I'm the financial officer also in the administration of the Arts committee. I have several other duties that I fulfill there. I live with my mom and my aunt. I'm a cat person, I have 6 cats الحمد لله.

In addition, I'm an artist. I paint and draw. Often I work on murals on the walls of the camps about Palestine. إن شاء الله today I'm starting 2 new ones about the current events in Palestine. So this is what I'm known for here, the Camp's Artist. الحمد لله. And an activist.

Right now the Beddawi camp is crowded because of the displaced people from another camp in Lebanon and the camps from Syria, along with other nationalities. Originally there were 17000 people in the camp, but now there are more than 65000 people.

K: May Allah make it easy for every displaced person.

Where were you when you first learned of the aftermath of October the 7th (Israel's attack on Palestine) and what was your reaction to it?

T: I was asleep in bed, when mom came to me saying that Palestine is being freed right now, that we got in. She was crying. I was confused at first and then asked her what's going on? I opened my mobile phone to see the news. I read briefly what's happening and started crying myself. Then I called my sister, who lives in KSA, though I knew she was sleeping. The moment she answered, I started crying a lot. She got worried at first but then I told her that the freeing of Palestine has started. Our fighters got inside. She was like, why are you crying then. Of course, I said they're happy tears. Alhamdulillah.

And we haven't stopped checking the news on the phone or TV since then.

K: Could you give us more insight into your thoughts on the current situation of Palestine?

T: I already know that to free Palestine a lot of blood is being spilled and more will be spilled, but it's a small price to pay for our country and freedom. It's painful of course, and no one is allowed to get used to this scene. But it's not the end, it's a part of the journey, and with every difficulty there is ease, always, Subhanallah Alhamdulillah. And as much as it seems like we are losing, we are actually victorious. The Zionists are the one who are losing immensely. Their reputation, that they took more than 75 years to build, has been tarnished. And they keep making mistakes after mistakes, getting more enemies by the minute and more allies are quitting on them because the people around the globe know the truth now. What they are doing is shown to the world by locals who might be the next news. They are getting to their own end by their feet.

K: The reputation they built for 75 years has been shattered—and that's no small feat. You're absolutely right. I love how optimistic you are. How did you feel when you saw the tide was slowly turning in social media, and people were starting to support Palestine?

T: I was like, it's about time! We were waiting for this to happen a long time ago, we needed this. In the past (before the 7th of October), people didn't believe. They were living in a fabricated reality, they believed that the so-called (Israel) is a democratic state that believed in human rights, the ideal state and the perfect state, a model for countries around the world. We, the Palestinians, know the truth and don't want to live with them in our own land. Peace will only come after they leave our country Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea , 27027 km2. And after all the Palestinian refugees get back to their lands.

They would call us ignorant and the bad guys, terrorists for defending ourselves. But now they are seeing the truth, and the peoples of the world are saying there cannot be a two state solution, that Palestinians are the real owners of the land. Also, people are reverting to Islam because of what they're seeing, that's what makes it really worth it all. Alhamdulillah. All this is victory to us. This is all a part of the journey and process to free all of Palestine in shaa Allah.

K: In shaa Allah. Who are Hamas and what do they do, could you tell us briefly if you know? What is your stance on Hamas? Let us know if you're comfortable to share.

T: Hamas in Arabic is written like حماس. The name is an abbreviation for The Islamic Resistance Movement. So basically they are a resistance movement. They were formed on the 10th of December 1987, at the same time with the first intifada. Which means that they came long after the nakba, so the excuse of the Zionists that they are fighting Hamas only is a total lie.

Hamas' first president was Alsheikh Ahmad Yassine, who became a handicapped person in wheelchairs because of being tortured in prison. They assassinated him by bombing him when he was coming out of a mosque after Fajr prayers. They are a part of the muslim brotherhood.

Hamas believes that our struggle against the Zionists is not because of borders but because of existence. It's either us or them. And that the resistance is the only way to freedom, they're against the negotiations with the zionists. Their military wing is the one that is fighting right now. They are called ( Izzuddin Al Qassam brigades).

They are also being fought by the Palestinian Authority who work with the Zionists and want the two states solution and have security coordination with the Zionists. I am with what Hamas believes. As long as they are this way I'm with them more specifically their brigades.

K: Any final words you would like to share?

Thank you for choosing me for this interview. I just hope and ask everyone to keep posting and to share the truth. To keep their eyes and minds open, because what is happening to us can happen to anyone if the Zionists and their allies are not stopped.

I pray to Allah that He give our people in Palestine, and all the Palestinians, freedom, security and protection. To ease their suffering and hearts. To support them and supply them with soldiers we can't see and other soldiers we can see. To steadfast their Faith and fight against the wrongdoers. To have mercy on our martyrs and to heal our wounded people and free our captives. To free all Palestine and make me one of the martyrs. Ameen 🤲🏻 ☝🏻✌🏻🌻✊🏻🔻🇵🇸🤲🏻.