(Un) Living between Two Lives: The Palestinian Refugees from Lydda

Background and purpose: The Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes only to be displaced into refugee camps scattered around the cities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip of Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria. Seventy-two years later, scholars continue to examine the calamity caused by the Nakba specifically as it relates to Palestinian refugees right to return home. To the Palestinians, the Nakba is defined as: the loss of one's homeland, the collapse of society, and the exiled life outside the homeland along with being estranged within one's homeland (Sa'di, 2002). Consequently, scholars have argued that the Nakba did not end in 1948, but rather, continues its ethnic cleansing by targeting Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the surrounding refugee camps, through the illegal implementation of Israeli settler policies and practices (see Abu-Sitta, 1998; Masalha, 2008; Sayigh, 2007, 2013). Following the works of Masalha (2008) and Sayigh (2015), the Nakba was not a finite historical event, but rather an ongoing traumatic calamaty that continues to occupy a presence within the Palestinian psyche, creating an impact on the lived experience of the Palestinian society. This paper will unmask the deep rooted meaning of the Nakba from the mindset of Palestinians, specifically, Palestinians originating from a city named Lydda; one of numerous cities first occupied in 1948. Lydda Palestinians continue to be displaced as refugees, even while residing less than hundred miles from their actual original homes. the aim of this research is to examine; the lived experience of being uprooted and forced into political violence, all while enduring continued trauma and an endless sense of displacement.

Method: This research is qualitative, which shed light on the residual pain and suffering amongst fifteen refugees of the Nakba, from first and second generation, by using semi in-depth, semi-structured interviews, along with data analysis of other fifteen interviews with Palestinian refugees, that were conducted in the past and shared on social media, or websites such as Palestine remembered. The data gathered was analyzed by using critical psychological theories, and decolonial perspective, in order to understand how the past and the ongoing trauma of the displacement effect the refugees.

Findings: The finding reveals that refugees are living between the unending past, with a deep sense of pain, and loss of home, community and life, and unknown present with high sense of uncertainty and temporality. The "in between" sense effect the Palestinian refugee's everyday life, especially in the sense of unending political violence against the Palestinian since 1948.

Implications: This research highlighting the important role of the social work in context of continuing conflicts and struggle such as wars, political violence and democide. specially, working with Palestinians refugee's camps, facing an unending dispossession and denial of their right to return home.