Halima seas the sea of Jaffa after 78 years, speaks out about her visit

“Halima”, a Palestinian refugee who was able to visit her homeland in the occupied territories of Palestine in 1948 after she was forcibly displaced in Nakba in 1948, opened the live talks’ series on February 28, 2017, organized by the Deanship of Student Affairs. “Aunt Halima” was accompanied by the Palestinian researcher and historian Tarik Bakri, and writer Abdel Ghani Salameh.

Halima retold the story of her return after 78 years of being displaced, and what she felt after seeing the sea for the first time. She was able to visit Beit Nabala and see the sea for the first time since the Nakba in 1948. 

Halima, during her talk with the students, said that once she entered her ethnically cleansed village at the district of Ramla, she was able to recognize on the ruins of her house. She touched the sea again after she lastly saw it when she was 10 years old.

Halima, who lives now in Al Jalazoun refugee camp, was accompanied by Tarik Bakri, a young researcher and engineer, who created the initiative “We were…and we are”, to visually archive the Palestinian history. He described her playing with the sea and the beach waves as if she was a little child