Hello world! We are Palestine. We are here. We are still here. It is our Birthright.

We are Palestine… We are Palestinians. We are the people–Earth–water–and sky, although many if not most of us live under different skies now.

We are here. We belong. We have a right to be here–as a culture, as a people, as a nation, and as individuals. We have a right to be anywhere on Earth–especially on our native Palestinian land.

We have been denied our identity–we have been denied our virtue, we have been denied our participation in the world community.

We have been demonized–our freedom fighters have been portrayed as needlessly violent when they bravely resisted the British, and after the British gave 50% of our land to the Zionist project in 1948, our freedom fighters were called terrorists by the Zionist militias who had used terrorism and declared in writing that terrorism was an acceptable means.

We are innocent–no not of everything–but at our core.

We have dignity–as individuals and as a people.

We are free–no we are not perfect, yes we still work on our character as individuals, and we work on our well-being collectively.

We are here, world. Many of our people welcomed the refugees from Europe–those people whose ancestry, or traditions, or faith had come from the Southern coast of the Eastern Mediterranean–between Egypt and Lebanon. Then the tables turned, and they held our houses–while we held onto only the key to the front door. “They took it fully furnished” we said.

Nowadays, it uncommon to hear these new arrivals say “there is no such thing as a Palestinian–there is either an Israeli Arab or there is a terrorist”. Are you surprised these lies are taken as truth? Did you ever hear the blatant intentional “a land without a people for a people without a land”??

Malicious lies do not take away our birthright, because we do not let them. We are Palestinians. Our birthright is to be Palestinian–a people noble, with dignity and community, educated but more importantly cultured, fighters but more importantly seekers of peace, and truth. Our birthright is the land we stand on, the lands our ancestors gave birth to us on. And we shall return.

Welcome to the experience of the Palestinian birth-right. Welcome to Birthright Palestine!