Download the conference program: Front / Back 

On December 16 - 18, 2005, Zochrot took part in the Second Conference on the Palestinian Right of Return and Just Peace in Nazareth. The conference was organized by the Association for the Defense of the Rights of  the Internally Displaced (ADRID), the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian Studies, and by Zochrot, in cooperation with the Union of Arab Community Based Organizations (Ittijah). Iris Bar was the conference coordinator on behalf of Zochrot, and Eitan Bronstein spoke on one of the panels.

"We are on the map" is a special activity Zochrot created for the conference. Zochrot prepared a small, colored card for every Palestinian village destroyed in the Nakba -- over 400 cards in total. Each card displayed the name of the village in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, as well as the map coordinates of the village. At the beginning of the conference, Zochrot volunteers used electric tape to mark longitude and lattitude lines across the floor of the lobby. Participants were then invited to choose a village card and to position it on the grid, thus returning the destroyed villages to the map of the land.


Participants consulted with the village lists to choose a particular card, or just took a random one from the pile.


The longitude and latitude lines of the map were marked in grey signs on the floor so participants could easily find the correct location for their village.


Cards were then affixed with adhesive tape so they wouldn't move.

 
Some interesting discussions developed between "neighbors" on the map.


The north-eastern corner of the finished map.

Instructions:

1
Choose a village card. To locate the card for a particular village according to name or number, please consult with the maps and tables provided.

2
Position the card on the map according to the coordinates that appear on the top right corner of the card. The three white numbers on the left designate longitude (East-West position) and the three black numbers on the right designate latitude (North-South position).

3
Tape down the card to keep it in place once you position it. You may also choose to sign your card with your name or a personal message.

4
Feel free to add a village by filling in a blank card available for this purpose.

The color coding of the cards reflects different reasons for the exodus of Palestinian residents.

We are grateful to the Palestine Land Society, London, for providing the maps and data for this activity. 

Thank you for your participation!
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