Tuesday, April 16 6:00 pm Avila University - Thornhill Gallery 11901 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/404870346755536/ The 89-year-old Mariam Fathalla and 24-year-old Amena EAshkar share their stories as two stateless Palestinians living in a refugee camp. On May 14, 1948, troops drove out the inhabitants of the ancient Palestinian town of al-Zeeb as part of what is now called al-Nakba (the Catastrophe.) Then 18-year-old Mariam Fathalla and her young husband fled to Lebanon. Now 89 years old, Mariam (Umm Akram) has raised three generations within the confines of a refugee camp. Amena ElAshkar, 24, is a Palestinian journalist and translator as well as the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Nakba survivors. She has known no home other than a refugee camp.

Wednesday, April 10 7:00 pm Noyes 163 University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/426799901225208/ Join us for our key-note event of Israeli Apartheid Week with the North America Nakba Tour! Nakba means "Catastrophe" in Arabic and refers to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians in order to create the state of Israel. Mariam Fathalla, 89 years old, is a survivor of the Nakba and will be sharing with us her personal narrative as an 18 year old during the Nakba. Mariam has spent the last 71 years in crowded, makeshift refugee camps in Lebanon. She has raised three generations, all waiting to return to Palestine. She has seen five Israeli invasions of Lebanon, as well as the 1976 Tel al-Zaatar camp massacre that killed more than 2000 refugees there. Amena ElAshkar, 24, is a Palestinian journalist and translator. the granddaughter and great granddaughter of Nakba survivors and has known no home other than a refugee camp. She will be translating for Mariam Fathalla.

Sunday, March 31 6:30 pm Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne 501 W. Berry St. Fort Wayne, Indiana Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/378144322737642/ On May 14, 1948, as Zionist leader David Ben Gurion was proclaiming a Jewish state in Palestine, his troops drove out the inhabitants of the ancient Palestinian town of al-Zeeb. 18-year-old Mariam Fathalla was one of them. She and her young husband fled to Lebanon. By year’s end the 4,000-year-old community had been leveled. More than half of all Palestinians were killed or expelled and more than half the cities, towns and villages disappeared, a crime that Palestinians call al-Nakba (the Catastrophe). Now 89 years old, Mariam has spent the last 71 years in crowded, makeshift refugee camps in Lebanon. She has raised three generations, all waiting to return to Palestine. She has seen five Israeli invasions of Lebanon, as well as the 1976 Tel al-Zaatar camp massacre that killed more than 2000 refugees there. Mariam wants meet you. So does Amena Ashkar, the great granddaughter of other Nakba survivors. They have a different message. They do not live in Palestine. They have no citizenship anywhere. They do not live under Israeli occupation. Israel does not allow them to visit their homes, much less live there. Amena has never met an Israeli, and Mariam not since 1948. They have a different perspective.