BEIRUT October 12, 2009 (WAFA)-  “If Palestine was free, I would play outside with my friends. If  Palestine was free, I could ask my grandparents about their stories. If  Palestine was free I would plant a thousand olive trees.”  The voices of Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon  who  mostly drowned out, by politicians, their own parents and teachers… . reflecting their faint cries for peace and stability, Lebanese Daily Star reported.

A five-day drama workshop, organized by United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees from schools across the country, with the help of British actor and director David Morrissey, star of films Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Sense and Sensibility.

 Mentioning that 65 children aged between 11 and 16 were brought together from different UNRWA schools to find out that learning, the Daily Star said it  is not always about what you read in books. The children chose themes for each of their pieces, some sung pop ditties of Arabic stars gone by, others chose morality plays with much deeper social messages.

One piece entitled, “If Palestine was free,” was particularly difficult for the proud parents in the audience to watch, many of whom are all too aware what price their children pay for Israeli occupation.

“These performances help you to share in a history you might otherwise forget,” said a 13-year-old girl from the southern city of Tyre, glad to have workshops such as UNRWA’s. “It’s a chance to be listened to and tell your own views.”

Palestinians in Lebanon have long been relegated to an irreverent sub-story in the larger Lebanese narrative and have subsequently suffered from a lack of collective history; one marred by massacres, uprisings and uprooting.

“This is not Gaza, this is not the West Bank,” the workshop’s director Morrissey said, “Lebanon is not Israel and the eyes of the world are not on these Palestinians.” He believes the plight of  Palestinian refugees is overlooked by the outside world, with the children in Lebanon left to suffer. 

He said when he arrived at the school on the first day, the children were resistant to the workshop, but in the end they had let their guard down and began to enjoy the chance to express themselves. 

“The change that occurred in them in the last five days is astonishing,” he added, “they just need attention.” 

Morrissey said the main problem is that children don’t always respond to education purely by rote, which is how most are being taught. 

“It doesn’t provide the opportunity to be listened to like drama does. It is important this sort of learning is built into the education system.” 

“We have given them information in the old, tired way and they rejected it,” Ghoul said. “Though drama is often seen as an extra-curricular hobby it is so key to helping them learn real skills. The future for these children is letting them express themselves and the rest will be that much more bearable.” He added “Educate a child through play and they will not be quick to forget.”