Palestinian finds refuge in Richmond co-op
It was an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of home – and just how fragile that can be.
“I was taken out of Palestine as a refugee when I was three years old,” Ardat recalled. It was 1948 and the British were pulling out of Palestine, leading to the mass exodus of some 700,000 Arab residents and the destruction of more than 400 Palestinian villages.
Ardat’s family was one of many that had to flee; his grandparents stayed behind, with the British citizenship granted to his grandfather after fighting for Britain in the Second World War. The family joined thousands of Arab Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps, and Ardat c...