They took everything – also, our dignity – Richard Schulte

They took everything – also, our dignity describes the life of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed, who lives in a refugee camp in Lebanon. The text explores his daily life, his relationships and his experiences. The boy finds himself having to face the reality of war and daily violence but tries to maintain a normal life by going to school and playing with friends. However, his growth leads him to better understand the situation in which he lives and to seek answers to the questions that arise. On one hand, the text highlights the difficulty of understanding the reality of war and violence for a child, but also his ability to grow and face the situation with courage also thinking about his future. On the other hand, it explores the difficulties Palestinian refugees face in finding work and receiving an adequate education. Furthermore, it addresses the issue of propaganda and media control by the Israelis and the International Community’s responsibility and failure to mediate in the conflict.

Richard Schulte is a retired Tax Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and a retired Major in the Swedish Army Reserves, who now lives in Sweden and Singapore. He lived in Syria, Israel and Jordan as a young boy in the first half of the 1960s when his father worked as a Military Observer for the United Nations supervising the Cease Fire Line between Israel and its Arab neighbours. He returned to the region again with his wife in the first half of the 1980s when he himself worked as a Military Observer for the United Nations, living in Israel, but working mostly in the Golan Heights and in South Lebanon, meeting people from all sides of the conflict from regular army representatives and other militants to ordinary civilians and Palestinians in refugee camps.