Published : 20-12-2020
Hundreds of displaced Palestinian refugees in/from Syria have achieved success stories, despite the traumatic upshots wrought by the daily scenes of bloodshed and destruction across the embattled Syrian territories.
This includes scores of refugee students who have obtained the highest scores at their academic institutions; hundreds of refugee sportsmen/sportswomen who snatched the first places in regional and international competitions; dozens of artists who received renowned literary awards for their products and performances; and several housewives who turned trauma into a space of creativity.
Palestinian refugee Nowras Rahhal has made cutting-edge work on a COVID-19 vaccine, challenging the traumatic impact of his statelessness and the psychological scars of the Syria war.
Scientist Rahhal, who moved to Germany two years ago from Syria's war-shattered capital Damascus, is stateless - meaning no country recognizes him as a citizen.
Rahhal, 27, has just finished working with a team at one of the Max Planck institutes on developing a system allowing a COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to the skin, rather than injected into muscle. The technique - targeting specialist immune cells in the skin that can trigger an immune reaction in the body - would require a far smaller dose per person, a big advantage when inoculating large populations.
Before arriving in Germany, Rahhal spent years studying to the sound of bombings and artillery fire, using his phone torch to read when the electricity cut out at his Damascus home. But Rahhal's academic achievements are remarkable for another reason - stateless people often struggle to access education.
At the same time, Palestinian journalist Bisan Zarzar, who fled war-torn Syria to the Netherlands some six years ago, has achieved an outstanding career in the Western European country.
Bisan worked with “Holland Now” radio program and successfully broadcasted her series “Pursue your higher studies with Bisan”.
She started her academic career as a student at the Modern Middle East Studies department at Leiden University. She currently works as a correspondent with Arab news outlets. She is active on social media and has a Youtube channel.
She has recently embarked on a podcast project entitled “Any idea?” to provide pieces of news about the Arab community in The Netherlands.
Palestinian refugee Ahmad Fayez Diab, raised in Syria’s Khan Eshieh camp, also earned the highest score at the Economics and Sales Department at Linz University. He was honored by the Governor of Upper Austria, Thomas Stelzer, during a ceremony held in the city.
Ahmed’s family was displaced from Tabariya village, in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1948, to Khan Eshieh camp, in Syria’s Rif Dimashq province. He fled the war-torn country to Austria in 2014.
Hundreds of displaced Palestinian refugees in/from Syria have achieved success stories, despite the traumatic upshots wrought by the daily scenes of bloodshed and destruction across the embattled Syrian territories.
This includes scores of refugee students who have obtained the highest scores at their academic institutions; hundreds of refugee sportsmen/sportswomen who snatched the first places in regional and international competitions; dozens of artists who received renowned literary awards for their products and performances; and several housewives who turned trauma into a space of creativity.
Palestinian refugee Nowras Rahhal has made cutting-edge work on a COVID-19 vaccine, challenging the traumatic impact of his statelessness and the psychological scars of the Syria war.
Scientist Rahhal, who moved to Germany two years ago from Syria's war-shattered capital Damascus, is stateless - meaning no country recognizes him as a citizen.
Rahhal, 27, has just finished working with a team at one of the Max Planck institutes on developing a system allowing a COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to the skin, rather than injected into muscle. The technique - targeting specialist immune cells in the skin that can trigger an immune reaction in the body - would require a far smaller dose per person, a big advantage when inoculating large populations.
Before arriving in Germany, Rahhal spent years studying to the sound of bombings and artillery fire, using his phone torch to read when the electricity cut out at his Damascus home. But Rahhal's academic achievements are remarkable for another reason - stateless people often struggle to access education.
At the same time, Palestinian journalist Bisan Zarzar, who fled war-torn Syria to the Netherlands some six years ago, has achieved an outstanding career in the Western European country.
Bisan worked with “Holland Now” radio program and successfully broadcasted her series “Pursue your higher studies with Bisan”.
She started her academic career as a student at the Modern Middle East Studies department at Leiden University. She currently works as a correspondent with Arab news outlets. She is active on social media and has a Youtube channel.
She has recently embarked on a podcast project entitled “Any idea?” to provide pieces of news about the Arab community in The Netherlands.
Palestinian refugee Ahmad Fayez Diab, raised in Syria’s Khan Eshieh camp, also earned the highest score at the Economics and Sales Department at Linz University. He was honored by the Governor of Upper Austria, Thomas Stelzer, during a ceremony held in the city.
Ahmed’s family was displaced from Tabariya village, in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1948, to Khan Eshieh camp, in Syria’s Rif Dimashq province. He fled the war-torn country to Austria in 2014.
