Yassar Dahbour is a Palestinian refugee from Haifa, a Sacramento-based political organizer, president of the Palestine American League, and co-founder of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

Born in a refugee camp in Syria after his family was expelled from Haifa during the Nakba, Yassar grew up surrounded by Palestinian political life, refugee memory, and the dream of return. His father, Ahmad Dahbour, was a renowned Palestinian poet whose work was shaped by exile, revolution, and the longing for Palestine.

In this episode of The Thin Veil, Yassar shares his family’s story of displacement from Haifa, his childhood in a refugee camp, his father’s poetry and role in the Palestinian movement, and what it felt like to finally visit Palestine using an American passport.

We also discuss why Oslo did not offer return for Palestinians from Haifa, the experience of being detained at Ben-Gurion Airport, the destruction of his family’s apartment and archive in Gaza, the collapse of Western media narratives, and what a free Palestine means to him.

At the center of the conversation is a story from Yassar’s grandmother: when the children cried in the refugee camp, she would tell them that tomorrow, a bus would come and take them back to Haifa.

YASSAR'S ORGANIZATIONS
PALESTINIAN AMERICAN LEAGUE
SACRAMENTO REGIONAL COALITION FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS

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