Stewarding Gaza Travel Agency at Dutch Design Week 2025
- Cecilia Scolaro
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
It’s a pleasant Sunday in Eindhoven.
Dutch Design Week 2025 has started and people are strolling, walking, someone marching in the impossible task of seeing everything that is presented this year.
The map listing all Dutch Design Week locations is overwhelming, every little corner hosts another exhibition, and one needs to decide in a second whether this place is worth their time and attention.
With this mix of curiosity, tiredness, anticipation and skepticism people approach our container, in front of MU Hybrid Art Space. A big sigh before reading what this is about.
‘Gaza Travel Agency, what a surprising name, what does Gaza, a place torn by war and misery, have to do with a travel agency?’ they must think.
That is when I approach them with a big smile “Welcome to Gaza Travel Agency! Would you like a short introduction about the project?”.
For the last few months our team of volunteers made of people from Palestinian, Jewish and international background has been designing this space to engage people in conversations. We have been preparing for all kinds of scenarios and reactions, and now the time has finally come to talk with people.
Not everybody appreciates my pro-activity, but most visitors respond with a smile and say “Yes, please!” or “Why not?”.
So my explanation begins. “Gaza Travel Agency is a speculative design project. In simpler words we imagine a possible future where something like this may exist: a travel agency where people from Gaza can just enter and plan their return home”.
At this point most facial expressions turn into a sad smile, one that is saying ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful?’ and, at the same time, ‘is this just a delusional thought?’.
I continue “What do we mean with home?” I invite them to get closer to our large map, depicting historical Palestine with a lot of red dots. “These are all the 675 places, villages, towns and cities that have been ethnically cleansed in 1948. All people that survived fled into the Gaza strip. 80% of people in the Gaza strip are refugees from these places”. Most people recognize what I am talking about, someone says “the Nakba”, someone gets visibly sad, moved or angry, others are just checking out, probably thinking ‘oh yes the sad story of the Palestinians, what can I do about that?’.
I switch tone “But there is something most people don’t know about”. They are interested, ‘maybe this chatty Italian woman has something useful to say’.
“77% of these places are still empty, uninhabited (the most difficult word to say hundreds of times per day), ghost towns, mostly destroyed but still empty.”
“Uh?!”, “I did not know that!”, most people react, their eyes revealing genuine surprise at the lack of knowledge of such important information.
I leave them some time to process the information. Then I continue “Now that Gaza is completely destroyed and experts say it is going to take years just to clean the ground from the rubble and the unexploded devices, we think it is super important to bring back the Right of Return, at the center of the international conversation. The Right of Return has been promised to the Palestinians hundreds of times by UN Resolutions and other pieces of international law.” While I say that, I step close to the container’s wall and I let my hand scroll against the wallpaper: a dense grey text on white background is covering all the walls of the container, the text is a selection of the UN Resolutions affirming the Right of Return.
I read out loud “Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date’. It is Resolution 194 from 1948, it has been repeated 135 times in the UN General Assembly.”
Now people look at me with disbelief, anger, sadness, many feel the pain of the injustice pinching their soul. “How is it possible?”, “Why is it allowed to happen?”.
I bring them to observe the space around them “This is why we designed a travel agency, to make it possible, even if only in our imagination!” Pointing to the posters and the materials on the walls I employ my promotional voice “You can choose among our 4 destinations, discover more information, meet some guides and learn how to get there from the Gaza strip! Let me tell you more about them!”.
Now most of the visitors are smiling, some smirking, finally feeling part of the fantasy world we have created.
“Let me start with Iqrit: if you look it on the map it is the furthest away from the Gaza strip, very close to the border with Lebanon, but it is only 3,5 hours by car from the Gaza strip”. “Like Groningen from Amsterdam” someone comments, for a second imagining the absurdity of not being allowed to go to Groningen.
After sharing more information about Iqrit I point to the portrait of our guide: Rasha Hilwi. “Rasha is a writer, a journalist and a dj she lives in Amsterdam, her family is from Iqrit and she’ll be here on Sunday.”
“Nice!” someone says, appreciating the opportunity of meeting the people behind the stories.
Moving along the wall to another poster I introduce them to Lydda: “It used to be the airport of Palestine, as the advertisement ‘Fly KLM to Palestine’ attest on the wall”. “I did not know Palestine had an airport! What happened to it, has it been destroyed?” someone asks. “No, it became Ben Gurion’s airport” I respond. People's expression reveals that they recognize the pattern of occupation and appropriation.
I leave them some time to read more about Anas Al Sharif, the journalist recently murdered in Gaza whose family was displaced from Askalan, just south of Lydda in 1948.
“Yaffa used to be the de facto capital of Palestine” I guide them now to the other side of the container. “When the occupation arrived, many people jumped on their boats and sailed south reaching Gaza, that is why we imagine them returning via boat” I point to the illustration of the boat beside the poster of Yaffa. “It would take them only 8 hours with a sailboat!”. I tell them the story of our guide Tamam Al Akhal and her iconic visual art.
“Last but not least, let me tell you about Al Ma’in. It is only 5km from the Gaza strip, you can reach it by bike”, a dear reference for people living in the Netherlands, “It is the birthplace of Salman Abu Sitta, the person who inspired this whole exhibition. He is a researcher who, already 30 years ago, found out that most places in historical Palestine were still empty and defined detailed plans on how to organize Palestinian’s return. He is now 87 and still advocating for the right or return.” People nod and look at the materials on the wall.
“He is like family for our team member Bashar, who yesterday video-called him to give him a virtual tour of the Agency.” I show them a picture of Bashar during the video-call with Salman Abu Sitta, holding his phone against the wall beside the young Abu Sitta’s portrait. People are amused.
“Abu Sitta’s plans demonstrate that Return is not only legal, it is feasible and really not difficult, logistically speaking”.
Visitors nod, the feeling of hope palpable in the small space of the container. Some feel overwhelmed by the mix of emotions, not what they were expecting from a random walk at a design fair. Someone says “it’s simple! And beautifully presented! And it is about people’s rights!”, others “I knew a lot about the Middle East but I did not know about this!”. Others get curious about the details, ask questions, spend even 30 minutes with our stewards to learn more about the Right of Return and the history of Palestine.
The most common reaction at the end is gratitude “Thank you for doing this work!” some of them visibly moved. I tell them this work has been produced by a group of volunteers, showing all the faces on our Credits poster. I tell them how to get involved and how to spread the word.
Many, though, scroll their heads with resignation “This is very nice but it will never be possible”. “Maybe” I respond “but we believe in the moral responsibility of design to shape imaginations of the future that bring justice and peace.”
And I add “There is a lot of talking about the future at Dutch Design Week. Whose future? Why do we talk about fancy technologies for a few when most people are still struggling for basic recognition of their rights? Why isn’t design more preoccupied with narratives of justice?”
They nod and say: “indeed, at the end of the day, design is about imagination and if you can’t imagine it, it will never happen”.
“You’re right” I repeat to myself and to them “if you can’t imagine it will never happen”.
This project has been made possible only because of the dedication of our volunteers and the contribution of our supporters. We are extremely grateful of the conversations and the attention that Gaza Travel Agency has sparkled and we plan to continue advocating for the Right of Return. If you want to join us, check our Circle page.