For most second-generation immigrants, the question of identity is a difficult one. Growing up in Oostende, attending a Belgian school with no other people like her, Eva Sadek, 22, a Belgian-born Palestinian and now activist lived between two cultures—the Belgian society and her Palestinian family. “I didn’t know, am I a Belgian, or am I a Palestinian?” Eva explained. “At home, I spoke Arabic, but in school, I only spoke Dutch; no one looked like me, all my friends had different food at home, so as a child, I didn’t really understand who I was.”

“You look just like your grandfather”

Sadek’s family—Eva’s great-grandparents—had to flee Palestine during Nakba in 1948, moving to Lebanon, where both her grandparents and parents were born. Eva’s parents later moved to Belgium for work, settling down and raising a family in Oostende. Once every three to four years, the Sadek family would have a vacation in Lebanon. Eva was 14 years old, visiting Lebanon with her family when an old woman recognised her on the streets of Saida. Eva recalled, “She told me, ‘You look just like your grandfather.’ Then I went to visit his grave for the first time.”

Eva’s grandfather, Mahmoud Sadek also known as Omar Abdel Kareem was a high-ranking Palestinian in Lebanon active within the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, later Fatah. “People would refer to him as a ‘legend,’ someone who loved everyone and fought for Palestine until he died in 2003.” When Eva came to his grave with her mother, she suddenly could not help but cry. “It was like I finally found what had been missing.”

Later that year, her aunt told her that a golden necklace Eva’s mother would always make her wear on special occasions was the one she got when pregnant with Eva from her sister-in-law, who had received it from her father—Eva’s grandfather. “I did not realise it, but he has been with me all my life.” She would not take it off ever since. “Learning about Palestine, my family heritage, and the injustice that was done to us, I literally found myself. Now I know who Eva is—Eva is a Palestinian who is the great-granddaughter of people who were forced out of their homes.”

Justice for Palestine

Passionate about justice, Eva began to create content online to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause, later organising and taking part in dedicated talks and marches in support. In 2024, Gaza Sunbirds, a Paralympic cycling team, came to Oostende to participate in the Paralympics. When the competition was over, one of the men participating found Eva in the crowd. He took off his pin with the map of Palestine and handed it to her. “I remember it making me very emotional because two weeks ago, he was in Gaza. He had heard the bombs, he had seen family members being killed, but now he is here telling me, ‘Eva, thank you for everything, this is for you.'” She continued, “I felt so much warmth from them, but it is us who should give them warmth and gratitude—for being here, for surviving, for making us heard.”

Her grandfather and she share the same eyes, the colour of the Mediterranean Sea, Perhaps these are the eyes that made them both see the world similarly. “He was someone who I never even met, but I still felt this connection to him. And the only thing that connects us is our love for Palestine and justice. And our eyes,” she reflected.

“We will return”

People all over the world would see her TikToks, including the United States. One day a Palestinian family that holds the same family name, Sadek came across Eva’s content. “They contacted me, having a hunch that we could be related. We looked alike. It appeared that their grandpa was my grandpa’s uncle. My activism and social media literally connected me with my roots.”

Having found herself, Eva was thinking about her future children. “I decided to collect everything in a box—an invitation to her grandfather’s funeral, newspapers with Eva’s interviews about Palestine and activism, Gaza Sunbirds pin—for them to know their heritage and that the Palestinian cause didn’t end when their grandparents migrated or left Palestine in 1948. It continues to this day and will continue until we can use our keys from 1948, go back, and return to our homes.”

In 2019, Sadek’s part of the family that lived in the U.S. went to Palestine to visit Acre, the village in the North of Palestine that the family used to live in, now occupied by Israel. They went to see their grandmother’s house, and later posted photographs on social media; on the house’s wall was written ‘سوف نعود’, which means ‘We will return.’