Welcome to Caravans Restaurant on Saipan.

Salam Castro Younis who runs Caravans Restaurant said, “It is a restaurant that our late father Abed El Latif Younis founded in 2012 as basically the culmination of him being here in the Marianas since the late 60s, always wanting to share his Palestinian cuisine.”

KUAM sat down with Salam Castro Younis and his sister Suaad, who are Chamorro and Palestinian. They’re two of six siblings running the family business after their father, who also founded a local newspaper, passed away in 2020.

They told KUAM, the cuisine is served like a feast and they grew up learning their father’s recipes.

Their food tells a story. The Castro-Younis family has been raising awareness about what they describe as genocide in Palestine. They’ve held peaceful protests and events on Saipan.

They tell us that food reflects the effort to build solidarity. They want to see a path to peace.

Suaad Castro Younis said, “Palestinians are very resilient, very straightforward people. The one thing that I got from my dad was that bluntness you know, just being honest and just being straightforward. Their food is the same. Even though there are a lot of spices in this, it's very it's it's just straightforward and simple.”

We asked what they hope the path forward leads to.

“You know, a two state solution is basically just continuing the status quo. It should be equal to everybody, Palestinians, Jews, everyone, the land should, everyone there should have equal rights. There shouldn't be borders that divide the people. For thousands of years, they've all lived together. They can do it again. So it really should just be one state equal for all,” said Salam.

They welcome the community to join them at the table, share food, and learn about the history.