Alouddin
06-09-2003, 07:23 PM
"VoicesOfPalestine.org (Op-Ed)" <general@voicesofpalestine.org> wrote:
From: "VoicesOfPalestine.org (Op-Ed)"
To:
Subject: GulfNews: Afraid of loosing a dream
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 00:15:26--400
Afraid of losing a dream
Beirut |Reuters | 08-06-2003
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In one of many narrow alleys in Lebanon's Shatila refugee camp, Abu Mohammed sits by the door of his house hoping to catch a breeze of fresh air from between the cramped homes that seem to merge together.
Abu Mohammed, 67, has lived for 40 years in the same two-roomed house in the camp where his four sons were born and his wife died. He watched one son emigrate and the others get married and has one dream left - to go home.
"This dream of return kept me alive for all these years. It saved my soul from death many times," he said. "It gave me strength, and I got married and had kids only so that Palestine can live in their hearts."
The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval for a U.S.-backed "roadmap" for peace last week that formally committed Israel for the first time to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But Palestinians in Lebanon like Abu Mohammed, born in Jericho, say they are scared they will be left out of a final peace deal and will never return - either to a Palestinian state or to homes in what is now Israel.
Israel's cabinet in a separate vote rejected any influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel, a proviso likely to be an obstacle on any road to peace.
"Israelis have always been like that. They have never accepted our return, but this time I feel things are different," Abu Mohammed said. "I think the Palestinians are tired and might give us up...The pressure is high and the guys might be tired."
"When I hear this my heart beats fast and I get a feeling that when I die my children or grandchildren won't be able to bury my remains in Jericho."
Sharon has described the prospect of a mass influx of refugees and their descendants, numbering about four million, "a recipe of destruction" for Israel.
The "roadmap" does not refer to any specific Palestinian right of return, but calls instead for a "fair and realistic solution to the refugee issue" in the proposal's final phase.
Palestinians see the refugee issue as a critical bargaining lever for talks on a final settlement. Lebanon is home to about 380,000 Palestinians, most of whom live in a dozen squalid refugee camps.
"We were betrayed many times, yes betrayed," said Jamila, 57. "We fought even from abroad. We fought for Palestine and we gave martyrs and for that we have only a small room in a camp filled with sickness and poverty...Is this acceptable?"
"Now they talk about no right of return...Why? what do we have other than this? What hope do our children have here other than going back to their real country?"
But 26-year-old Nabil, born in Lebanon, said he was unsure if he would ever see Palestine. "All I know is that I am a Palestinian and I will stay Palestinian," he said. "No one can take this from me."
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"Do you think you have seen it all?"
Click here http://www.voicesofpalestine.org/showme.asp?dif=2&alb=aqsaint&title=Al-Aqsa+Intifadah&start_at=353
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© All rights reserved. Voices of Palestine, 2003.
From: "VoicesOfPalestine.org (Op-Ed)"
To:
Subject: GulfNews: Afraid of loosing a dream
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 00:15:26--400
Afraid of losing a dream
Beirut |Reuters | 08-06-2003
Print friendly format | Email to Friend
In one of many narrow alleys in Lebanon's Shatila refugee camp, Abu Mohammed sits by the door of his house hoping to catch a breeze of fresh air from between the cramped homes that seem to merge together.
Abu Mohammed, 67, has lived for 40 years in the same two-roomed house in the camp where his four sons were born and his wife died. He watched one son emigrate and the others get married and has one dream left - to go home.
"This dream of return kept me alive for all these years. It saved my soul from death many times," he said. "It gave me strength, and I got married and had kids only so that Palestine can live in their hearts."
The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval for a U.S.-backed "roadmap" for peace last week that formally committed Israel for the first time to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But Palestinians in Lebanon like Abu Mohammed, born in Jericho, say they are scared they will be left out of a final peace deal and will never return - either to a Palestinian state or to homes in what is now Israel.
Israel's cabinet in a separate vote rejected any influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel, a proviso likely to be an obstacle on any road to peace.
"Israelis have always been like that. They have never accepted our return, but this time I feel things are different," Abu Mohammed said. "I think the Palestinians are tired and might give us up...The pressure is high and the guys might be tired."
"When I hear this my heart beats fast and I get a feeling that when I die my children or grandchildren won't be able to bury my remains in Jericho."
Sharon has described the prospect of a mass influx of refugees and their descendants, numbering about four million, "a recipe of destruction" for Israel.
The "roadmap" does not refer to any specific Palestinian right of return, but calls instead for a "fair and realistic solution to the refugee issue" in the proposal's final phase.
Palestinians see the refugee issue as a critical bargaining lever for talks on a final settlement. Lebanon is home to about 380,000 Palestinians, most of whom live in a dozen squalid refugee camps.
"We were betrayed many times, yes betrayed," said Jamila, 57. "We fought even from abroad. We fought for Palestine and we gave martyrs and for that we have only a small room in a camp filled with sickness and poverty...Is this acceptable?"
"Now they talk about no right of return...Why? what do we have other than this? What hope do our children have here other than going back to their real country?"
But 26-year-old Nabil, born in Lebanon, said he was unsure if he would ever see Palestine. "All I know is that I am a Palestinian and I will stay Palestinian," he said. "No one can take this from me."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VoicesOfPalestine.org
"Do you think you have seen it all?"
Click here http://www.voicesofpalestine.org/showme.asp?dif=2&alb=aqsaint&title=Al-Aqsa+Intifadah&start_at=353
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© All rights reserved. Voices of Palestine, 2003.