Refugees Long For a Palestine State and a Passport
"I may not go back to Palestine because I was born and raised in Lebanon, but still, I want to be able to make that choice myself. We've had enough of Israel deciding our fate," said Yusra Salem, an accountant.
"My dream is to have a homeland so I can tour the world to show everybody proudly that I have a Palestinian passport," says Salem, whose parents were forced to flee their home at the creation of the Israel in 1948.
Salem, like all Palestinian refugees here, has been feeling anxious about renewed talks between the Israelis and the Palestinian authority over final status issues, including the fate of the refugees.
Although the talks seemed to have foundered, the mere suggestion that the millions of Palestinians of the diaspora may not obtain a right to return has angered the refugees.
"The story is simple. We were kicked out from our homes by the Jews who created their own state on our land. It is now high time for us to return. We will not accept any leadership, not even our own, to give up or even compromise on our right to return," said Salem.
As for Ibrahim Ahmad, from the Rashidiyeh camp near Tyre, his dream remains "to touch the walls of my house in Palestine. This dream is shared by all the residents of the camp because we did not fight and lose martyrs for decades for nothing, and this is why our fighters are still training themselves".
The issue has been a controversy in many Palestinian refugee families here, whether among those residing in camps or others, living in Lebanese cities.
Tens of thousands of the 367,000 refugees registered in Lebanon have already emigrated. Others, especially those still residing in miserable conditions in one of 12 camps, want either to go back to their fathers' land or dream of decent jobs in the Persian Gulf. Europe, U.S. and Canada.
Most of the refugees who want to stay and are fully integrated into Lebanese society are those with successful businesses or those who have been granted Lebanese nationality and are no longer refugees.
But all agree that the right to return could never be subject to any compromises, even by those who strongly oppose going back.
Mustapha al-Ahmad, owner of a poultry shop in the Bass camp near Tyre, said, "We, at the camps here, had been feeling depressed for years, but the Intifada (uprising) against the Zionists occupying Palestine has awakened us.
"After our people paid so bravely with hundreds of martyrs for about three months we felt like Bait-ul-Moqaddas (Jerusalem) has become very close," he said.
The issue repeatedly sparks heated debates in the Kamal family of well-to-do contractors and owners of a garage and an electrical appliances company in the southern port city of Tyre.
The eldest brother, Shawkat, has held a U.S. passport since 1998. He said he returned from the United States to live in Lebanon because "I did not want my children to grow up in an American society, and forget about their homeland. We are from Haifa, and I wanted my children to live the closest possible to Palestine."
Brother Kamal, however, swiftly interrupts him to add: "I was six when we left Palestine, and so I do not remember anything. My family, my business and my whole life is in Lebanon, I do not feel like moving anywhere but, still, it should be my right to return."
Shehadi Zahi el-Dine, 61, claims to be "very pragmatic: I prefer to be granted compensation because I will never accept to go back to Palestine as long as there is a Zionist state there.
"If I go back, I would be committing suicide. The moment I set foot there, I will have to kill Jews to avenge the killing of my father and my uncle by the Jews when they threw us out of our land and home. So I will either be jailed or killed," AFP reported.