61 years on, nothing much has changed for refugees

Gaza: Sixty-one years after Nakba (the catastrophe) nothing much has changed. The refugee camps are still hosting thousands of Palestinians who were forced to quit their lands in the historical Palestine. These refugees are still living there since 1948.

The camps are in the same condition as the deteriorated infrastructure, and the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for the Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is still providing primary needs to the refugees, such as food, water, heath, and primary education.

The grannies don't stop telling us the same old stories about the stolen land and illustrating it to other generations.

May 15, 1948, is a day that no Palestinians will ever forget. The black day brings bad memories to many Palestinians. One of them is 80-year-old Haj Ali Mohammad Mohsin. He witnessed the event at the time.

Haj Ali Mohammad Mohsin is one of the millions of Palestinian refugees. He now lives in the Gaza strip after he was moved from his original village in Mogharah after the war. At the beginning of the war in 1948 he thought that things would return back to normal and he would be able to return back to his village.

The Palestinians lost 78 per cent of their historical land in the 1948 war, and what was left for them is what's known today as the West Bank and Gaza strip, which is only 22 per cent of the whole of Palestine.

The displaced Palestinian population - numbering around one million and a half - later became refugees in the West Bank, Gaza strip, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. According to the UNRWA statistics, Gaza strip received 200,000 refugees after the 1948 war, but later they became around one million (two thirds of the Gaza population).

"I always tell my grandchildren stories about our farms, wells, the small mosque, our traditions and customs," Haj Ali said.

"The only thing that's left for us are just memories, therefore they must be preserved, even after we [the first generation of refugees] die, we must handle the torch to the other generations," he said while a tear dropped from his eye.

"I used to wake up everyday early after the dawn prayer to go to my farm which was full of fruits and vegetables. Like many regular farmers I ploughed and planted on my own land. I worked the whole day and at the end of the day I traded some vegetables in exchange for sugar, tea, and other things."

This old man vividly remembers the day when his family members were moved from Mogharah, his original village, "when we heard that the Israeli army occupied Ashdod [a major city north of Mogharah], I stayed and fought with some men from our village besides the Egyptian army at the beginning, then we were asked to retreat to the south. After that I realised, as days went by, we became refugees.

"I used to be a simple farmer living a simple life and enjoying the fruits of my land. After Nakba I became a refugee living on the UNRWA aid supplies and working on other peoples' land to earn a living for my family."

Haj Ali loves Gaza, but he still feels uncomfortable living in a rented house.

"The people here welcomed and hosted us for the last 60 years and this is something I appreciate, however, I know that Gaza is a part of Palestine, but it is not the part I was born and raised in, I prefer to return to my village and small home.

"When I came to Gaza I worked in farms, but I have never felt the same way I felt when I was working on my farm. I miss my land, my plants, I miss Mogharah."

He added, "there is no place like home."

For most of Palestinian refugees, Gaza is just like a temporary station and they hope to return back to their original land, even if the first generations die.

"If we don't return back, our sons and grandsons will definitely return, and they will succeed for sure, our cause is great and legitimate."

Haj Ali believes that this story has only one end - that is, "returning the land occupied by Israel to its rightful owners".

After the 1948 war, Haj Ali visited his village twice. It was totally gone. The Israelis destroyed it and changed it completely.

"I was hurt a lot when I saw it in that situation," he sadly says.