Gaza, Alray - "I have been craving for a sight of her, and for a breeze; she is tracing me since childhood", my grandma speaking to me about the town from which she was expunged, al-Jura, Alray Arabic reporter Samar Al-Areer said.
"I am still keeping the return key which I inherited from my grandpa. But where I wouldn't have obtained my right to return, I would write my will never to give it up."She added.
This is the case of the Palestinian people as a whole: the old die , but the young never forgo, and a generation after another would bear the flag without giving back.
Al-Areer said "what has drawn my attention is the variety of my colleagues' towns of origin. They come from Jaffa, Yibna, Ashkelon, Beersheba, and Beit Darras; all together share the same question: being refugees, and all agree on one thing: right of return can't be dropped even after 65 years of the Catastrophe 1948."
News editor at Alray Yahiya Ayyash "I belong to Jura town of Ashkelon occupied territory which I became aware of since my elementary school; my ancestors' stories about their days thereto added to my insight and boosted the concept of return, as well as my school teachers, who have long told us about Nakba, forced migration and occupiers' rape of our land,"
"My grandpa is instilling in me love of return to our town, and I'll do the same once I have children. Words stand idly describing our charming town: its moderate weather, being coastal, made it a sight for tourists from all over the neighboring countries. The number of tourists coming in summer was outnumbering its originals!"
"He filled my imagination with al-Jura's green meadows, where vegetables and fruits were perpetually cultivated, and with its kindness of its community and their courteous treatment and strong taste in fish, still is my favorite food"
"My small dream tirelessly enticing me is to return to my occupied Jura to realize all the lovely things I told of, as hearing is not like seeing firsthand" Yahiya concluded.
Describing the fascinating Jaffa, news editor Maysara Shaban said "it's the bride of the Mediterranean being a coastal city and with its ambulant production of Jaffa once was being exported abroad,"
"My father Mousa, may rest in peace, was recounting for us the old days' stories when he was the most famous ironsmith in Jaffa and of interest to Jordan's traders who were referring to him being an experienced man,"
"One time while talking to his grandsons about how his heart is telling him of an approaching return to their Jaffa, he turned to some extent disappointed that he was forced out of his home leaving the birth records of his sons, in hope he would have been coming back in two or three months, not in 65 years!"
"As my father and mother, who were 10 and 2 respectively during Nakba times, have flashing memories about their removal, and I feel chill hearing them talk about it; I feel I was in their place. Then I remember my grandpa's wisely-said word "we will return one day God willing"
Coming to Alray's Rafah-based reporter Alaa al-Hams, she said "my heart has been attached to our occupied town, Yibna, since I was 6 years old with my grandma depicting it as an 'earthly paradise', and as a right which she was digging deep in the minds of her sons, among whom is Alaa's father, Abdallah, until it associates in theirs, and the dream of return comes true in the end"
"Nowadays it adds to my sorrow when I see our old town on the internet to find the same character given by my grandma, and then look again to find out the same town but in a sheer different shape thanks to the Israeli-designated landmarks built on the ruins of our forefathers' homes over time."
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