The forgotten refugees of 1948
Ibrahim Ahmad | Tuesday 15 September
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/forgotten-refugee-last-what-left-1948-palestinian-refugees-1735668584
In Fadel Island, a humble village in a remote area of Egypt’s Sharqia governorate about five hours by car from Cairo, resides a community of second-generation Palestinian refugees.
The population was about 2,000 when the original refugees fled to Egypt in May of 1948, fearing a similar fate to those who were massacred at Deir Yassin. They crossed the Sinai desert with their camels, carrying simple belongings, and were welcomed by Egypt’s government. They were settled in the refugee camp of “Gezirt Fadel” - later to become the village it is today - with a promise to be relocated to a better place soon after.
El-Haj Hemdan - in his early nineties and one of the very few remaining 1948 refugees, with his amazing ability to recall what had happened nearly 65 years ago - told Middle East Eye his story.
“They said it was a matter of a month or two, and we would be relocated to a place closer to the capital," Hemdan said.
"We waited and waited, governments changed, kings fled, presidents died, and nothing happened. After five or six years we abandoned our tents and built houses. But still, some of us retained the hope that we would be relocated to a better place. We didn’t understand the lesson yet: Arabs rarely keep their promises.”(...)
