 LIKE MANY other Palestinian refugees, Maryam Amarneh, 70, still holds the key to her home in the Ras Abu Ammar village west of Jerusalem, perhaps in the hope of one day returning. Her family left in 1947, and she has, ever since, been living in the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. On 15 May, Palestinians marked the Nakba day, 57 years on from the establishment of Israel and the mass exodus of Palestinians from their homeland. While more than three million Palestinians still live within the borders of what is now Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories, many millions more are barred for ever from returning beyond the borders parent page (19 - 25 May 2005, issue #743) |