Ziad was born in Dheisheh, and his family is from the village of Zakaria, over which an Israeli moshav of Kfer Zaharia stands today. The schools, built as a temporary structure in the early 50 s when the Palestinian refugee question was not expected to prolong this long, is so fragile it partially collapsed recently. Some classes are now held in tents. The children of Dheisheh live in a childhood that resembles nothing to my own, not knowing what it is like to play in a playground, ride a bicycle, go to a movie, or to be able to sleep at night without a fear of soldiers breaking into the house. We are dignified, proud and strong people, who fight for justice and future.
Strength comes from presence of hope and aspiration.
To the Palestinian refugees, their ultimate and sacred hope is to return back to where they come from, to the place where their family tended stone terraces, pastoral hills, olive, almond, apricot and fig trees, grape vines, and beautiful stone houses for generations. Many families still hold on to the keys to their homes, which were wiped out from the face of the earth fifty years ago. My struggle is not do die in Dheisheh. Just as it was granted for the Kosovo refugees, the Palestinian refugees too have a right of return. The United Nation Resolution 194 of 1948 requires Israel to allow all Palestinian refugees to return home or to compensate their losses.