“Train of Return” for Palestinian refugees stops at Israeli cities “Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, Safed, Tal Al-Rabia [Tel Aviv]”
[AP]
Headline: “The Train of Return has set out, refugees are requested to bring the house keys”
“’Calling! Calling! Calling! The Train of Return has set out; all of the refugees are requested to bring the house keys and not to forget the land registry documents!’ – This is what was said when the Train of Return set out on its way yesterday morning at 11:00 a.m. [May 15, 2016]. Young Mahmoud Hammad got up on the front part and began to call this out loud to the uprooted living in the Deheisheh refugee camp in southern Bethlehem. Next to him stood young Muhammad Lutfi who called out with all his might: ‘Haifa! Acre! Jaffa! Safed! Tal Al-Rabia!” (“Tal Al-Rabia” is an Arabic translation of Tel Aviv, to wrongly imply the existence of an Arab village of that name prior to Tel Aviv, -Ed.)
The picture shows a train with the following text on the side of the engine:
“Train of Return
194 (referring to UN resolution 194 regarding Palestinian refugees –Ed.)”
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
“’Calling! Calling! Calling! The Train of Return has set out; all of the refugees are requested to bring the house keys and not to forget the land registry documents!’ – This is what was said when the Train of Return set out on its way yesterday morning at 11:00 a.m. [May 15, 2016]. Young Mahmoud Hammad got up on the front part and began to call this out loud to the uprooted living in the Deheisheh refugee camp in southern Bethlehem. Next to him stood young Muhammad Lutfi who called out with all his might: ‘Haifa! Acre! Jaffa! Safed! Tal Al-Rabia!” (“Tal Al-Rabia” is an Arabic translation of Tel Aviv, to wrongly imply the existence of an Arab village of that name prior to Tel Aviv, -Ed.)
The picture shows a train with the following text on the side of the engine:
“Train of Return
194 (referring to UN resolution 194 regarding Palestinian refugees –Ed.)”
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."