70-year-old dreams of returning to Jaffa although she was born in Gaza and has never seen or been to Jaffa
Headline: "One who loves Jaffa carries out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) at the border"
"Um Samir Al-Hadidi sat on a plastic chair in a tent bearing the name of Jaffa opposite one of the tents of return at the border, east of the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Um Samir, who is almost 70, barely leaves the tent except to do that which is urgent and she returns immediately, sometimes supported by a cane and with the help of her son's wife or her grandchildren.
Some nights Um Samir goes to sleep in the tent, and says: ‘I’m afraid to miss the opportunity to return to my city of origin, Jaffa.'
Several questions gnaw at her mind: 'Does my grandfather's house still exist? Does his orchard remain? Does the water well in the house's yard still exist?' - many questions that Um Samir, who was born in Gaza after the expulsion, does not know how to answer…
Um Samir, who has never seen or visited Jaffa, describes the 'imaginary' city in detail to her grandchildren who gather around her in the tent of “return” that barely contains them. She describes to them a beautiful picture of the same land to which she dreams of returning one day, or whose soil will hold her body in its embrace after her death…
For grandmother Al-Hadidi, Jaffa is a beach with orange trees. 'O my children, one day we will return to our home, to our land, and to our village, no matter how much time passes, and if we cannot do that, my grandchildren will complete our path, and I have already directed them to take my bones and bury them in my grandfather's orchard,' Um Samir added to [the official PA news agency] WAFA.
Jaffa is one of the most important and ancient cities in historical Palestine, and is on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, 55 kilometers west of Jerusalem. For a long time, it had an important status among the large Palestinian cities in terms of its territory, number of residents, and strategic location, until the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) occurred and most of its Arab residents were expelled."
"Um Samir Al-Hadidi sat on a plastic chair in a tent bearing the name of Jaffa opposite one of the tents of return at the border, east of the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Um Samir, who is almost 70, barely leaves the tent except to do that which is urgent and she returns immediately, sometimes supported by a cane and with the help of her son's wife or her grandchildren.
Some nights Um Samir goes to sleep in the tent, and says: ‘I’m afraid to miss the opportunity to return to my city of origin, Jaffa.'
Several questions gnaw at her mind: 'Does my grandfather's house still exist? Does his orchard remain? Does the water well in the house's yard still exist?' - many questions that Um Samir, who was born in Gaza after the expulsion, does not know how to answer…
Um Samir, who has never seen or visited Jaffa, describes the 'imaginary' city in detail to her grandchildren who gather around her in the tent of “return” that barely contains them. She describes to them a beautiful picture of the same land to which she dreams of returning one day, or whose soil will hold her body in its embrace after her death…
For grandmother Al-Hadidi, Jaffa is a beach with orange trees. 'O my children, one day we will return to our home, to our land, and to our village, no matter how much time passes, and if we cannot do that, my grandchildren will complete our path, and I have already directed them to take my bones and bury them in my grandfather's orchard,' Um Samir added to [the official PA news agency] WAFA.
Jaffa is one of the most important and ancient cities in historical Palestine, and is on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, 55 kilometers west of Jerusalem. For a long time, it had an important status among the large Palestinian cities in terms of its territory, number of residents, and strategic location, until the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) occurred and most of its Arab residents were expelled."