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GAZA. -A few hundred metres away from the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, a group of young Palestinians sat near a tent, enjoying the traditional poetry and music played by aged Mahmoud Abu Diab. The dark night did not prevent Abu Diab, a refugee originally from Beer Sheva in northern Israel, from joining a mass Palestinian rally that demands the return of Palestinian refugees.

March 30 was the start of a six-week anti-Israel protest, which is expected to peak on May 15, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence but marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or “Day of the Catastrophe.”

Sitting near the tent, the 70-year-old man amused young people with his traditional poetry about Palestine’s right to return.
“Oh old days, hopefully you will return and we are sitting here in spite of the Jews,” Abu Diab, who wore the traditional Palestinian costume, sang amid the cheers of the audience.

Feeling homesick, the old man also expressed his happiness as he can smell the breeze of his nearby town of Beer Sheva.
“Being here today is a message that we will never give up our right to return to our homeland,” Abu Diab told Xinhua, adding that the peaceful protest will continue until the entire world acknowledges the right of the Palestinian refugees to return.

The mass protest, known as the “Great March of Return”, is a very creative idea and a strong message to the world that the issue of the Palestinian refugees has not been resolved yet. – Xinhua