Akila is one of the young generation refugees who are working hard to remind all Palestinian refugees of their plight and right of return.
“I have a nice voice and a talent that enables me to make national songs about the Nakba and refugees,” he said. “I started this attitude since I was a schoolboy; I even sang national songs in parties attended by late President Yasser Arafat and President Mahmoud Abbas.”
Akila believes that “through such a manner, we can tell the refugee population about their catastrophe and provide them with facts about the reality of the conflict between the Palestinians and the
Israelis.”
He said most of the refugees in the Palestinian territory don’t lead the same difficult lives of their fathers and grandfather as they lived in tents and suffered a lot. “Those are no need to be reminded of the Nakba, but my generation and the generations to come must be well told about what really happened.”
The United Nations defines a Palestinian refugee as a person who used to live in Palestine between 1946 and May 1948 and lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict.
Around four millions Palestinian refugees live in 52 refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, where the UNRWA provides them with heath care, education and food.
Another way that Akila believes would help the Palestinian refugees be in contact with their dilemma is keeping the “refugees’ heritage”.
“I have established a small shop where I hand make traditional dresses of every Palestinian village and city and sell them in affordable prices,” he said. “This also keeps the new generation is touch with
everything that belongs the culture of their ancestors.”
The Palestinian people and leadership have always demanded the international community to implement the UN General Assembly resolution number 194 that calls for letting the Palestinians to
return to their homes and financially compensate them.
Marking the 62nd anniversary of the refugees’ plight, Fatah movement said it will work hard to ensure that the refugees will return to the homeland, affirming that it will never accept any concessions against the right of return.
“Our people have been steadfast for 62 years, and will continue, until we get all of our rights that the international community endorsed,” the movement said in a press release on Saturday.
To Akila and the rest of the third-generation refugees the world over, the return to the lands and homes of their grandfathers is not a mere dream, but they seriously work vigorously o make this dream a reality through reminding the refugee communities everywhere of their stolen homeland.
“I will never give in,” he unwaveringly stressed. “My grandfather and father spent 62 years struggling to make this dream true. I’m all ready to spend my whole life for the same cause.”
