As a boy, Mahmoud Ouad used to bathe in the Sea of Galilee which sloped down toward his home in Tiberias, a town that was then a part of Palestine. Now an 82-year-old man, he has lived in the Shatila refugee camp since he was again uprooted two years ago – this time from Syria, a country where he has lived the majority of his life.
May 15, the day after the Zionists declared their state, has become an icon of Palestinian remembrance and anguish. But while thousands prepare to commemorate their past again, Palestinians from Syria are enduring a new catastrophe.
To date, 42,000 Palestinians from Syria have fled to Lebanon according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
On May 15, Ouad and Ahmad will be among thousands of Palestinians commemorating the original Nakba, as another unfolds. For them, the history of Palestine is one of subsequent displacement. And though they been fortunate to escape, they often reminisce about life in Syria and Palestine when they were younger.
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