Palestinian refugees living in Syria flash the V-sign as they mingle with residents of Majdal Shams prior to returning back to Syria, after crossing the border during a protest near Golan Heights, on May 15, during a mass show of mourning with Palestinians over the 1948 creation of the Jewish state known in Arabic as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe."(AFP/File/Menahem Kahana)Syria refugee's dream of return ends in tragedy
by Majeda El Batsh Majeda El Batsh – Fri Jun 10, 2:17 am ETJERUSALEM (AFP) – When Ezzat Maswadi burst across the ceasefire line from Syria into the occupied Golan Heights, he thought his chance to return to Jerusalem -- the city of his birth -- had finally come.
But the return that Maswadi had longed for was not to be, and his attempts to reach the Holy City would eventually lead to his death, three weeks later, in the fields between Syria and the Golan town of Majdal Shams.
Born to a Palestinian family in Jerusalem in 1977, Maswadi grew up in the nearby town of Al-Eizariya until 1984, when his family moved first to Jordan and then to Syria.
His father moved back to Jerusalem shortly afterwards, but Maswadi and his mother were told they had lost their residency permits under an Israeli law which quietly revoked the residency of anyone who stayed away more than three years.
So Maswadi stayed in Damascus, fearing he would never be able to go home, until he heard that Palestinian refugees in Syria were planning to march towards Israel on May 15, the anniversary of the Jewish state's creation.
Palestinians mark the occasion as the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" when hundreds of thousands of them fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that accompanied Israel's declaration of independence.
On the day of the protests, a clear, warm Sunday, Maswadi joined thousands of others as they marched unimpeded to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, just across from Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights....READ MORE
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