World's Biggest Key Symoblizes Palestinian Refugees' Right of Return

"World's biggest key" shows refugees' insistence on right of return

Date: 07 / 05 / 2008  Time:  17:23
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

A group of craftsmen in Ayda refugee camp near Bethlehem have been working for two weeks on building what they claim is the biggest key in the world to call attention to the struggle of Palestinian refugees for the right to return to their homes in historic Palestine.

Munthir Amira, who supervised construction of the key, told reporters, "the key is not for sale."

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the Catastrophe of the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians by Jewish armies in 1948. Many Palestinian refugees still have the keys to the homes they left 60 years ago.

According to Amira, the phrase "not for sale" will be written on the key in red, indicating that refugees do not intend to give up their right to return. UN General Assembly Resolution 194, passed in December 1948, says that the refugees who wish to do so should be allowed to return "at the earliest practicable date."

Amira says that refugees view the right of return as an individual right that, as such, cannot be forfeited, even in negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

In addition to addressing the Israeli, Palestinian, and world publics, Amira says the giant key is meant to say to Palestinian children, "here is your return key, make sure you complete the mission."

Palestinian refugees living in Bethlehem governorate have been visiting the site where the giant key is being built to check on the progress of the work. Reaching out and touching the key, a refugee named Ibrahim Musallam said, "This key symbolizes to me that after 60 years, we are still insistent on our right to return to our villages. I am 36 years old, and I live on the hope that a day will come that I go back to my village, 'Illar, near Jerusalem."

"I recently infiltrated to my village of origin. I sprinkled some of its earth on my face and cried. I have my own individual right to return to my village, and the Palestinian leadership must realize that they do not have the right to abandon what this key symbolizes," Musallam added.

The 10-meter iron key, weighing two tons, is meant to be raised over a giant gate which is being constructed at the northern entrance of Ayda camp, only meters away from the Israeli separation wall that segregates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers look on from watchtowers along the wall as refugees busily work on the gate.

"We have chosen this site to deliver a message to the Israelis telling them that their separation wall will never prevent our return," Amira said.

On Thursday, the giant key is scheduled to tour Bethlehem on the same day that Israel celebrates Independence Day. The key will visit the three refugee camps of Bethlehem, Ayda, Duheisha and Al-Azza, in a march called "Return Generations."

The gate where the giant key will be fixed will bear the names of Palestinian villages from which refugees were forcibly displaced in 1948. Children will also be allowed to write the names of their own villages on the cement gate which will be covered in ceramic tiles.

Amira said the organizers contacted the Guinness Book of World Records in order to register the key as the biggest in the world, but that have not yet received an answer.

Shaka'a: The Palestinian goals are achieved through resistance and steadfastness

[ 06/05/2008 - 07:56 PM ]
COPENHAGEN, (PIC)--

Bassam Al-Shaka'a, the head of the Palestinian national conference, stated in a letter written to the sixth Palestinians of Europe conference held in Copenhagen that the Palestinian people can achieve their national goals through resistance, steadfastness and adherence to the Palestinian rights and constants.

In his letter, Shaka'a criticized the course of peace process, saying that Oslo agreements turned the occupying force from an enemy usurping Palestinian lands in 1948 into a state in conflict over occupied lands. 

He also warned that dividing the Palestinian cause into disputed issues would deviate the national demands from the correct course and make them subject to the approval of the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian leader underlined that the demands of the Israeli occupation are illegitimate because in its capacity as an aggressor, it must renounce its aggression and its results as a condition for peace and not to ask the victim to make further concessions.