The Key of Return — From an Elderly Woman Who Left the Country

24-9-2018

A few days ago I sat...next to an old woman and next to her a boy...in the courtyard of her taboon in the neighborhood and the smell of smoke filled the area..because she had "zablit" the taboon...as she told me...this pure old woman....and after I greeted her...and asked her how she was..she answered that she is not sick..thank God...and I asked her about the boy next to her..she said this is my granddaughter..she finished university...and she married her cousin..she was born in 1993. Since our people came from the East...(meaning the Oslo group)..!!!..she helps me perform some of the customs..they remind me of the old days in the country..so this tray has a little...fried potato rounds, small kernels..and I tried to comfort her and tell her..God willing this country will return, old woman..and you will return to your village..in the west...then it was as if I had moved the wounds...and the old woman...started reciting songs..then stopped...and said..they keep coming and going. By God...they want to sell it, these two meters of land that remain for the people.....see, my son, I have the house key that I took abroad...to my eldest son in America...and I keep it with him and he told his children..do not give it away..this is the key to your master's house in the country....and I said to her..well, the grandchildren know...what is the story...she told me yes they know, their parents taught them Arabic....and every two years the son brings them and they stay a month with me...so my eldest son is keen for his children to smell the country...even from afar...he instills in them the hope of returning..despite having grown up abroad..and having built other families.

I left her and her granddaughter and the tray of fried potato rounds browned...and I was certain that the wound is deep and confidence in negotiation..according to this on-the-spot survey...is shaken....this is the old woman’s perception...but she told me...before I left..take this necklace; each of them is better than being a beggar in your eye..and I laughed...a kind laugh...and she tasted generosity for me..for your children and for your grandchildren...and make my words a loop in your ear....we believe that we are returning...because we are the owners of the right...and we will not accept a single cent as compensation, nor will we accept that they live with our brothers in the Arab countries. I, as I see you...we are returning.

Determination and confidence....sufficient to turn the table....and restore the right to its owners..even after a while....for faith in God and the justice of rights..is stronger than all types of the occupiers’ weapons and those who cooperate with them, here and there...but I hoped despite all that that the old woman would understand...that the officials are not negligent...they negotiate secretly and openly...even from behind the sun...and God willing they will succeed..but the old woman and her people...reject private solutions and negotiators...may God prolong the life of the old woman so that she returns....to the country...this is not as Iblis hoped in Paradise...but it is the hope of right and justice....no matter how generations succeed one another.

One thing remained that I did not ask about: why, I wondered - between me and myself - did the old woman send the house key of her country to her son in America...and I guessed, and it was logical..that the old woman was afraid they would pressure her..and those whom the Jews expelled like her..and remained living..and take the keys from them..and wrap up with them the deeds of the lands and houses of theirs...!!..this could happen these days...but the old woman is aware and we will not be deceived....May God prolong your life, old woman. And you, lady of the land. We are returning...!!

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