Feature: Displaced carve way out of hardship amid tarnished dreams

In an Egyptian small village named Fadel Island in Sharqiya province lives nearly 3,000 Palestinians, most of whom are decedents of ancestors who fled to Egypt during 1948-49 war.

Gaber Salem, 57 years old, whose father has been displaced in 1948, said the Island was founded by 30 Palestinian Bedouins. They chose the Fadel Island as a residence because its nature, vast space and atmosphere were suitable for agriculture and herding sheep.

Salem told Xinhua that his predecessors haven't faced problems and they were treated likewise Egyptians during late president Gamal Abdel Naser era, but their privileges in education, health, and supplied services were lift with the coming of late president Anwar Sadat, and the ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

He added the Palestinians started to encounter more difficulties after 2011 as Egypt applies national cards for distributing food and gas cylinders only for Egyptians citizens.

The Palestinians are the oldest refugees in the world, as around 85 percent (720,000 people) of the Palestinian Arab population fled or were expelled from their homes, to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and to the countries of Lebanon, Syrian, Jordon and Egypt in the 1948 Palestinian War.

They and their decedents took from such countries new homes though treated as second degree citizens sometimes in enjoying services compared to the original citizens.

Established on 100 acres, Fadel Island, a poor village, lacks a school, a hospital, or a police station. Only small classroom for literacy, and a small hospital under construction, could be seen.

According to Salem, there is an elementary school 700m far from the Island and a secondary school 2km away from his village.

The man pointed out that only ten percent of the children in the village got the very basic learning, and most of the Palestinians are working in agriculture, livestock breeding, or as drivers, carpenters and mechanics and the women are working during the harvesting season.

Nearly all the Palestinians live on the Island have been born in Egypt, Salem added some 300 who were born by Egyptian mothers, have acquired the Egyptian citizenship while the others carry Palestinian travel documents and passports.

The Palestinians in the village tended to marry early and bring more children to aid their families in hand workings.

"I have 17 children; all are married, with more than 65 grandchildren," said Salem while smiling, "I don't even know their names."

According to the law, the refugees have the right to return back to their homeland, however, Salem said he prefers to complete his life in Egypt.

But wishes are different for others, Nafila Hussein told Xinhua "I dream of returning back to my country." She was forced to leave her village in Palestine after losing her seven children, her husband and her brother during the 1948 War.

The Island, like most of the poor Egyptian villages, composed of one-stage house, mostly built with mud bricks with no pillars, very narrow streets in between, but when you enter you can easily see the Palestinian decorations and paintings.

The Palestinians preserve their old tradition in marriage, weddings ceremonies, cooking, Sabah Hussein Salman, Women Representative for Palestinian Women in Sharqiya, a housewife with a moderate education, said.

The village has a Palestinian mayor, who is relatively rich. He heads a self-controlled conventional council, which is tasked with solving the village problems.

"We rarely seek police or courts," Sabah told Xinhua, adding the Island suffers big rate of divorce and ignorance and illiteracy.

Sabah said she enrolled eight of her children in schools and dream of a better future for them, but most of the families in the Island have forced their children to leave school and work in farming or handmade crafts.

She said they lacked many privileges in Egypt gradually. "Our children are born in Egypt, and they should be treated like Egyptians." in reference to being treated as foreigners in paying fees when joined universities.

Some of Palestinian refugees, who left their homeland more than 55 years ago, and their cause hasn't settled yet, are more or less live likewise national citizens in Arab or foreign countries, though suffering the feelings of being refugees.

Nearly 60 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced at the end of 2014, representing the highest number of people ever recorded that have been driven to leave their homes, a report released by the Unites Nations on Thursday said.

One in every 122 people in the world are now refugees outside their country of origin, internally displaced or seeking asylum. The UN cites the multitude of worldwide conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, as the main reason of the displacement.

One half of the globe's refugees are children and nine of every ten refugees come from less economically developed region of the world. Endit