THE SAD STORY OF EMIIGRATION
Today I would like to write about a personal issue which makes me feel sad.
The Hugh amount of Palestinian which emigrate from Ramallah.
The numbers of people which emigrated from the city is enormous and unbelievable and the numbers are rising each day!!
40,000 have emigrated from ramallah and now living in the US, while The population of ramallah toady is only 60,000.
The meaning of these numbers is that almost half of the citizens have left ramallah in the past years.Has ramallah become so unbearable?
And a bigger question must be asked,
Has Palestine stopped being the option for us, Palestinians?
It feels that Palestine stopped being the natural place for us, why is that ? Is it because of the Israeli aggression, the bad economic situation, the hamas extremists. but if Palestine is not the place for Palestinians, Where is the place for Palestinians??
40% of emigration makes me think whether emigration is the solution for us?
I absolutely feel that such a step is the wrong decision. Emigration is not an opportunity for us! We must stay here and fight for our liberation from Israeli occupation and hamas influence.
I think we need to concentrate only on one thing, and that is living.
Living means focusing on life, and not on death, leaving means culture, and learning and acquiring knowledge. Life means being happy, and trying to upraise crisis.
I have family in London, and they have broken the unity of my family. Such an act took me apart from my family, and now if I have the need to visit them Ill need to fly for many hours.The Palestinians which live abroad have become a big community, which operates a broad community life.
I have chatted across the net with some Palestinian friends that live in the US or Europe and they are quite happy.
I will be glad if Palestinian that live abroad will write me and tell me about their life.
Regards,
Asad al nimr,
Ramallah.
posted by Asad Ramallah @ 10:51 AM
5 Comments:
Asad my friend,
I long for the day when I will be able to walk again freely in Palestine, the land from which I was born and to gaze on her rolling hills.
You have hit on the one thing that has troubled me my whole life away from Palestine.
My family emigrated in 1968, we lived in Jerusalem and tried to live under the flag of Israel but in the end could not. We had been given the choice to become Israeli citizens but declined for obvious reasons. I was only 3 years old when we left. The family that I still have in Jerusalem are virtually non-citizens. They have the right to vote in municipal elections but that's it. They're lucky if they get the mail delivered to them once a week, and then there's the issue of ID cards which the Israeli's can revoke for just about anything including not paying your "TV taxes" on time, etc., etc.
Living in Canada is different.
Living within the province of Quebec specifically (which is mostly French speaking) as an English speaker means having to prove I have the right to go to English school, I was even issued a special certificate. Despite Montreal being 1/3 English...if I have a business, I cannot have any English on the sign out side my shop, or displayed inside for that matter. It comes down to what language the computer software I have on my computers...they must all be in French. We are getting ready for an election in Quebec...one of the Parties is calling for Quebec to separate from Canada to make Quebec an exclusive French speaking nation...which ironically will put me into a similar situation that my relatives back in Jerusalem are in.
Asad I will not lie I have a better life here than if I had stayed...but at the same time I carry the burden that Palestinians around the world carry [1][2] and continue to do my part to advocate the Palestinian cause...online and in person.
Palestinians are strong people, as long as we don't slide back to infighting or lower our standards to those of the Zionists we will come out of this together.
And once the dust settles I hope to be able to come home and be accepted despite having left all those years ago...
Abu-Issa
Hi Asad, I came across your post thanks to Abu Issa.
I'm like Abu Issa in that I'm also a Palestinian living in Montreal. However I've never been to Palestine, but I can understand what you're talking about. I can tell you that my parents are probably way better off living here, even if that means being away from their homeland. Palestinians leave because they are tired of being treated with the least amount of dignity and humanity possible. It is a shame that Palestinians are leaving, and I feel guilty sometimes just because of the fact that I've never lived there, let alone visited. I think Palestinians like me can use their position in the best way possible to bring light to the issue and keep fighting for our cause.
As salam alaikum.
I write for a Muslim audience. Inshallah, come by if you have some time to read.
Wa salaama,
nuh ibn
Hello Asad,
It is good to see you speak that way about life. We should all concentrate on our way of living, building our cultures. We have to learn to live in peace with each other.
I'm so sick and tired of all these injustices, of all the hatred towards Israelis and Palestinians. When will it end? When will people realize that we're all equal human beings, that we all deserve a fair share of life?
I'm here to let you know that there are Israelis who wish to live in peace with you and your people. I've met several peace seeking Palestinians in the Internet. They gave me hope for future peace. May we all bring hope to each other and let go of all our hatred.
Bless you and your family, Asad.
Be safe.
Dear Asad,
I read your posts with admiration due to a person which express moderation. Let me write two personal experiences.See,I live in Poland,and my father is a Jew.In 1968 there was a widespread campaign of antisemitism driven by the ruling communist party.My father and both his parents had personal problems,they were 'encouraged' to leave the country to Israel,parents of my Mother wished their relationship split,my father's family was ordered to give away their flal for the sake of 2x smaller one, and so on.But my father's family didn't leave.My father had the driving force inside,and that was science.To have just one branch which you could grab was enough to stay.My experience is that my generation and previous ones were often choosing to leave Poland due to the regime and the bad economic situation.But just the first glimmers of the economic transformation and the hope for freedom that started then allowed me to say "this is my country,I'll try not to leave".I think, what is important to maintain decision about remaining is some sign of hope:this can be friends,this can be some hope for peace that people might have in your latitude.Maybe this internet,where you find reasonable people on both sides.Maybe your children,and so on.
Wish you had lots of reasons to stay in your own place. Btw. maybe Palestinians emmigrating from Ramallah are choosing a temporary stay,just to acquire some financial safety? In such case it would be even good,since they would return with money to be spent,and (as I can guess) less fundamentalist viewpoint?
Best wishes from Poland
Chris
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