Bittersweet Remembrance Sunday for Palestinian veterans
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AIN AL-HELWEH — Mussa al-Hussein may have a hard time recalling dates and places, but the 86-year-old Palestinian does not miss a beat when asked for his ID number when he was in the British army in Palestine in World War II.
“5472,” he fired off assuredly, sitting in his rundown home in the densely populated Ain al-Helweh refugee camp in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon.
Hussein is among some 30 Palestinians in Lebanon who fought under the Union Jack during the second World War but who were forced to flee their land in 1948 after the creation of Israel.
The majority have since been living in squalid refugees camps with little hope of ever returning home.
On Sunday, when Remembrance Day is celebrated in Britain, Hussein will stand alongside his fellow veterans at an annual ceremony in their honour in Beirut organised by the British Embassy, which has been trying to secure the men some regular assistance in recognition of their service..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101114com5.html
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