PERSONAL: Elderly Palestinian who witnessed '48 Nakba rejects Trump's Gaza relocation plan

Record ID: 1956065

  • Title: PERSONAL: Elderly Palestinian who witnessed '48 Nakba rejects Trump's Gaza relocation plan
  • Date: 5th February 2025
  • Summary: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (FEBRUARY 5, 2025) (REUTERS) TENTS PLACED ON TWO SIDES / BUILDINGS IN BACKGROUND RUBBLE IN FRONT OF PARTIALLY DESTROYED BUILDINGS DESTROYED CAR / TENTS MAKESHIFT TENT MOVING FROM WIND CHILDREN WITH BUCKET / EMPTY PLASTIC CONTAINER VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN LIVING IN KHAN YOUNIS WHO WITNESSED NAKBA WITH HIS FAMILY, RASHAD MANSOUR, SITTING UNDER PARTIALLY DESTROYED ROOF, READING KORAN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO WITNESSED NAKBA WITH HIS FAMILY, RASHAD MANSOUR, SAYING: “We are staying here, where else should we go? We don't want to go to America or any other place. We want to stay in our land and our home country, we want to stay. We are staying here and dying here. We reject all these calls for us to leave and become displaced. Whoever wants to leave has no way but death. We will die in Palestine, this is our land, our country and our life.” MANSOUR SPEAKING MANSOUR’S HANDS LEANING ON STICK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO WITNESSED NAKBA WITH HIS FAMILY, RASHAD MANSOUR, SAYING: “The country from which I was displaced, I will return to it and rest assured. This is what is on my mind. The Jews came to us from everywhere, they were pushed on us by (some) countries. This is not their land. This is our land. We lived our whole lives (here), our fathers and grandfathers. My grandfather lived for 120 years in Palestine, in our country. When we were displaced (after) 120 years, they displaced us to Gaza Strip. That displacement was the most difficult displacement in my entire life.” MANSOUR’S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO WITNESSED NAKBA WITH HIS FAMILY, RASHAD MANSOUR, SAYING: “We lived in war until now for 13 months with these high prices and death. This war is the deadliest. People have died in very despicable ways, young men have died, old men have died, women have died. It was a random war, they shot at everyone. They destroyed houses, destroyed us, they burnt our houses and destroyed our lives, some survived and others died.” MANSOUR SITTING WITH HIS FAMILY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN WHO WITNESSED NAKBA WITH HIS FAMILY, RASHAD MANSOUR, SAYING: “We lived through all the wars, some were bad, but this is the worst war we’ve lived and witnessed because this war is not focused on one group, it takes whatever it takes of casualties, no matter young or old, good or bad, it’s a fierce war.” VARIOUS OF RUBBLE
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2025 14:10
  • Keywords: Gaza Israel Nakba Palestinians U.S. President Donald Trump displaced
  • Location: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA
  • City: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA
  • Country: Palestinian Occupied Territory
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
  • Reuters ID: LVA001906005022025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Rashad Mansour left his family home in the once Arab town of Bayt Daras as a toddler in 1948 following the creation of the Israeli state. Now, in his late 70s, he detests the idea of being displaced again as U.S. President Donald Trump floats a plan to remove Gaza's population.
    Mansour, born in 1946, left with his father, siblings and relatives during the "Nakba," or catastrophe, the time when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel in 1948.
    During this recent war, Mansour was also displaced from his house in Khan Younis to Rafah, with his son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.
    “We are staying here and dying here. We reject all these calls for us to leave and become displaced,” Mansour said, while sitting among his family after returning to Khan Younis.
    Trump's proposal for the U.S. to take over war-torn Gaza and create a "Riviera of the Middle East" after resettling Palestinians elsewhere has shattered U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sparking widespread global condemnation.
    Trump, in his first major Middle East policy announcement, said he envisioned building a resort where international communities could live in harmony after over 15 months of Israeli bombardment devastated the tiny coastal enclave and killed more than 47,000 people, by Palestinian tallies.
    It is not clear whether Trump will go ahead with his controversial proposal or is simply taking an extreme position as a bargaining strategy. Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but did not say when he will go.
    (Production: Hatem Khaled, Bassam Masoud, Mariam Rizk)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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