[News] Dying on the Road to Freedom: Scenes from the Great March of Return to the North

Tue Jan 28 14:08:49 EST 2025

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Dying on the Road to Freedom: Scenes from the Great March of Return to the
NorthJanuary 28, 2025
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A million Palestinians return north as Al-Rashid Street reopens for
pedestrians. (Photo: via social media, QNN)

*By Ramzy Baroud <https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/ramzy-baroud>*

An elderly Palestinian man died on the journey home, while another,
overcome with joy, ululated, clapped, and sang. A young boy gently held the
hand of his great-grandfather as they took the first steps in reversing the
Nakba. A little girl recited poetry. This was Gaza today.

When Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes in historic
Palestine, many perished along the seemingly endless journey.

Some were killed by Zionist snipers stationed along the way, while others
succumbed to exhaustion, hunger, and thirst. A group died from what many
survivors have described throughout years of interviewing Nakba refugees: a
condition known as “broken hearts.” This ‘ailment’, as viewed by many
refugees at the time, was often fatal and struck those who had endured
immense loss.

The ‘broken heart’ disease accompanied many Nakba survivors who also died
shortly after fleeing their ancestral villages and towns. Forced to live as
refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and across the Middle East, their spirit
was crushed by the trauma of displacement.

For the first time in the history of Palestinian exile, a million
Palestinians—beginning on January 27, 2025—’returned.’ However, they did
not return to their original villages and towns in historic Palestine
(today’s Israel). Instead, they returned to northern Gaza, from where they
had been forced to flee amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide, which began on
the first days of the war.

Without outside help, and without Arab armies coming to the rescue—as the
Nakba generation once hoped—these refugees returned due to their own
resilience and resistance. This day will be remembered in Palestinian
history as the first step toward realizing the Right of Return for
Palestinian refugees. It is an earth-shattering moment.

However, an elderly Palestinian man could not complete the journey. He
walked as far as his frail body would allow, his old cane offering little
support. At one point, his heart failed him, and he collapsed. His family
gathered around him, gently caressing his hand, perhaps hoping that their
collective love and prayers would bring him back to life.

In the poignant story of this elderly Palestinian refugee, exile was meant
to end there. He died, not while journeying south along the dreaded road of
exile, but in the north, near his original village in Palestine.

Another elderly Palestinian woman, pushed in a small trolley, survived the
journey. The joy in her voice, the endless clapping, and the ululations
reflected the chaotic happiness that overwhelmed her. The message was
received, and a video documenting this rare moment of a woman who was only
a child when she was expelled from Palestine in 1948 suggested a possible
happy ending for millions of refugees like her.

Then there was the great-grandfather and his great-grandson. The elderly
man, so bent over with age that it seemed he was ready to kiss the earth of
Gaza, still kept pace. The young boy, strong and full of life, held onto
the man’s hands, carrying a few items of clothing salvaged as their family
made their way back to their destroyed town in northern Gaza.

No artistic representation could capture the power of that image. No words
could suffice. There were no generational gaps worth reflecting on. The man
had been a boy during the Nakba, and the boy will be the man who leads the
Palestinian journey back home—a journey that has already begun.

Finally, a young girl from Gaza composed a poem and eagerly recited it to a
journalist, who, along with dozens of others, was documenting this
historical moment. A group of women and children stood behind her, smiling
with pride as the little girl shared her verses. Here are some of her words:

I am a Palestinian girl, and I am proud.

I am the strong, resilient Palestinian girl,

The daughter of heroes, the daughter of Gaza,

The land of the free.

We who prefer death over shame,

The people of Gaza who have not eaten vegetables,

Because the deceptive Zionists

Have expelled us from our homes,

And ignited a revolution in our hearts,

Like a storm, like a volcano.

And today is the day of victory,

The day we return home.

We are going back to Gaza to rebuild our houses

And break our chains.

I am a Palestinian girl, and I am proud.

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*

*– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle.
He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé,
is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and
Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research
Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is*
*www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>
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