The Right to Return is a Right it is not a Privilege it is not a Bargaining Chip

Born in a tent within a foreign land so far from home just across the border
I was born a refugee and so are my children
We live on hand outs and this is not how human beings are supposed to live
We live a existence that has no beginning no ending here in this temporary refugee camp

We live in hardship everyday every way and we can't escape this punishment
But we do have a dream
It is a dream that we live every minute of every day
Our dream  is the right to return to our homeland that i have never seen

As my Arab brothers toss me crumbs and sympathy
They make shekels and dollars
My people suffer day after day,year after year until we live a life that is no life
We are human beings and are treated as unwanted vermin as farm animals in these refugee camps

Great God of one and all
How can people under your love be treated so differently?
Some live in luxury others in pain
How could things be this way?

My name is Abu Ahmed Faeh Taha and I am so tired
I have 8 children and my Grandfather and we all live despair here every day
Yet we live the dream everyday too
For the right of return to our homeland

It is not up to you
It is not up to our oppressors
It is not up to our landlords who let us stay here temporarily
It is up to us to return to our homeland

For our right to return home is our dream it is our right
It is not yours to bargain with like a chip at a poker game
It does not have a price that you can negotiate and throw to me as compensation
How would you act if you had no home and others decided you fate?

You see our right to return to our homeland is ours and no one Else's
You cannot spin it you cannot sell it you cannot barter it
It is ours and ours alone
And since it is our right we decide what we do
we decide what we do

By Michael Hall