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Palestinian Activists Prepare For Refugee Return

Palestinian activists are taking practical measures to prepare for the return of refugees, Jillian Kestler-D’amours writes.
Palestinians wait for the return of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement activists at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip December 3, 2012. The Islamist Hamas group allowed the 10 activists, who fled Gaza into Egypt in 2007 during internal fighting between the two political rivals, to return home in what the group said was a sign of rapprochement, according to a Hamas official.  REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3B66N

IQRIT, NORTHERN GALILEE — Standing on a rocky hilltop overlooking Lebanon, 23-year-old Haytham Sbait’s face lights up when asked what life would be like if he was able to live in his family’s ancestral village permanently.

“Simple,” the 23-year-old says, sipping tea from a paper cup as two brown donkeys graze in the short grass in front of him. “A small house, a horse, a donkey, the land. Simple.”

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