Paul Calvert spoke with Nabeel Hamouz about the vote

My family used to live in a place called Beit Jibrin. When Israel moved in they kicked out so many, not just in Beit Jibrin, but in other villages. Some studies have said that since Israel moved in from 1948 to 1998 that there are 3.4 million Palestinian refugees; some are living inside Palestine and some are living outside.

Paul: What countries are the Palestinian refugees living in?

Nabeel: 40% of them are living in Jordan and 10% are living in Lebanon. There is 12% living in Syria and there is 38% living in Palestine, whether in the West Bank or Gaza and the rest in Europe, Canada, America and Australia and other countries around the world.

Paul: Do these Palestinian refugees want to come back into the 1967 borders or do they want to go to 1948?

Nabeel: It's not what land you want to go back to. You had a land and you lost it and you want it back. I am not going to say I lost this thing, if I want it back give me something else that looks just the same, because in the end you lost your land. It doesn't matter if it was 48 or 67, you had a land and you lost it and want it back. This is something that everyone would live in. That's the sad story that everybody looks at it from a religious side, the case of the Palestinians and Israel look at it from the religious side. I know that you hear on the TV and radio that there is a Palestinian guy gone and killed an Israeli guy; yes but the Palestinians have lived for all their lives in this troubles. They've been attacked and killed. We are refugees now. There are 59 refugee camps in Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. That sounds like nothing; maybe you say well there are only about 60 refugee camps, yes, but these 60 refugee camps, like one of the smallest one is Azza camp which is in Bethlehem, this camp has 2,300 people living in it. That is a very small refugee camp, yet we're living on top of each other. They build their houses so small, so tiny and you just kind of have this hood in Palestine full of people who have been kicked out of their land.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency took over; what they do is give them this piece of land; they actually rent it from the government and then they build their homes. The homes are just like a room, a bathroom and a kitchen and that should be enough for 5-6 people in this family. Maybe many years ago that was enough for the refugee camp; now we are rising up. We're growing up and now there are 3.4 million refugees all over the world.

What Mahmoud Abbas is asking for right now is quite dangerous because if you are looking for a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders, well what's going to happen to the Palestinians from 1948? Are you going to give them something else? Are you going to give them money or a piece of land? How are you going to get them satisfied with what we are living in?

Paul: It does seem to be a huge mess and problem, to have so many Palestinian refugees. If you bring these Palestinian refugees and give them the rights from 1948 is that not suicide for Israel?

Nabeel: Well that's the thing. That's why I said the Palestinian situation is quite impossible. It's really just impossible to think about it. As you said it is suicide for Israel, but again what are you going to do with the Palestinians, that's the thing. Are you just going to buy them another piece of land, another place? What are you going to do with them? That is the question everybody is asking.

The main thing we are looking for is peace and justice. The reason Mahmoud Abbas is going to the United Nation to ask for a state or a two state solution is for peace and justice. We are asking for that.

When Mahmoud Abbas came up with the 67 solution, he knows if he is going to ask for the 1948 as well, that Israel will say no and nobody is going to agree with it, because they don't want to be in this suicidal position. I so see it, but at the same time it's a right for the Palestinians to get back their land.

In the schools now we have this brain wash thing; we have the new generation that rises up and says I don't want my land, that was my fathers land, I don't want it, I just want to go and live in peace. That is not because the Palestinians just gave up, it's because they know there is no way. That's why Mahmoud Abbas came up with a solution. We know that if we ask for 1948, Israel is going to say no. That's why it's been there for so many years; 63 years we are living under this occupation and it's going to be more than that; it's going to be double. I know I will die and my grandkid will live in the same situation I am living in right now. I am not saying this not to give hope; I am saying it because it is a fact. We are living in this position where someone has to give up. Palestinians should give up in order for Israel to live; Israel has to give up in order for Palestinians to get back their land and to live in justice and peace.

I do support our President but I would say sadly there is no answer to our situation.

Paul: As a Palestinian refugee is this more personal to you because you are a refugee than to the average Palestinian on the street?

Nabeel: It is totally different. I know myself if we do get the two state solution sorted or Obama says let's go for it, I know you have got so many refugees will be so angry. We will be like, we have been kicked out, and living in a refugee camp and how long can we wait for this two state solution? It's not going to be helpful for me. It is helpful for the Palestinians who are not refugees because they are living in their own place where they have been for many years. The only thing that is going to change is we might have more freedom.