Plight of Palestinian families in exile-Diaspora

Visiting a village that was overtaken by occupational Jewish forces 63 years ago.

Image from video shows a Palestinian child during the Jewish militia and invasion of civilian towns in 1948.

(LONDON Press TV) - Since 1948, millions of Palestinians have been forced into exile from their own lands.

Hussain Zidane

In this series we seek to find out what happened to the refugees of the 1948 and how their families are coping with six decades in exile.

In this episode, Lauren Booth meets Zidane family from north Gala Ley village.

In 1948, more than 1500 Palestinians lived in this village, but on 15 July 1948, Jewish troops entered and occupied the village of Al Damun.

Everyone was expelled, according to Hussain Zidane, a forced Exodus Survivor from the occupied village. He was four-years old when the occupation began. What would a four-year old see in these circumstances?

He says he didn't have a childhood, the home he was forced out of had been built by his father only a year before. They were never allowed to live in this house built with their hands, on their land.

Special thanks to Gilad Atzmon.

Lauren Booth has been writing political articles and columns for UK national newspapers since the 1990's. Predominantly the Mail on Sunday. During a prolific journalistic career, Lauren has written for the New Statesman, the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the Daily Mail. In 2005, she visited the West Bank to interview Mahmoud Abbas. Having witnessed the Occupation first hand and has since become an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2008, Lauren Booth was onboard the FreeGaza; the first ship to break Israel's illegal siege of the Gaza Strip. She was then refused exit via either Israel or Egypt for a month, stating at the time 'it's an honour to be under siege with the people of Palestine and to feel what it is like to survive under the illegal Israeli occupation. Lauren has been a forthright campaigner against the war in Iraq. She supports the Stop the War Coalition, Media Workers Against the War and the FreeGaza Movement. Since 2008, Lauren has worked for the 24 hour international English-language news channel Press TV. Lauren presents 'Remember Palestine' and a soon-to-be aired new series on the Palestinian Diaspora. In October 2010 Lauren announced at the Global Peace and Unity event that she had embraced Islam..