Nigem Ameen (far right) with his son Sayel and wife Fawzieh upon arriving to Michigan in the 1970s. Ameen now travels back and forth between Ramallah, Palestine, and Dearborn. Photo courtesy of Ameen family

DEARBORN — To many who participate in commemorations and
rallies each year, the Palestinian Nakba of 1948  remains a distant event. But to survivor Nigem Ameen of the
Ramallah area, the nightmarish memories of Israel’s invasion of his homeland
remain vivid.

“They came out of nowhere,” he said, recalling
images of helicopters circling the skies, jeeps and troops arriving on foot and
knocking on doors.

“My uncle refused to open the door for them, protecting
his house, so they started shooting out the windows first and then broke down
the door, shot and killed him,” he said.

A friend of his, Abdul Kader Hussaine, also refused to allow
soldiers inside his home and was shot and killed as well.

Ameen, who spends time in both Dearborn and Ramallah, was 18
years old at the time of the May 15, 1948 creation of Israel, which resulted in
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being displaced from their homes along
with many deaths. While his home village of al-Bireh just outside Ramallah
escaped the worst of the “Day of Catastrophe,” siege and occupation
of Palestine compared with the devastation inflicted on other areas nearby,
Ameen saw the writing on the wall as numerous villagers began fleeing to places
like Jordan and Lebanon. Many of them kept their house keys, however, believing
fully in their right to return.

“My family wouldn’t let me walk outside in the middle
of the night,” he said, noting that he had seen a man randomly shot and
killed by soldiers while sitting outside on top of his car.

Other images that stand out to Ameen include wandering
groups of orphans begging for food, roaming from village to village.

“Every day was hard,” he said, “to see people
being kicked out of their homes and replaced from settlers around the world,
and to know that you were helpless to stop it.”

An entire family of friends, the Mansour family, was killed
by bombs while fleeing from their home from invaders in the early 1960s, he
said.

After hearing news of another invasion of Palestinian
territory in 1967, Ameen packed up and headed for America, arriving on February
14 after losing his job amidst the chaos.

He said he was interviewed by a local news outlet upon
arrival in metro Detroit but wasn’t able to tell the story of his homeland
because of his underdeveloped English skills.

Since then, he hasn’t said much, however, because of his
frustration with the media’s lack of coverage on Palestine. He’s been perhaps
even more frustrated with other countries in the Arab World that he believes
“sold out” the Palestinians, especially Jordan.

But Ameen felt a different emotion — elation — when he saw
the Arab revolutions unfolding recently in places like Tunisia and Egypt. He
also said he’s encouraged by the recent union of Fatah and Hamas but whether it
will effect change remains to be seen. He thinks a two-state solution is the
only option now, however, and said that Israel’s building of thousands of
settlements after the 1993 Oslo Accords shows that they’re not serious about
peace.

“It will take a people’s movement for change to
happen,” he said. “Palestine belongs to the people.”

Despite making a living for himself in America where he feels
safe and secure, Ameen still travels back and forth from Dearborn to Ramallah
each year, spending time in both Palestine and the U.S. His Ramallah property
includes chickens and trees bearing olives, figs and other fruits.

But the size of his home has drawn suspicion from outside
Palestine. Ameen said he was recently subjected to a raid by Israeli soldiers
at 1 a.m. recently asking him for his papers. They believed he and his wife
were hiding something because of the size of the house and because they are
usually the only occupants.

But despite the continued threat to his security, which many
Palestinians continue to face, Ameen said he won’t budge from his home.

“I worked all my life for my home and I won’t leave it
for anybody, it belongs to me and my family.”