Palestinian refugees in Lebanon mark 60 years in exile

EXILE MARCH: Palestinian children dressed in military fatigues hold toy rifles during a demonstration in the refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh.(AFP)

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees headed to Lebanon's southern border with Israel on Wednesday marking 60 years since the creation of the Jewish state and exile from what was once Palestine.

"We want to return to our country. We desperately miss our country's soil," said Mahmud Mahmud, aged in his 70s, who was wearing a traditional Palestinian headdress.

"We came to this area in a peaceful march against the occupation on this occasion."

Palestinian men, women and children were turned back by the Lebanese army as they approached the border fence in the Lebanese village of Marwahin because of the presence of the Israeli military in the nearby Israeli village of Zareet.

Protesters wearing traditional Palestinian dress and carrying flags and pictures of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, had hoped to approach the fence to meet loved ones on the other side.

They used mobile phones to talk to the small group on the other side of the fence to find a meeting point where they could speak face-to-face.

Five hundred children in traditional Palestinian dress also took part in a march in the Ain Al-Helweh camp in the southern port city of Sidon.

Some of the children carried baskets and other small items in a symbol of how the refugees fled to Lebanon with only a few possessions from their homes.

"We won't forget you, Palestine" and "We shall return," read some banners carried by the children.

An estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon with most living in one of the 12 refugee camps.

The protests coincided with the arrival of US President George W. Bush who is visiting the region to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary and to help advance flagging Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Palestinians will on Thursday commemorate the Naqba, or "catastrophe," of Israel's creation in 1948, the defeat of five invading Arab armies and the expulsion or flight of more than 760,000 people as Bush is due to address the Israeli parliament.

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