Palestinian teen Merkel brought to tears says she hopes Israel ceases to exist

28 July 2015, 3:43 pm

Edit

A 14-year-old Palestinian refugee who became famous after she broke out in tears when German chancellor Angela Merkel told her that not all refugees can stay in Germany doesn’t really plan to stay in her adopted homeland.

Reem Sahwil, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and currently lives in the Eastern German city of Rostock, doesn’t consider Germany her home, she tells German daily Die Welt. “No, Palestine is my home,” she says. She’s never been there, Sahwil tells the paper, “but one day I will live there.”

When she speaks about “Palestine,” she means “everything,” she says. What about Israel? “My hope is that one day it won’t be there anymore, but only Palestine.”

— Raphael Ahren