The Return: 36 Abbas Street, Haifa, is the story of the Rafi family, Palestinians who stayed in Palestine and became hostages to fate, becoming citizens of the Jewish state of Israel.
It is also the story of the Abu Ghaida family, Palestinians who were forced to leave and left to wonder all corners of the world in search of a country they could call their own.
But for both families 36 Abbas Street is home.
It is their city, their street, their house, and their memories.
They have memories of sites, sounds and smells in the same balcony, overlooking the same sea, two families, both Palestinian, both patriotic, both torn asunder by the fate that the destruction of Palestine brought upon them,
as individuals, as families, as a community and as a people.
It is also a story of defiance and endurance, of perseverance and patience, of faith and loyalty, of people who make things happen in spite of the odds stacked against them.
On May 15, 2010,  the Abu Ghaidaand Rafi families are set to meet for the first time – they will meet in a celebration of the homecoming of FuadAbu Ghaida, one of the …. children of Ahmad Abu Ghaida, the (original) owner of the building that stands at 36 Abbas Street in Haifa.
In the closing of a circle of a saga that began on the 15th of May in 1948 when Haifa fell to the Zionist forces, one Palestinian, FuadAbu Ghaida, 73, now a resident of London, will return to his family home in Haifa.
Ali Rafi and the other contemporary residence of 36 Abbas Street will welcome him and in a symbolic gesture will give him the keys to the home he has been denied for the past 62 years.
In the span of 48 hours, the fate of the Palestinians of Haifa will be challenged by the return of a missing son, by the return to 36 Abbas Street of FuadAbu Ghaida.