Stateless Palestinians live in camps scattered throughout the Middle East, from Lebanon to Jordan and Syria.

While events in the West Bank and Gaza are often in the news, Mahmoud says the world turns a blind eye to refugees living outside of Palestinian territories. They call themselves “the forgotten Palestinians”.

“You’re born as refugees, it’s not your choice, you didn’t decide to be a refugee. So you’re treated as stateless,” she says. “You lose your dignity, you lose your rights, you lose everything.”

Mahmoud — who was born in Burj Barajneh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut — has written an autobiography that tells of her fight to return to her homeland, Tarshiha.

She wrote the book to highlight her people’s long plight. “I work as the voice of my people, always I’ve been an activist. It will show how Palestinian refugees suffer all their life,” she says.

In 1948, Mahmoud’s grandparents were forced to flee Tarshiha during the Arab-Israeli war. At this time more than 700,000 Palestinian-Arabs were exiled during al Nakba, the catastrophe.

The State of Israel does not recognise the right of refugees to return and instead regards their status as part of an ultimate peace deal — one which remains on hold.

By February 1949, Mahmoud’s grandparents had moved to Burj Barajneh, the UN-run refugee camp on the edge of Beirut. Mahmoud’s mother was just entering her teenage years.

Spread across the south of the city are several Palestinian refugee camps. These camps were intended to be temporary but have existed for 70 years.

Living conditions are poor and over the years the camps have been prone to shelling, inspections at checkpoints, violence and insecurity. Thousands of refugees have been killed or displaced and properties and homes have been regularly damaged.

Despite these dire conditions, Mahmoud pursued her education.

“My father and mother would say, ‘As a refugee you lose your dignity but the only way to gain it is by being well educated.’ All my life is shaped by my parents,” she says.

Mahmoud’s book captures her dedication, resilience and extraordinary courage, in the face of so much bloodshed, death and destruction.

“My personality became stronger and stronger throughout my career as a nurse. I had the chance to become a leader, to travel and to meet many people.”

She attended a nurse training program in London in 1983, her first taste of freedom. “The freedom was like flying, it was a turning point in my life.

“But I also felt bitterness. Whenever I would have a taste of freedom, I would remember my people back in the refugee camp.

“My father told me to stop comparing and look at the similarities instead.”

Mahmoud took part in a community nursing course in Australia in 1984 and she began to educate others on the plight of her people.

“My trips to Australia made me stronger and they helped me to raise awareness about my people.”

She now is director of the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation.

“Women are really the backbone of the family and community so when we established an NGO to … work with the women, I was very proud.”

She uses it as a platform to take her story to the world.

She continues to fight for the Right of Return and the activation of UN resolution 194. She hopes that a peaceful solution will be reached.

For Mahmoud, part of her dream has come true through her son Chaker who made the journey she cannot.

In 2016 he visited Tarshiha, not as a Palestinian but as a Canadian, the first of their family to walk the streets of Tarshiha since October 1948. He planted an olive tree for his grandfather in his village, a symbol of hope and peace for his family and for Palestinian refugees.

Olfat Mahmoud is on a speaking tour of Australia until September 8.

Tears For Tarshiha, Wild Dingo Press, $29.95.