Like all young Palestinians who
were born and grew up under Zionist occupation, we have never known
freedom, but this value was and remains the most coveted, regardless of
the cost or sacrifice.
My family is from Al-Bakaa
neighbourhood in Jerusalem. In June 1948, my family was forced to flee
under attacks from Zionist forces. They took nothing, only the key. My
family came to Bethlehem where I was born and grew up. After high
school, I went to the University of Bethlehem, but I was always looking
for academic possibilities abroad to be free from the oppression,
school-closures, and the permanent and violent actions of the occupying
troops. I eventually had the opportunity to study in Chile, I did not
hesitate one second, sent my application and was accepted at several
universities.
|
Jaffa Street,
Jerusalem, 1935 ( ©Israeli
Press Office)
Jerusalem,
A hub of political, social, cultural and economic life for the
Arabs and Jews who lived in the city before 1948, Jerusalem has
held a renowned deep religious significance for adherents of the
three monotheistic religions of the world. It is for this reason
that the UN Partition Plan (Resolution 181) of 1947 set this
city aside as a corpus separatum to be administered by
the international community. When news of the Partition Plan
reached the Christians and Muslims of Jerusalem, they
spontaneously broke out into riots across the city. The response
from the Zionist Irgun and Stern gangs was to detonate bombs
targeting these Arab civilians. The Jerusalem commander of the
Haganah, commanding over 5000 troops, ordered the
expulsion of the Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem's mixed and
predominantly Jewish neighborhoods; a task which had been mostly
completed by January 1948. The villages to the west of the holy
city, including Romeima, Lifta, and Sheikh Badr, were also
depopulated and occupied in the same period. On 7 February 1948,
David Ben Gurion told the Mapai council: “From your entry into
Jerusalem, through Lifta, Romeima... there are no Arabs. One
hundred percent Jews... in many Arab neighborhoods in the west
one sees not a single Arab. I do not assume that this will
change... What has happened to Jerusalem... is likely to happen
in many parts of the country.”
Faced with a poorly trained Arab
resistance force, armed mostly with antiquated weapons, the
Zionists launches Operation Nachshon on 6 April 1948 as the part
of Plan Dalet aiming to raze and depopulate all Palestinian
villages between Jerusalem and the coast to the west. The Deir
Yassin Massacre (see page 44) was the Irgun and Stern
contribution to this operation. By 30 April 1948, the Haganah
launched its concerted attacks on the western neighborhoods of
the holy city after two weeks of heavy artillery bombing. By 2
May, the Qatamon neighborhood was taken and later looted.
Starting on May 13, Operation Kilshon (pitchfork) involved the
handing over of Jerusalem neighborhoods by the British to the
Zionist military, who watched David Ben Gurion declare “the
establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called
Israel” the next day. By May 27, the Israeli forces had taken
everything to the west of the Old City.
All of
the Palestinian land and property now occupied by Israel was
confiscated as Absentee Property and by late May Jewish settlers
had begun to take over the houses of the approximately 23,000
Palestinian refugees from the city. Those Arab Palestinians who
were able to remain were concentrated in the Baqaa neighborhood
surrounded by barbed wire fence. [Based on Nathan Krystall, “The
Fall of the New City 1947-1950” in Salim Tamari (ed.),
Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighborhoods and their Fate in the War,
Jerusalem & Bethlehem: Institute of Jersusalem Studies & Badil
Resource Center, 2002 (2nd ed.)] |
I went to study Civil Engineering
at the University of Santiago, which was a big challenge. It was
essential for me to demonstrate that the Palestinians are strong - the
word failure is not in our dictionary. So I finished my studies in
record time; it was a very happy and pleasant experience. Despite the
fact that at the time Chile was under a cruel dictatorship, it did not
compare to the military occupation we lived in Palestine. The
dictatorship was carried out by mercenaries and special forces against
the political opposition, while the occupation is against an entire
people. The occupation is a war against our people; it involves a number
of unlawful policies and measures carried out by the Israeli government
and army to make people’s life impossible in order to force them to
leave - it aims to displace Palestinians and acquire their lands.
As
a newcomer to Chile, I remember that one day while I was on the bicycle,
I went in the wrong direction and a policeman signalled to alert me, but
I was filled with the trauma of the occupation, and seeing the men in
uniforms gave me a shock and without thinking, I accelerated, hit the
policeman and ran away. Soon after, I understood that in Chile, despite
the dictatorship, the uniformed men, in general are not necessarily
enemies.
At the University erverybody
called me “the Palestinian”, I had the affection and respect of all my
classmates and teachers. We studied very hard, but also enjoyed life.
Despite the pleasant stay, I felt it was
my
obligation – my national duty - to return to Palestine.
In Palestine, I worked as an
engineer for four years, always with the pain of not being able to live
in freedom - when one gets used to freedom, it is difficult to live
without it. I also worked in Jordan but for political reasons I was
forced to leave and return to Chile, where I succeded professionally.
I think my successes are primarily
due to our character – steadfast, honest and tenacious - and our culture
of survival; values that we have acquired and developed throughout our
struggle for freedom.
I dream of returning to my house
in Jerusalem – Palestine - to live in safety, dignity and freedom like
other peoples of the world and to sleep on our land, under the shade of
an almond tree. This is the best gift life could give me. I dream of a
free and sovereign Palestine where our people can live in harmony,
tolerance, respect and true democracy. For me, the best solution to this
conflict and the
refugee issue
is the one
state solution;
a democratic
state for all
peoples to live in full equality
without discrimination based on religion, race, colour or sex.
