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| A girl leans on a chain, during a protest to mark the 64th anniversary of Nakba, at Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the port-city of Sidon, in south Lebanon May 15, 2012. Nakba, or catastrophe, marks Israel's founding in 1948 war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho |
Bradley Burston:
"And now I learn, from studying the terrible events of a
terrible war, that Abu Shusha, the village that had once stood on the
slopes of Tel Gezer, overlooking the kibbutz, had been the site of a
massacre.
And that, in the way of catastrophe and of true history, the massacre
of the Arabs of the village of Abu Shusha was followed by killings and
expulsion of the Jews of Kibbutz Gezer.
On the 13th of May, 1948, Abu Shusha was
stormed by the pre-state Haganah militia. Accounts differ as to how many
villagers were killed in the attack, and how many were subsequently
lined up against a wall and executed. There were reports of rape. There
were reports that only women were left to bury the dead. Several days
later, every villager who remained was expelled.
The next month, just before a UN-imposed truce was scheduled to take
effect, a battalion of Arab Legionaires and irregulars, backed by a
dozen armored cars, attacked and captured Gezer, shouting "Deir Yassin,
Abu Shusha." Here, also, there were executions. Irregulars and
neighboring villagers looted the kibbutz. Defenders, who were still
alive, were taken prisoner and driven off.
This is where the story diverges, and the Nakba begins. Gezer was
rebuilt, and remains a kibbutz to this day. The people of Abu Shusha
lost their village, and were never allowed to return and rebuild.
The sense that both stories need to be told, informs a remarkable Open Zion essay
by Jerusalem-born physician Ziad J. Asali, founder of the American Task
Force on Palestine, on the fundamental lessons of Nakba Day.
Sixty-four years, Dr. Asali writes, "after I lost my home and suddenly
found myself a refugee at age six, the task before us is to make sure
that no further nakbas, no more pogroms or unspeakable horrors, ever
occur again."
In order that this may happen, "Palestinians must recognize and accept
Israel, which is a legitimate member state of the United Nations. The
Palestinians must have one place on earth, the territories occupied in
1967, where they can live freely as first class citizens in their own
independent state. There is no other way to end the cycle of bloodshed,
pain and hatred has that lasted for so long."
"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for
our children free of manmade tragedy. This means making peace fully,
completely and without reservation, between Israel and a State of
Palestine."
If I had Alex Miller's ear - as he, for better or worse, has mine - I
would suggest that on this Nakba Day, there is a Jerusalem physician in
exile in America, who has something that Miller needs to hear."
Thank you, Russian immigrant to Israel, for Nakba Day
Alex Miller will go down in history as the Israeli politician who tried his damnedest to erase the memory of the Nakba - and, in doing so, made the Nakba an indelible part of our lives.
[AS
ALWAYS
PLEASE GO TO THE LINK
TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN
FULL: HELP SHAPE
ALGORITHMS (and
conversations) THAT EMPOWER
DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE &
PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
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