1 dec 2013
Palestinian refugees walking through the Galilee in October- November 1948
By Alex Shams
The first-ever International Film Festival on Nakba and Return took place on Nov. 28-30 in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, reminding audiences that the 1948 trauma at the center of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot be ignored nor forgotten.
The festival, which showcased 12 films dealing with memories of the ethnic cleansing from Palestinian, Israeli, and international perspectives, was a powerful and important intervention into Israeli public discourse.
Zochrot is an Israeli organization that has been working for years to keep alive the memory of the 1948 ethnic cleansing within Israel, and the film festival was the first in Israel that explicitly focused on the topic. Over the last two days, Israeli audiences packed the Tel Aviv Cinemateque and Jaffa Theater to watch films that approached the issue of the 1948 Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe") from a wide variety of perspectives.
During the 1948 War, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed 530 Palestinian villages of around 750,000 inhabitants, clearing the way for the creation of a Jewish-majority state in their place. The Nakba is widely remembered by Palestinians as the paradigmatic example of their dispossession by the State of Israel, and it is a central moment in the narrative of dispossession and exile of the Palestinian nation from their homeland.
By Alex Shams
The first-ever International Film Festival on Nakba and Return took place on Nov. 28-30 in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, reminding audiences that the 1948 trauma at the center of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot be ignored nor forgotten.
The festival, which showcased 12 films dealing with memories of the ethnic cleansing from Palestinian, Israeli, and international perspectives, was a powerful and important intervention into Israeli public discourse.
Zochrot is an Israeli organization that has been working for years to keep alive the memory of the 1948 ethnic cleansing within Israel, and the film festival was the first in Israel that explicitly focused on the topic. Over the last two days, Israeli audiences packed the Tel Aviv Cinemateque and Jaffa Theater to watch films that approached the issue of the 1948 Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe") from a wide variety of perspectives.
During the 1948 War, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed 530 Palestinian villages of around 750,000 inhabitants, clearing the way for the creation of a Jewish-majority state in their place. The Nakba is widely remembered by Palestinians as the paradigmatic example of their dispossession by the State of Israel, and it is a central moment in the narrative of dispossession and exile of the Palestinian nation from their homeland.
Yet surprisingly, among the largest mainstream Israeli left-wing and movements, 1948 is rarely mentioned. For many of the most "pro-peace" organizations of the mainstream Israeli political spectrum, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 are seen as the root of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while 1948 is relegated to the annals of ancient history.
For these activist groups, 1967 must be reversed and the occupation ended because these events changed the nature of the Israeli state from an inherently peaceful society into a militarized, morally adrift occupying power. 1967 marks the moment when Israel began to lose its moral authority in this perspective. 1948 is rarely on the radar, and the right of return of the refugees and their descendants to their homes in what is now Israel is conveniently forgotten in this narrative.
Much of the mainstream Israeli peace movement is built on a collective, structured forgetting of the ethnic cleansing of 1948, and an unwillingness to recognize that the settler colonial nature of Israel did not begin in 1967. This erasure of memory also betrays their failure to meaningfully engage with Palestinian priorities and concerns, which generally position the dispersal of three-fourths of the Palestinian nation from their homeland in 1948 as a key point in their struggle and a central focus of restitution and redress.
Exploring the Nakba 'an incredibly violent and terrifying process'
The failure of much of the left to engage with the Nakba and the issue of return underscores the importance of the Zochrot International Film Festival on Nakba and Return in keeping alive these memories in the Jewish Israeli public. The festival strikes deep at the heart of the structured forgetting of the Israeli state and the Zionist public by reminding audiences that these events have not been forgotten, nor can they be, if there is to be a just solution.
As the festival program explains, "the idea of partition and separation between Jews and Arabs in historical Palestine and was a key milestone in the ongoing conflict and the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians."
"The festival seeks to creatively challenge the partition concept and suggest new pathways for just and equitable life for all of this divided country's present inhabitants and refugees."
For these activist groups, 1967 must be reversed and the occupation ended because these events changed the nature of the Israeli state from an inherently peaceful society into a militarized, morally adrift occupying power. 1967 marks the moment when Israel began to lose its moral authority in this perspective. 1948 is rarely on the radar, and the right of return of the refugees and their descendants to their homes in what is now Israel is conveniently forgotten in this narrative.
Much of the mainstream Israeli peace movement is built on a collective, structured forgetting of the ethnic cleansing of 1948, and an unwillingness to recognize that the settler colonial nature of Israel did not begin in 1967. This erasure of memory also betrays their failure to meaningfully engage with Palestinian priorities and concerns, which generally position the dispersal of three-fourths of the Palestinian nation from their homeland in 1948 as a key point in their struggle and a central focus of restitution and redress.
Exploring the Nakba 'an incredibly violent and terrifying process'
The failure of much of the left to engage with the Nakba and the issue of return underscores the importance of the Zochrot International Film Festival on Nakba and Return in keeping alive these memories in the Jewish Israeli public. The festival strikes deep at the heart of the structured forgetting of the Israeli state and the Zionist public by reminding audiences that these events have not been forgotten, nor can they be, if there is to be a just solution.
As the festival program explains, "the idea of partition and separation between Jews and Arabs in historical Palestine and was a key milestone in the ongoing conflict and the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians."
"The festival seeks to creatively challenge the partition concept and suggest new pathways for just and equitable life for all of this divided country's present inhabitants and refugees."
The festival kicked off with Lia Tarachansky's film "On the Side of the Road," a documentary that follows the filmmaker’s attempts to interview Israeli veterans of the 1948 War. The director incorporates her own experiences as a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant raised in an Israeli settlement who has had to recognize her own complicity in the Zionist settlement project.
As Tarachansky explained in an interview in mid-November, "The film focuses specifically on the psychological violence against the idea of questioning. It starts and ends with Israeli independence day, one year apart."
The film spans the year following the Knesset's passage of a law banning commemoration of the Nakba, weaving together the frank testimonies of soldiers who committed atrocities against Palestinian villagers and Tarachansky’s own journey of revelation regarding her country’s history and its current path.
The film culminates with scenes of Israeli police surrounding Zochrot members and preventing them from saying aloud the names of the villages destroyed in 1948 in order to protect "security," a potent reminder of how dangerous even the memory of 1948 is for many in the Israeli state and society.
"They try to violently shut up these activists because you cannot talk about 1948 in Israel and certainly not on Independence Day. That's why (the Nakba Film) Festival is so important," Tarachansky said.
Breaking down the ideology of 1948 for Israelis and exploring the Nakba is "an incredibly violent and terrifying process," she added.
As Tarachansky explained in an interview in mid-November, "The film focuses specifically on the psychological violence against the idea of questioning. It starts and ends with Israeli independence day, one year apart."
The film spans the year following the Knesset's passage of a law banning commemoration of the Nakba, weaving together the frank testimonies of soldiers who committed atrocities against Palestinian villagers and Tarachansky’s own journey of revelation regarding her country’s history and its current path.
The film culminates with scenes of Israeli police surrounding Zochrot members and preventing them from saying aloud the names of the villages destroyed in 1948 in order to protect "security," a potent reminder of how dangerous even the memory of 1948 is for many in the Israeli state and society.
"They try to violently shut up these activists because you cannot talk about 1948 in Israel and certainly not on Independence Day. That's why (the Nakba Film) Festival is so important," Tarachansky said.
Breaking down the ideology of 1948 for Israelis and exploring the Nakba is "an incredibly violent and terrifying process," she added.
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Reviving memories of the Nakba amidst nationwide anti-Prawer mobilization
Other films presented over the course of the two days explored the perspectives of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, American Jews, and elderly Palestinian survivors of 1948 massacres themselves. A number of films focused on the spatial aspect of the Israeli erasure of memory. “Planting Resistance to the Jewish National Fund,” for example, examined the JNF’s policy of planting forests atop the ruins of Palestinian villages. Many of these villages were intentionally destroyed by Israeli forces years or even decades after the fighting took place in order to destroy the possibility of refugees’ return, the film revealed through a combination of on-the-ground walkthroughs as well as archival footage. |
Today, these lands have for the most part been converted into forests of non-native pine trees, and signs point to Roman or other ancient ruins but pointedly ignore the remaining signs of recent Palestinian presence.
The festival did not pass without controversy, however. Prior to its start, chairwoman of the Jewish Home party Ayelet Shaked implored Tel Aviv’s mayor to shut down the festival because of its "anti-Zionist" nature, but the municipality did not respond.
A few scattered protesters draped in Israeli flags loitered around outside the entrance at times, but for the most part the festival did not face active threats.
The festival did not pass without controversy, however. Prior to its start, chairwoman of the Jewish Home party Ayelet Shaked implored Tel Aviv’s mayor to shut down the festival because of its "anti-Zionist" nature, but the municipality did not respond.
A few scattered protesters draped in Israeli flags loitered around outside the entrance at times, but for the most part the festival did not face active threats.
Palestinian refugees fleeing to Jordan in 1967
The festival culminated Saturday night in Jaffa with the national premiere of "When I Saw You." The film follows the stories of Palestinians forced to flee into Jordan in 1967, and examines the plight and resistance of a family made into refugees overnight.
The focus on the refugees of 1967 was a fitting way to end the festival, as it served as a reminder that the Nakba is an ongoing process of dispossession that began in 1948 but continues today across historic Palestine.
Indeed, festival attendees exited the Jaffa Theater to find large protests underway against the Prawer Plan, which if implemented by Israel will lead to the displacement of tens of thousands of Bedouins.
The culmination of the festival at a moment of national, and global, protest was a potent reminder that the threat of dispossession and exile stalks Palestinians well into the 21st century.
The festival culminated Saturday night in Jaffa with the national premiere of "When I Saw You." The film follows the stories of Palestinians forced to flee into Jordan in 1967, and examines the plight and resistance of a family made into refugees overnight.
The focus on the refugees of 1967 was a fitting way to end the festival, as it served as a reminder that the Nakba is an ongoing process of dispossession that began in 1948 but continues today across historic Palestine.
Indeed, festival attendees exited the Jaffa Theater to find large protests underway against the Prawer Plan, which if implemented by Israel will lead to the displacement of tens of thousands of Bedouins.
The culmination of the festival at a moment of national, and global, protest was a potent reminder that the threat of dispossession and exile stalks Palestinians well into the 21st century.
13 nov 2013
Activist Frank Barat recently interviewed Israeli filmmaker Lia Tarachansky about her new film on Le Mur a des Oreilles (LMaDO), a Brussels-based radio show about Palestine. Tarachansky’s movie, “On the Side of the Road,” tells the story of the fighters who sought to erase Palestine by perpetrating the Nakba. Here’s a transcript of Barat’s and Tarachansky’s conversation.
LMaDO: Your film “On the side of the road” will premiere in Tel Aviv on the 28th of Nov during a festival called “International film festival on Nakba and Return.” Can you tell us about this festival, and the subject of your film?
Lia Tarachansky: This will be the first film festival in the world that focuses entirely on the return of the refugees that were expelled and fled in 1948 and the Nakba itself. It will be held in Israel which is revolutionary on its own. My film opens the festival. It’s a film that has never been done here, in Israel, before. It includes my story, someone that grew up in a settlement, deep inside of the colonial mentality and colonial project of Israel and wakes up to the Palestinians and the Nakba. It profiles the soldiers who perpetrated the Nakba who expelled and massacred the palestinians. They talk about what they’ve done and return with me to the places that they have destroyed. The film focuses on the concept of return not from the perspective of the refugees, but from the view of the perpetrators. In that way the film connects 1948 and 1967 to today, as one continuous project of dispossession.
LMaDO: Only two former israelis soldiers are testifying in the film even though you got in touch with many more. So how difficult is it to talk about the Nakba in Israel?
LT: It’s incredibly difficult. As soon as you start talking about the conflict whether it is with Israelis or Palestinians, you inevitably end up at 1948 within five minutes. 1948 is not just something that happened, it’s an entire ideology, a mentality. The Israeli fear is based on the fact that what we did to the Palestinians in 1948 will be done to us. When I contacted other veterans, most of them did not want to talk about it in a critical light. They wanted to talk about it as this miraculous victory in a war where all odds were against us. Now that historians have started digging up the facts of the war, we’re starting to discover that what we believed about the State of Israel is pure mythology. The first turning point in that journey of uncovering the mythology started in 1967 with the book by Simha Flapan “The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities”.
When you talk to Israelis, if you start talking about the Nakba, it brings up this intense fear. In fact veterans tend to be a lot more honest, because they did those things, but for their children or their grandchildren for whom 1948 is just a concept, it’s brings this deeply embedded fear. The strongest element of Israeli DNA is knowing what questions you cannot ask. Once you start touching these questions with 1948 and its core, everything else starts to unravel. It’s an incredibly violent and terrifying process.
LMaDO: The film shows a scary side of Israeli society, racist and violent. Is it really that bad?
LT: I am not sure how to answer this question. Israelis and Palestinians are incredibly politicised. The conflict is an everyday thing. Violence is a daily reality here and its mostly experienced by Palestinians and mostly perpetrated by the colonial project. The State, soldiers, the settlers and everyone else. The film itself shows violence against an idea. The film profiles the Nakba as a very violent process of ethnic cleansing and destruction, where hundreds of villages were wiped of the map and refugees forbidden to return. The film focuses specifically on the psychological violence against the idea of questioning. It starts and ends with Israeli independence day, one year apart. The whole film fits into what happened within one year, when the Israeli parliament tried to pass a law that forbids mourning what happened in 1948.
It tried to silence history, silence people feelings about history, something that on its surface is an incredibly fascist move. The film starts and ends with this one day when we celebrate this big mythological bubble. On that day when we are supposed to be celebrating our miraculous victory, our State, everything, activists from the organisation Zochrot tried to question what this mythology is based on. The response from not only the State and the Police but also from people is incredibly violent. They try to violently shut up these activists because you cannot talk about 1948 in Israel and certainly not on independence day. That’s why this festival is so important.
LMaDO: The film touches upon your own story. When did you, a girl that was raised in a Zionist family and that moved to one of the biggest settlement in Palestine, Ariel, realise that what you thought was the truth was not?
LT: I’m still realising it. Unlearning and decolonising your understanding is a life long process. The first time that I started to question things was at University in Canada. There was an Israel week organised by the Jewish student organisation along with the Israeli affairs committee on my campus. These two zionist groups organised what they thought was a celebration of Israel. For a whole week we had israeli flags everywhere, displays showing that Israel is a democratic country, a queer friendly country….You know, I am a Russian jew that grew up in Israel. I know what it is like for a jewish immigrant to live here, in Israel because I was born in the Soviet Union. Unless you are a member of the white elite, of the ashkenazi elite, you were always trying to fit into something. The democracy somehow does not touch you. I therefore remember thinking that it was crazy for them to organise such an event on campus and say such things.
I then realised none of them had ever lived in Israel. They only visited on birthright trips. The same week I met a Palestinian for the first time and had a conversation with him. I think he asked me for directions or something and somehow I found out he was a palestinian. The first thing that came to my mind was:”Oh my god, he knows I am a Jew and he is not trying to kill me”. The only thing I knew about them at the time is that they are trying to kill israelis and jews, that’s all they care about. This person, on the other hand, was just friendly. That unravelled an entire violent process where all what I thought was true came under question.
LMaDO: There is a very powerful scene in the film when you go back to Ariel settlement and talk about the fact that this is where you grew up, where you learned about love and your love for this place. The settlements are always presented as this obstacle to peace so what about if Ariel had to be emptied to ensure the viability of a 2 States solution?
LT: First of all I disagree with the assumption. The settlements are not an obstacle to peace. Colonialism is an obstacle to peace. The actual space on which the settlements are built is 1% of the West Bank. If we had one country from the river to the sea where everyone had equal rights, the settlements will not be an impediment to peace. It’s the idea that we must be in control, we as Jews, must have superior rights. We must control and oppress the palestinians that is an obstacle to peace. If you want to understand the situation here, it’s not in the black or white. You have to look into the deep grey. It’s like that for everyone. Just today, I was looking for an apartment in Jaffa. Me and my room mate got together with the estate agent who was Jewish. She is renting out a home that is obviously built on a piece of land where palestinian homes stood. The actual landlord, is a palestinian. What she called an Israeli-Arab. She tried to convince me that it was ok to have a palestinian landlord. She told me that he was the nicest Arab I had ever met. He is a good Arab, not the Arab you think. This is just one tiny example in a daily negotiation that goes on and is part of living here.
LMaDO: So what do you want to achieve with this film? Do you want to change people’s views? Have your parents seen the film? What did they make of it?
LT: My parents refused to watch it, for different reasons. My whole family treats my journalism (for the Real News Network) as this thing that Lia does and that we do not talk about. My journalism and my filmmaking is something that we don’t talk about because every time they try to talk about it, it turns into me asking them uncomfortable questions and it is not a conversation you can have on a daily basis. We had a very deep conversation with my mum about the film and what is in the film and what is not. She believes it is a very dangerous film because it gives ammunition to the people who are resisting Israel.
As for the process of the film, it started as a very journalistic movie. It was going to profile the 7 myths that we believe about the founding of the state of Israel through the stories of the historians and the journalists that have covered that history. As I evolved with the film, into someone who started to understand that you can not fit this place into black and white, you can not fit this place into any other kind of political conflict, it is a different place in some ways. The film evolved with me. I realised that the facts do not convince, the facts weren’t what changed my mind. It was that person that I met that changed my mind. Even when you bring every facts in the world into a conversation with Israelis they will bring you 400 other kind of facts and you will never be actually talking about the essence of the thing. I wanted to touch on the essence of the thing and the only way to do that would be to talk to the persons, the individual people and the only way to do that honestly it’s to also doing that within myself which is why the film includes my personal story.
LMaDO: I remember when we talked about the film about 2 or 3 years ago, you did not really want to have your personal story in the film.
LT: I did not! And in fact, it was only recently when I was filming for the Real News Network and doing other kind of things that I ended up being on camera a few times. That scene in Ariel is actually a scene that was supposed to be for a Real News piece and I just ended up breaking down in the middle of it! I just had this scene in my hard drive, just sitting there and bothering me in the back of my mind as I was trying so hard to do this film about these people, them, what they did. Having taken 4 and half years to make this film, I really had the luxury of reflecting and re reflecting on it. And again, and again and again the people in my life kept questioning the honesty of it if it did not include my story and so it sort of forced me to say “well you know what? Here is my story” and I think that the film is stronger as a result.
LMaDO: Yes, I agree actually. I think the film is great, I was not to be convinced but inshallah it will have an impact on people.
Final question, to make such a film that criticises and opens the debate and demystifies 48 and the creation of Israel, how did you manage to raise the money?
LT: Well, I have a sugar daddy! I’m joking! No, the entire film is funded by individuals. We did a crowd funding, there were 2 associate producers who donated quite big sums to the film and also regular people who care about this issue, who know me and the film and heard about the Indie Go Go campaign we did, people who heard about me from my journalism work…It is just individuals and in fact the vast majority of the people who donated to the film are struggling themselves financially. It is an enormous honour to see that people see the power in such a story that they are willing to put their wallets where their mouth is.
LMaDO: Thanks a lot Lia. Do you have anything else to add?
LT: Well, I would like to invite anyone who is in Israel/Palestine on the 28th of November at 6.00pm to Cinemateque Tel Aviv which is one of the most prestigious theatre that we have here in the country, it is a huge thing that the festival is being held there, to come. Not only to my film but to the whole festival. So come! And you can also find out more about the film at http://www.naretivproductions.com/
LMaDO: Thanks again Lia and I do also want to say that this is a great film and that everyone should see it. Good luck with everything.
LT: Thanks so much.
LMaDO: Your film “On the side of the road” will premiere in Tel Aviv on the 28th of Nov during a festival called “International film festival on Nakba and Return.” Can you tell us about this festival, and the subject of your film?
Lia Tarachansky: This will be the first film festival in the world that focuses entirely on the return of the refugees that were expelled and fled in 1948 and the Nakba itself. It will be held in Israel which is revolutionary on its own. My film opens the festival. It’s a film that has never been done here, in Israel, before. It includes my story, someone that grew up in a settlement, deep inside of the colonial mentality and colonial project of Israel and wakes up to the Palestinians and the Nakba. It profiles the soldiers who perpetrated the Nakba who expelled and massacred the palestinians. They talk about what they’ve done and return with me to the places that they have destroyed. The film focuses on the concept of return not from the perspective of the refugees, but from the view of the perpetrators. In that way the film connects 1948 and 1967 to today, as one continuous project of dispossession.
LMaDO: Only two former israelis soldiers are testifying in the film even though you got in touch with many more. So how difficult is it to talk about the Nakba in Israel?
LT: It’s incredibly difficult. As soon as you start talking about the conflict whether it is with Israelis or Palestinians, you inevitably end up at 1948 within five minutes. 1948 is not just something that happened, it’s an entire ideology, a mentality. The Israeli fear is based on the fact that what we did to the Palestinians in 1948 will be done to us. When I contacted other veterans, most of them did not want to talk about it in a critical light. They wanted to talk about it as this miraculous victory in a war where all odds were against us. Now that historians have started digging up the facts of the war, we’re starting to discover that what we believed about the State of Israel is pure mythology. The first turning point in that journey of uncovering the mythology started in 1967 with the book by Simha Flapan “The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities”.
When you talk to Israelis, if you start talking about the Nakba, it brings up this intense fear. In fact veterans tend to be a lot more honest, because they did those things, but for their children or their grandchildren for whom 1948 is just a concept, it’s brings this deeply embedded fear. The strongest element of Israeli DNA is knowing what questions you cannot ask. Once you start touching these questions with 1948 and its core, everything else starts to unravel. It’s an incredibly violent and terrifying process.
LMaDO: The film shows a scary side of Israeli society, racist and violent. Is it really that bad?
LT: I am not sure how to answer this question. Israelis and Palestinians are incredibly politicised. The conflict is an everyday thing. Violence is a daily reality here and its mostly experienced by Palestinians and mostly perpetrated by the colonial project. The State, soldiers, the settlers and everyone else. The film itself shows violence against an idea. The film profiles the Nakba as a very violent process of ethnic cleansing and destruction, where hundreds of villages were wiped of the map and refugees forbidden to return. The film focuses specifically on the psychological violence against the idea of questioning. It starts and ends with Israeli independence day, one year apart. The whole film fits into what happened within one year, when the Israeli parliament tried to pass a law that forbids mourning what happened in 1948.
It tried to silence history, silence people feelings about history, something that on its surface is an incredibly fascist move. The film starts and ends with this one day when we celebrate this big mythological bubble. On that day when we are supposed to be celebrating our miraculous victory, our State, everything, activists from the organisation Zochrot tried to question what this mythology is based on. The response from not only the State and the Police but also from people is incredibly violent. They try to violently shut up these activists because you cannot talk about 1948 in Israel and certainly not on independence day. That’s why this festival is so important.
LMaDO: The film touches upon your own story. When did you, a girl that was raised in a Zionist family and that moved to one of the biggest settlement in Palestine, Ariel, realise that what you thought was the truth was not?
LT: I’m still realising it. Unlearning and decolonising your understanding is a life long process. The first time that I started to question things was at University in Canada. There was an Israel week organised by the Jewish student organisation along with the Israeli affairs committee on my campus. These two zionist groups organised what they thought was a celebration of Israel. For a whole week we had israeli flags everywhere, displays showing that Israel is a democratic country, a queer friendly country….You know, I am a Russian jew that grew up in Israel. I know what it is like for a jewish immigrant to live here, in Israel because I was born in the Soviet Union. Unless you are a member of the white elite, of the ashkenazi elite, you were always trying to fit into something. The democracy somehow does not touch you. I therefore remember thinking that it was crazy for them to organise such an event on campus and say such things.
I then realised none of them had ever lived in Israel. They only visited on birthright trips. The same week I met a Palestinian for the first time and had a conversation with him. I think he asked me for directions or something and somehow I found out he was a palestinian. The first thing that came to my mind was:”Oh my god, he knows I am a Jew and he is not trying to kill me”. The only thing I knew about them at the time is that they are trying to kill israelis and jews, that’s all they care about. This person, on the other hand, was just friendly. That unravelled an entire violent process where all what I thought was true came under question.
LMaDO: There is a very powerful scene in the film when you go back to Ariel settlement and talk about the fact that this is where you grew up, where you learned about love and your love for this place. The settlements are always presented as this obstacle to peace so what about if Ariel had to be emptied to ensure the viability of a 2 States solution?
LT: First of all I disagree with the assumption. The settlements are not an obstacle to peace. Colonialism is an obstacle to peace. The actual space on which the settlements are built is 1% of the West Bank. If we had one country from the river to the sea where everyone had equal rights, the settlements will not be an impediment to peace. It’s the idea that we must be in control, we as Jews, must have superior rights. We must control and oppress the palestinians that is an obstacle to peace. If you want to understand the situation here, it’s not in the black or white. You have to look into the deep grey. It’s like that for everyone. Just today, I was looking for an apartment in Jaffa. Me and my room mate got together with the estate agent who was Jewish. She is renting out a home that is obviously built on a piece of land where palestinian homes stood. The actual landlord, is a palestinian. What she called an Israeli-Arab. She tried to convince me that it was ok to have a palestinian landlord. She told me that he was the nicest Arab I had ever met. He is a good Arab, not the Arab you think. This is just one tiny example in a daily negotiation that goes on and is part of living here.
LMaDO: So what do you want to achieve with this film? Do you want to change people’s views? Have your parents seen the film? What did they make of it?
LT: My parents refused to watch it, for different reasons. My whole family treats my journalism (for the Real News Network) as this thing that Lia does and that we do not talk about. My journalism and my filmmaking is something that we don’t talk about because every time they try to talk about it, it turns into me asking them uncomfortable questions and it is not a conversation you can have on a daily basis. We had a very deep conversation with my mum about the film and what is in the film and what is not. She believes it is a very dangerous film because it gives ammunition to the people who are resisting Israel.
As for the process of the film, it started as a very journalistic movie. It was going to profile the 7 myths that we believe about the founding of the state of Israel through the stories of the historians and the journalists that have covered that history. As I evolved with the film, into someone who started to understand that you can not fit this place into black and white, you can not fit this place into any other kind of political conflict, it is a different place in some ways. The film evolved with me. I realised that the facts do not convince, the facts weren’t what changed my mind. It was that person that I met that changed my mind. Even when you bring every facts in the world into a conversation with Israelis they will bring you 400 other kind of facts and you will never be actually talking about the essence of the thing. I wanted to touch on the essence of the thing and the only way to do that would be to talk to the persons, the individual people and the only way to do that honestly it’s to also doing that within myself which is why the film includes my personal story.
LMaDO: I remember when we talked about the film about 2 or 3 years ago, you did not really want to have your personal story in the film.
LT: I did not! And in fact, it was only recently when I was filming for the Real News Network and doing other kind of things that I ended up being on camera a few times. That scene in Ariel is actually a scene that was supposed to be for a Real News piece and I just ended up breaking down in the middle of it! I just had this scene in my hard drive, just sitting there and bothering me in the back of my mind as I was trying so hard to do this film about these people, them, what they did. Having taken 4 and half years to make this film, I really had the luxury of reflecting and re reflecting on it. And again, and again and again the people in my life kept questioning the honesty of it if it did not include my story and so it sort of forced me to say “well you know what? Here is my story” and I think that the film is stronger as a result.
LMaDO: Yes, I agree actually. I think the film is great, I was not to be convinced but inshallah it will have an impact on people.
Final question, to make such a film that criticises and opens the debate and demystifies 48 and the creation of Israel, how did you manage to raise the money?
LT: Well, I have a sugar daddy! I’m joking! No, the entire film is funded by individuals. We did a crowd funding, there were 2 associate producers who donated quite big sums to the film and also regular people who care about this issue, who know me and the film and heard about the Indie Go Go campaign we did, people who heard about me from my journalism work…It is just individuals and in fact the vast majority of the people who donated to the film are struggling themselves financially. It is an enormous honour to see that people see the power in such a story that they are willing to put their wallets where their mouth is.
LMaDO: Thanks a lot Lia. Do you have anything else to add?
LT: Well, I would like to invite anyone who is in Israel/Palestine on the 28th of November at 6.00pm to Cinemateque Tel Aviv which is one of the most prestigious theatre that we have here in the country, it is a huge thing that the festival is being held there, to come. Not only to my film but to the whole festival. So come! And you can also find out more about the film at http://www.naretivproductions.com/
LMaDO: Thanks again Lia and I do also want to say that this is a great film and that everyone should see it. Good luck with everything.
LT: Thanks so much.
28 oct 2013
"I have been craving for a sight of her, and for a breeze; she is tracing me since childhood", my grandma speaking to me about the town from which she was expunged, al-Jura, Alray Arabic reporter Samar Al-Areer said. "I am still keeping the return key which I inherited from my grandpa. But where I wouldn't have obtained my right to return, I would write my will never to give it up."She added.
This is the case of the Palestinian people as a whole: the old die , but the young never forgo, and a generation after another would bear the flag without giving back.
Al-Areer said "what has drawn my attention is the variety of my colleagues' towns of origin. They come from Jaffa, Yibna, Ashkelon, Beersheba, and Beit Darras; all together share the same question: being refugees, and all agree on one thing: right of return can't be dropped even after 65 years of the Catastrophe 1948."
News editor at Alray Yahiya Ayyash "I belong to Jura town of Ashkelon occupied territory which I became aware of since my elementary school; my ancestors' stories about their days thereto added to my insight and boosted the concept of return, as well as my school teachers, who have long told us about Nakba, forced migration and occupiers' rape of our land,"
"My grandpa is instilling in me love of return to our town, and I'll do the same once I have children. Words stand idly describing our charming town: its moderate weather, being coastal, made it a sight for tourists from all over the neighboring countries. The number of tourists coming in summer was outnumbering its originals!"
"He filled my imagination with al-Jura's green meadows, where vegetables and fruits were perpetually cultivated, and with its kindness of its community and their courteous treatment and strong taste in fish, still is my favorite food"
"My small dream tirelessly enticing me is to return to my occupied Jura to realize all the lovely things I told of, as hearing is not like seeing firsthand" Yahiya concluded.
Describing the fascinating Jaffa, news editor Maysara Shaban said "it's the bride of the Mediterranean being a coastal city and with its ambulant production of Jaffa once was being exported abroad,"
"My father Mousa, may rest in peace, was recounting for us the old days' stories when he was the most famous ironsmith in Jaffa and of interest to Jordan's traders who were referring to him being an experienced man,"
"One time while talking to his grandsons about how his heart is telling him of an approaching return to their Jaffa, he turned to some extent disappointed that he was forced out of his home leaving the birth records of his sons, in hope he would have been coming back in two or three months, not in 65 years!"
"As my father and mother, who were 10 and 2 respectively during Nakba times, have flashing memories about their removal, and I feel chill hearing them talk about it; I feel I was in their place. Then I remember my grandpa's wisely-said word "we will return one day God willing"
Coming to Alray's Rafah-based reporter Alaa al-Hams, she said "my heart has been attached to our occupied town, Yibna, since I was 6 years old with my grandma depicting it as an 'earthly paradise', and as a right which she was digging deep in the minds of her sons, among whom is Alaa's father, Abdallah, until it associates in theirs, and the dream of return comes true in the end"
"Nowadays it adds to my sorrow when I see our old town on the internet to find the same character given by my grandma, and then look again to find out the same town but in a sheer different shape thanks to the Israeli-designated landmarks built on the ruins of our forefathers' homes over time."
Follow me on twitter: @abedomer
This is the case of the Palestinian people as a whole: the old die , but the young never forgo, and a generation after another would bear the flag without giving back.
Al-Areer said "what has drawn my attention is the variety of my colleagues' towns of origin. They come from Jaffa, Yibna, Ashkelon, Beersheba, and Beit Darras; all together share the same question: being refugees, and all agree on one thing: right of return can't be dropped even after 65 years of the Catastrophe 1948."
News editor at Alray Yahiya Ayyash "I belong to Jura town of Ashkelon occupied territory which I became aware of since my elementary school; my ancestors' stories about their days thereto added to my insight and boosted the concept of return, as well as my school teachers, who have long told us about Nakba, forced migration and occupiers' rape of our land,"
"My grandpa is instilling in me love of return to our town, and I'll do the same once I have children. Words stand idly describing our charming town: its moderate weather, being coastal, made it a sight for tourists from all over the neighboring countries. The number of tourists coming in summer was outnumbering its originals!"
"He filled my imagination with al-Jura's green meadows, where vegetables and fruits were perpetually cultivated, and with its kindness of its community and their courteous treatment and strong taste in fish, still is my favorite food"
"My small dream tirelessly enticing me is to return to my occupied Jura to realize all the lovely things I told of, as hearing is not like seeing firsthand" Yahiya concluded.
Describing the fascinating Jaffa, news editor Maysara Shaban said "it's the bride of the Mediterranean being a coastal city and with its ambulant production of Jaffa once was being exported abroad,"
"My father Mousa, may rest in peace, was recounting for us the old days' stories when he was the most famous ironsmith in Jaffa and of interest to Jordan's traders who were referring to him being an experienced man,"
"One time while talking to his grandsons about how his heart is telling him of an approaching return to their Jaffa, he turned to some extent disappointed that he was forced out of his home leaving the birth records of his sons, in hope he would have been coming back in two or three months, not in 65 years!"
"As my father and mother, who were 10 and 2 respectively during Nakba times, have flashing memories about their removal, and I feel chill hearing them talk about it; I feel I was in their place. Then I remember my grandpa's wisely-said word "we will return one day God willing"
Coming to Alray's Rafah-based reporter Alaa al-Hams, she said "my heart has been attached to our occupied town, Yibna, since I was 6 years old with my grandma depicting it as an 'earthly paradise', and as a right which she was digging deep in the minds of her sons, among whom is Alaa's father, Abdallah, until it associates in theirs, and the dream of return comes true in the end"
"Nowadays it adds to my sorrow when I see our old town on the internet to find the same character given by my grandma, and then look again to find out the same town but in a sheer different shape thanks to the Israeli-designated landmarks built on the ruins of our forefathers' homes over time."
Follow me on twitter: @abedomer
15 oct 2013
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When the Germans arrived they threw us into the ghetto And it was just the same situation and it was not in our power to stay.
We were shaved We were naked We're not crying, We did not know what Crematorium means you do not know where you're going They put you inside, So they would tell us You see where the chimney is and the smoke is coming out You are waiting to go inside. I never wanted to tell We dressed nicely with a hat and gloves and beautiful coats… In Haifa we got out and they took us to Pardes Katz. Pardes Katz was a |
large Maabara There were tents, and it was a hard winter in 49 There were heavy rains and it was cold And we were soaked with our clothes and we cried So I decided I'm not staying here
The Sochnut promised to give us an apartment We went to the Sochnut and they gave us a key and we arrive at Jaffa It was not far from the harbor, it was a house enclosed by a fence We opened the gate, opened the door and went in and we couldn’t believe our eyes…we were in shocked.
The house was beautiful but we didn’t even enter, because in the yard there was a round table set with plates and as soon as we saw this, also saw there was a basement, we were frighten
Besides the fear, we could not look, it hurt us, how could people, it reminded us how we had to leave the house and leave everything.
When the Germans arrived they threw us into the ghetto and it was just the same situation and it was not in our power to stay.
I did not want to do the same thing that the Germans did.
We left, returned the key and stayed in Nachlat.
Dedicated to my dear parents that despite of the horrors they were subjected to they remained compassion
The Sochnut promised to give us an apartment We went to the Sochnut and they gave us a key and we arrive at Jaffa It was not far from the harbor, it was a house enclosed by a fence We opened the gate, opened the door and went in and we couldn’t believe our eyes…we were in shocked.
The house was beautiful but we didn’t even enter, because in the yard there was a round table set with plates and as soon as we saw this, also saw there was a basement, we were frighten
Besides the fear, we could not look, it hurt us, how could people, it reminded us how we had to leave the house and leave everything.
When the Germans arrived they threw us into the ghetto and it was just the same situation and it was not in our power to stay.
I did not want to do the same thing that the Germans did.
We left, returned the key and stayed in Nachlat.
Dedicated to my dear parents that despite of the horrors they were subjected to they remained compassion
26 aug 2013
Hakmah Al-Namroti, 88, is one of few living Palestinians who experienced the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba) 65 years ago. She is originally from Yazur village near Jaffa, and now lives in Bureij refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
Talking to Hakimah, one almost doesn't believe she is 88 years old, as she still has a vivid memory of the 13 year old girl who, along with her family, has been displaced from her home by force.
"It was Ramadan and we were on fast," Hakimah starts narrating her story -the story of every Palestinian refugee.
"The Jewish gangs ordered us to leave after our village was showered with shells, so we fled to Almasmyya village then to Beit Jabber towards Aajoor village till we reached al-Faluja where we remained under siege for six months with an unstopping Israeli shelling."
"The Egyptians reached to an agreement with the Israeli Moshe Dayan to deport us from al-Faluja towards Beit Hanoun as it is next to Gaza, then the UN housed us in one of its hospitals and issued a certificate of birth for each of us," she continued.
Social life back home
Haja Hakimah described their life in Yazur as saying "it was very simple as we depended mainly on framing especially wheat, corn, olive, and citrus which we used to export outside the village."
Meanwhile, she interrupted her story starting to draw a picture for her beloved village. Then she followed recalling their breathtaking village "it was teeming with marvelous trees; houses were made of clay and covered with palm leaves…"
Asking her about their social life she added "we were united; relations among people were like gold in its brightness; we shared happiness and sadness together"
"I do believe that one day I will return to may home; who can ever relinquish his right of return!" She affirmed that "what has been taken by force shall be returned by force as well"
New generations
Her 12 year old grandson was talking with great enthusiasm on how he inherits the love for his origin town from his grandmother.
Confidently he said that "he is sure that they shall one day return back home"
"Maybe my grandmother would not be with us but the day of return to our beloved Yazur will come sooner or later." He added.
Abed al Hadi didn't experience Nakba; however, he understands every single word his grandmother utters as he experienced much more difficult situations.
Israeli crimes didn’t stopped since 1984; however, they're taking new forms of aggression.
It is not very hard for a kid who has witnessed the Israeli hostiles against Gaza in 2008 and 2012 to comprehend what Nakba did. It will not be difficult for him to realize that Israel is the same goblin who tried to kill his ancestors 65 years ago.
Apparently this monster has not fed up yet and he will continue killing Palestinians.
Nonetheless, new generations will not surrender; they will fight back and pledge not to concede a grin of Palestinian land or even a drop of or a valley.
Talking to Hakimah, one almost doesn't believe she is 88 years old, as she still has a vivid memory of the 13 year old girl who, along with her family, has been displaced from her home by force.
"It was Ramadan and we were on fast," Hakimah starts narrating her story -the story of every Palestinian refugee.
"The Jewish gangs ordered us to leave after our village was showered with shells, so we fled to Almasmyya village then to Beit Jabber towards Aajoor village till we reached al-Faluja where we remained under siege for six months with an unstopping Israeli shelling."
"The Egyptians reached to an agreement with the Israeli Moshe Dayan to deport us from al-Faluja towards Beit Hanoun as it is next to Gaza, then the UN housed us in one of its hospitals and issued a certificate of birth for each of us," she continued.
Social life back home
Haja Hakimah described their life in Yazur as saying "it was very simple as we depended mainly on framing especially wheat, corn, olive, and citrus which we used to export outside the village."
Meanwhile, she interrupted her story starting to draw a picture for her beloved village. Then she followed recalling their breathtaking village "it was teeming with marvelous trees; houses were made of clay and covered with palm leaves…"
Asking her about their social life she added "we were united; relations among people were like gold in its brightness; we shared happiness and sadness together"
"I do believe that one day I will return to may home; who can ever relinquish his right of return!" She affirmed that "what has been taken by force shall be returned by force as well"
New generations
Her 12 year old grandson was talking with great enthusiasm on how he inherits the love for his origin town from his grandmother.
Confidently he said that "he is sure that they shall one day return back home"
"Maybe my grandmother would not be with us but the day of return to our beloved Yazur will come sooner or later." He added.
Abed al Hadi didn't experience Nakba; however, he understands every single word his grandmother utters as he experienced much more difficult situations.
Israeli crimes didn’t stopped since 1984; however, they're taking new forms of aggression.
It is not very hard for a kid who has witnessed the Israeli hostiles against Gaza in 2008 and 2012 to comprehend what Nakba did. It will not be difficult for him to realize that Israel is the same goblin who tried to kill his ancestors 65 years ago.
Apparently this monster has not fed up yet and he will continue killing Palestinians.
Nonetheless, new generations will not surrender; they will fight back and pledge not to concede a grin of Palestinian land or even a drop of or a valley.
30 july 2013
By Muki Najaer / PNN
Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni suggested on Thursday July 18th during President Shimon Peres' 'Facing Tomorrow' conference that Palestinians stop using the word ‘Nakba’. Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, refers to the plight of Palestinian Arabs starting in 1948, displacement and murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Nakba is marked by the start of Israel’s occupation in 1948 –also considered the moment of the Israeli state’s independence.
Livni said, "the Palestinians could celebrate Independence Day if they would erase the word 'Nakba' from their vocabulary.” Her insensitive assertion suggests that Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine would end, if only Palestinians forgot about their history.
Livni’s remark is not the first of this kind. In a 2007 address to the Annapolis Conference she said, “Not every celebration of ours is cause for sorrow on the other side, and vice versa. I say to my Palestinian colleagues: Do not bemoan the establishment of the State of Israel; establish your own state,” thereby diminishing the actions of the Israeli state against Palestinians for the last 65 years. She went on to say, “The establishment of the Palestinian state is not our Nakba, or disaster - provided that upon its establishment the word “Nakba” be deleted from the Arabic lexicon in referring to Israel,” as if partition is comparable to the occupation and destruction of Palestinian land and sovereignty for six and a half decades.
Livni’s suggestions to eradicate the word ‘Nakba’ in reference to the Israeli state's long lived history of oppressing Palestinians has caused internet controversy, with some interpreting her remark as an attempt to give Israel a clean slate. I am left wondering: How would Livni and other Israeli’s feel about their freedom hinging on the eradication of the word ‘Holocaust’? While comparing the Nakba to the Holocaust is highly contested, that debate misses the point: As a peace negotiator, Livni’s remarks invalidate generations of Palestinians’ experiences of oppression.
Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni suggested on Thursday July 18th during President Shimon Peres' 'Facing Tomorrow' conference that Palestinians stop using the word ‘Nakba’. Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, refers to the plight of Palestinian Arabs starting in 1948, displacement and murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Nakba is marked by the start of Israel’s occupation in 1948 –also considered the moment of the Israeli state’s independence.
Livni said, "the Palestinians could celebrate Independence Day if they would erase the word 'Nakba' from their vocabulary.” Her insensitive assertion suggests that Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine would end, if only Palestinians forgot about their history.
Livni’s remark is not the first of this kind. In a 2007 address to the Annapolis Conference she said, “Not every celebration of ours is cause for sorrow on the other side, and vice versa. I say to my Palestinian colleagues: Do not bemoan the establishment of the State of Israel; establish your own state,” thereby diminishing the actions of the Israeli state against Palestinians for the last 65 years. She went on to say, “The establishment of the Palestinian state is not our Nakba, or disaster - provided that upon its establishment the word “Nakba” be deleted from the Arabic lexicon in referring to Israel,” as if partition is comparable to the occupation and destruction of Palestinian land and sovereignty for six and a half decades.
Livni’s suggestions to eradicate the word ‘Nakba’ in reference to the Israeli state's long lived history of oppressing Palestinians has caused internet controversy, with some interpreting her remark as an attempt to give Israel a clean slate. I am left wondering: How would Livni and other Israeli’s feel about their freedom hinging on the eradication of the word ‘Holocaust’? While comparing the Nakba to the Holocaust is highly contested, that debate misses the point: As a peace negotiator, Livni’s remarks invalidate generations of Palestinians’ experiences of oppression.
19 june 2013
Marking World Refugee Day, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Wednesday called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for the Palestinian refugee problem it created in 1948. PLO Executive Committee member and lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement that all members of the international community should hold Israel accountable “for its portrayal of our people's loss as anything other than a violent mass expulsion and for the creation and continuation of the tragic refugee situation.”
She said as stipulated in international and humanitarian law, the Palestinian people, whether under occupation or in exile, are entitled to nothing less than their independence, dignity, self-determination, and a just resolution of their tragic plight.
“Sixty-five years ago, the Palestinian people suffered a grave historical injustice with the creation of the state of Israel on their land and the forcible dispossession and expulsion of 750,000 indigenous Palestinians; this is known as ‘al-Nakba,’ the catastrophe,” she said.
“This process of victimization, exclusion and oppression continues until this day— Israel persists in its violations of international law and human rights, acting with impunity and enjoying full immunity. The military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza that began in 1967 is an added form of oppression manifesting itself in the cruel captivity of the people and their land and resources,” said Ashrawi.
She called on Israel “to admit its culpability, and hence its responsibility for the rectification of such an injustice at the human, moral, political, and legal levels.”
“The Palestine case is not a question of a disputed narrative, rights or territory; it remains an issue of indisputable justice and humanity,” said Ashrawi.
She said as stipulated in international and humanitarian law, the Palestinian people, whether under occupation or in exile, are entitled to nothing less than their independence, dignity, self-determination, and a just resolution of their tragic plight.
“Sixty-five years ago, the Palestinian people suffered a grave historical injustice with the creation of the state of Israel on their land and the forcible dispossession and expulsion of 750,000 indigenous Palestinians; this is known as ‘al-Nakba,’ the catastrophe,” she said.
“This process of victimization, exclusion and oppression continues until this day— Israel persists in its violations of international law and human rights, acting with impunity and enjoying full immunity. The military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza that began in 1967 is an added form of oppression manifesting itself in the cruel captivity of the people and their land and resources,” said Ashrawi.
She called on Israel “to admit its culpability, and hence its responsibility for the rectification of such an injustice at the human, moral, political, and legal levels.”
“The Palestine case is not a question of a disputed narrative, rights or territory; it remains an issue of indisputable justice and humanity,” said Ashrawi.
17 june 2013
A former Israeli army commander has confessed to razing entire Arab villages in the Nakba that led to the creation of Israel on the land of Palestine. Brig. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Pundak said in an interview with the Israeli army radio Monday on the occasion of his 100th birthday, “My conscience is at ease with that, because if we hadn’t done so, then there would be no state by now. There would be a million more Arabs.”
Pundak was the commander of the 53rd Battalion of the Givati Brigade during the Nakba and went on to supervise the establishment of the Armored Corps. He was also Ambassador in Tanzania and a founder of Arad.
In reply to a question about his keenness to lecture Israeli soldiers despite his old age, he said: "Israel is in danger today exactly as it was in 1948. If Jews do not fight as they did during the war of independence the state will be in danger."
“War unites the Jewish people,” he added.
He spoke with pain of the 145 soldiers who were killed under his command over the years, and said that if they woke up miraculously and saw the division in today's Israel, “they would run back to their graves.”
“We Destroyed Arab Villages To Create Our State”, Retired General Said
A retired Israeli military general told the Israeli Army Radio on his 100 birthday that the Israeli army destroyed and depopulated hundreds of Arab villages in order to establishment the state of Israel in 1948, and added that “he feels good about it.”
“I can sleep with clear mind”, Yitzhak Pondak, told the Israeli Army Radio [Galei Tzahal] last week, “otherwise the number of Arabs in Israel would have been a million more than their number now”.
Pondak headed Platoon #53 of the Givati Brigade, and served as Israel’s ambassador in Tanzania.
“Under my command, soldiers destroyed Arab villages”, he said, “We did what we needed to do, otherwise the number of Arabs now would have been a million more”.
Responding to a question regarding lectures he gives to Israeli soldiers, Pondak said that “the Israel is still facing the same dangers it faced when it was created in 1948”, and added “Should the Jews fail to fight the same way they fought back then, our state will be in real danger”.
He also claimed that should a war break out now, “the Jews will be able to sacrifice the same way they did in 1948”, according to the retired general.
“Wars unite the ranks of the Jewish people”, he added, “after wars, Jews form parties and become divided”.
He also said that he is sorry for the death of 145 Israeli soldiers under his command throughout his years of service, and added that “should those soldiers miraculously come back to life now, and witness the current divisions in the Israeli Jewish society, they would run back to their graves”.
Pondak also served as the Israeli Military Commander of the Gaza Strip in the early seventies of last century. He said that the credit former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, got for “stopping Arab terrorism in 1971 is overrated”.
“Sharon was harsh without a reason”, he said, “Sharon once told senior military generals that he will give a bottle of Champaign to every soldier who kills an enemy fighter, and will give a soda to every soldier who captures a wounded enemy”.
Pundak was the commander of the 53rd Battalion of the Givati Brigade during the Nakba and went on to supervise the establishment of the Armored Corps. He was also Ambassador in Tanzania and a founder of Arad.
In reply to a question about his keenness to lecture Israeli soldiers despite his old age, he said: "Israel is in danger today exactly as it was in 1948. If Jews do not fight as they did during the war of independence the state will be in danger."
“War unites the Jewish people,” he added.
He spoke with pain of the 145 soldiers who were killed under his command over the years, and said that if they woke up miraculously and saw the division in today's Israel, “they would run back to their graves.”
“We Destroyed Arab Villages To Create Our State”, Retired General Said
A retired Israeli military general told the Israeli Army Radio on his 100 birthday that the Israeli army destroyed and depopulated hundreds of Arab villages in order to establishment the state of Israel in 1948, and added that “he feels good about it.”
“I can sleep with clear mind”, Yitzhak Pondak, told the Israeli Army Radio [Galei Tzahal] last week, “otherwise the number of Arabs in Israel would have been a million more than their number now”.
Pondak headed Platoon #53 of the Givati Brigade, and served as Israel’s ambassador in Tanzania.
“Under my command, soldiers destroyed Arab villages”, he said, “We did what we needed to do, otherwise the number of Arabs now would have been a million more”.
Responding to a question regarding lectures he gives to Israeli soldiers, Pondak said that “the Israel is still facing the same dangers it faced when it was created in 1948”, and added “Should the Jews fail to fight the same way they fought back then, our state will be in real danger”.
He also claimed that should a war break out now, “the Jews will be able to sacrifice the same way they did in 1948”, according to the retired general.
“Wars unite the ranks of the Jewish people”, he added, “after wars, Jews form parties and become divided”.
He also said that he is sorry for the death of 145 Israeli soldiers under his command throughout his years of service, and added that “should those soldiers miraculously come back to life now, and witness the current divisions in the Israeli Jewish society, they would run back to their graves”.
Pondak also served as the Israeli Military Commander of the Gaza Strip in the early seventies of last century. He said that the credit former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, got for “stopping Arab terrorism in 1971 is overrated”.
“Sharon was harsh without a reason”, he said, “Sharon once told senior military generals that he will give a bottle of Champaign to every soldier who kills an enemy fighter, and will give a soda to every soldier who captures a wounded enemy”.
5 june 2013
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has called for adopting the path of resistance and for ending division in order to reunite Palestinian national forces. Khaleda Jarrar, a PFLP politburo member, told Sout Al-Shaab radio station on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership should conduct a comprehensive political review on the 64th anniversary of Nakba.
She said that such revision should end up with a unified strategy and a new approach adopting resistance to liberate Palestine.
Jarrar called for an immediate end to all forms of negotiations with the Israeli occupation authorities, and championed temporary international protection until self-determination and statehood are attained.
She said that the Palestinian people are adamant on their historic rights, right of return, national soil, and resistance to achieve those goals.
The end to the internal Palestinian unity would lead to unification of Palestinian potentials and forces to confront Zionist arrogance, Jarrar concluded.
She said that such revision should end up with a unified strategy and a new approach adopting resistance to liberate Palestine.
Jarrar called for an immediate end to all forms of negotiations with the Israeli occupation authorities, and championed temporary international protection until self-determination and statehood are attained.
She said that the Palestinian people are adamant on their historic rights, right of return, national soil, and resistance to achieve those goals.
The end to the internal Palestinian unity would lead to unification of Palestinian potentials and forces to confront Zionist arrogance, Jarrar concluded.
2 june 2013
Former Arab Knesset member Talab Al-Sanea said that Israeli approval of the Prawer transfer plan in the Negev and its submission to the Knesset for voting would be a new nakba (catastrophe) for the Negev Arabs. Sanea, head of the higher steering committee for the Negev Arabs, told Quds Press that this Israeli plan is considered the most dangerous transfer scheme having been faced by the Palestinians of the 1948 occupied lands since their lands were occupied 65 years ago.
He warned that this plan, if carried out, would lead to the annexation of 90 percent of the Negev people's land, about 860 thousand dunums, and the displacement of about 36,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their villages.
He also described the plan in the Negev as ethnic cleansing and a racist measure against citizens holding Israeli IDs.
The former lawmaker appealed to the UN human rights council and the European commission to intervene to halt this plan.
"If this plan was sanctioned by the Knesset, we would declare civil disobedience in the Negev and would not comply with the law or allow the plan to take place, even if the price was the imprisonment of thousands of the Negev people in Israeli jails," Sanea stated.
He warned that this plan, if carried out, would lead to the annexation of 90 percent of the Negev people's land, about 860 thousand dunums, and the displacement of about 36,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their villages.
He also described the plan in the Negev as ethnic cleansing and a racist measure against citizens holding Israeli IDs.
The former lawmaker appealed to the UN human rights council and the European commission to intervene to halt this plan.
"If this plan was sanctioned by the Knesset, we would declare civil disobedience in the Negev and would not comply with the law or allow the plan to take place, even if the price was the imprisonment of thousands of the Negev people in Israeli jails," Sanea stated.
1 june 2013
The skeletons of Palestinians buried in a mass grave in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa district
The remains of hundreds of Palestinians killed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War have been discovered in six mass grave sites in a Muslim cemetery in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa district.
An official of the Kazkhana cemetery said on Friday that the gruesome finding took place on May 29, when the ground caved in as workers carried out renovations.
Eighty-year-old Atar Zeinab said that as a teenager he helped collect the bodies of people killed during the final months of fighting in 1948 and brought them for hurried burials in the graveyard.
"I carried to the cemetery 60 bodies during a period of three or four months," he stated. "We used to find the people in the street and most of the time we didn't know who they were."
Due to the danger of being hit by flying bullets or grenade shrapnel, bodies were dumped one on top of the other in family crypts in the cemetery, contrary to Muslim custom, Zeinab added.
"We carried them early in the morning or in the night," he said. "We put women, children, and men in the same place… nobody prayed for these people."
The al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage stated that the new discoveries are the remains of people killed during the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland and the establishment of Israel 65 years ago.
They were killed in the shelling of residential neighborhoods or by snipers located around Jaffa.
Jaffa used to be a Palestinian town. However, it was expropriate, and its Arab population was expelled en masse when the town fell to the Israeli army and militiamen in 1948. It was incorporated into the city of Tel Aviv in 1950.
Palestinians refer to the May 15, 1948 occupation of Palestine as the Nakba Day, which means the Day of the Catastrophe in Arabic, to solemnly commemorate the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.
Israeli forces have wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees hoping for an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.
Since 1948, the Israeli regime has denied Palestinian refugees the right of return, despite United Nations resolutions and international laws that uphold the people’s right to return to their homeland.
The remains of hundreds of Palestinians killed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War have been discovered in six mass grave sites in a Muslim cemetery in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa district.
An official of the Kazkhana cemetery said on Friday that the gruesome finding took place on May 29, when the ground caved in as workers carried out renovations.
Eighty-year-old Atar Zeinab said that as a teenager he helped collect the bodies of people killed during the final months of fighting in 1948 and brought them for hurried burials in the graveyard.
"I carried to the cemetery 60 bodies during a period of three or four months," he stated. "We used to find the people in the street and most of the time we didn't know who they were."
Due to the danger of being hit by flying bullets or grenade shrapnel, bodies were dumped one on top of the other in family crypts in the cemetery, contrary to Muslim custom, Zeinab added.
"We carried them early in the morning or in the night," he said. "We put women, children, and men in the same place… nobody prayed for these people."
The al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage stated that the new discoveries are the remains of people killed during the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland and the establishment of Israel 65 years ago.
They were killed in the shelling of residential neighborhoods or by snipers located around Jaffa.
Jaffa used to be a Palestinian town. However, it was expropriate, and its Arab population was expelled en masse when the town fell to the Israeli army and militiamen in 1948. It was incorporated into the city of Tel Aviv in 1950.
Palestinians refer to the May 15, 1948 occupation of Palestine as the Nakba Day, which means the Day of the Catastrophe in Arabic, to solemnly commemorate the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.
Israeli forces have wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees hoping for an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.
Since 1948, the Israeli regime has denied Palestinian refugees the right of return, despite United Nations resolutions and international laws that uphold the people’s right to return to their homeland.
