In my memory…

60 years ago my father, an 8 year old boy at the time, along with his family took a bus from Ayn Hawd , a small village in Haifa to the West Bank. That wasn’t a trip though; they were so frightened and in a hurry that they left everything behind. That was the first catastrophe Palestine has lived. Palestinians were safe and secure, enjoying the warmth of their homes one day, and the next they hear of Israeli soldiers on the loose, about to attack any minute. Many of them bought that, and decided to immigrate internally at first, certain that it wouldn’t take long before they return. My father was clueless as to why they’re leaving, he almost missed the bus because he saw some delicious looking grapes and decided not to leave without them.

That’s all what dad has to say about it: “I almost missed the bus…I was just a kid, and I went for the grapes in the last minute. The bus started to move but the grapes were tempting” he’d tell me and either smile or laugh after that. And I would smile back as if I found it funny or amusing but i never did. I could feel his pain. I feel his pain.

My uncle was much older when they had to leave so he can’t pretend that it was OK. He wouldn’t participate in any kind of celebrations after that (My uncle is in his seventies now) because in his own words “after the land (Palestine) had gone, my heart could not rejoice at anything”. He would say that every time someone would criticize him for not staying in a wedding, even his son or daughter’s. It affects me deeply to see an intellectual man like him, who has written so many books that he stopped counting, and he’s so young at both heart and mind that almost everyone especially young people enjoy talking to him, it affects me deeply to see the look on his face when he say that, and to think that he honored the memory of a home land so sincerely and for so long that the memory has become part of him. just like he became part of it.

But those are just personal accounts of what happened. You want to know what happened, just turn on your TV and watch some unbiased news channel. What happened is still happening. Palestinians are slaughtered, oppressed, humiliated and deprived of every human right and in every single day of their miserable lives. Absolutely nothing they have ever done was good enough for the Israeli government to stop the blood shed and land-theft and seriously consider a two countries state where everyone co-exist. And the world has gone blind, very long time ago. Just thinking about this as I type my words gives makes my heart tighten in my chest.

Today…

I wore black thinking that if I can’t do anything, I can at least remember. I can remind those who got caught up with their lives (just like i did) that on this date, 60 years ago, those who stood and still standing behind what is now called israel had a satanic plan that resulted with thousands of refugees and thousands upon thousands of murders, and a long history of violence, violations of human rights, humiliation, land-theft, massacres and genocides. Today, israel’s violence and criminal acts is breeding more violence and criminal acts.

It’s such a sad reality that many people had no clue what today is. “Nakbet shoo?” “what catastrophe?”, “oh it’s tomorrow right”?, “when is it?”. israel is celebrating it’s “independence”, sorry but i find the term rather ridiculous and totally invalid but any how, israel is celebrating the 15th of May since last week and we, Palestinians who were expelled and violated can not remember the date of the single day that is the core of it all. It’s just sad.

But today; I’m hopeful. I have hope in the world, in Palestinians and Israelis. I have a hope that peace will surround us, that justice will be served. I even think it can happen in my lifetime.

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