November 14 – Demolished Villages in the Southern Galilee

The conference motto for this day was “a time to remember.” When discussing the Isreal-Palestine conflict, one group of people regularly gets overlooked, that is, the internal refugees, the Palestinians forced to flee from their ancestral homes and resettle in different communities. In the Southern Galilee, many of the internal refugees ended up fleeing to and settling in Nazareth. Ever since the adjacent Jewish city of Nazareth Illit was founded, Palestinian Nazareth has no room to spread. In result, Nazareth today is a very crowded city without industrial plants, without significant funds spent on city planning. The town, for the most part, depends on tourism as its major source of revenue. Unfortunately, more and more tourist groups only rush in and out of the town without spending much money there.

The day began with an excellent presentation by a representative from “Zochrot,” a Jewish Israeli organization whose main goal is to promote awareness and knowledge of the Palestinian Nakba among the Jewish population of Israel (http://www.zochrot.org/).

Groups of conference participants visited different demolished Palestinian villages to witness to the destruction and stand in solidarity with the disowned villagers. The group to which I had been assigned was to visit three villages in the vicinity of Nazareth: Saffuryah, Ma’lul, and Al Mujaydil.

Saffuryah
Saffuryah was a large village with extensive fertile land holdings, located 6 km northwest of Nazareth, just off the highway between Nazareth and the coast. Under the Roman Empire, the village site, known as Sepphoris, was the administrative center for the Galilee. In 1945, the village population numbered 4,320 Muslims and 10 Christians. The village had two elementary schools (one for boys and one for girls), a monastery, and 4 cemeteries. The village was captured and demolished on July 16, 1948 when Jewish troops surrounded the village on three sides and left open only the route to the north, to Lebanon. In result, many of the village residents escaped to Lebanon. Since 1948, several Jewish agricultural communities and towns have been built on the land belonging to Saffurya. Eventually, a pine tree forest was planted by the Jewish National Fund in commemoration of Guatemala’s Independence Day which now covers the village site. Upon closer inspection, one can still see the village ruins in between the trees. The largest of the cemeteries has been successfully fenced in by descendants of the Palestinian residents of Saffurya. While standing in between the grave sites and looking out over the village site, a guide held up a photo of the village as it looked prior to July 1948.

Ma’lul
Ma’lul is located 6 km east of Nazareth. In 1945, the village population was comprised of 200 Christians and 490 Muslims. The village housed a mosque and two churches (one Greek Catholic, the other Greek Orthodox). The villagers were tenant farmers on land owned by an Armenian family living in Damascus. In 1921, the family sold over half of the land to a Zionist company, which eventually transferred it to the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Since the remaining land was insufficient to sustain the agricultural demands of the village population, they leased land from the JNF. Ma’lul was captured on July 14, 1948, as part of the same military campaign as Saffurya (i.e., “Operation Dekel”). The occupation of the land of Ma’lul was a strategic move linking the Jewish settlements around Nazareth and effectively isolating the city. The residents of Ma’lul were expelled and their houses were leveled. Today, a military base is located on part of the village site, while another part of the village is covered in pine trees planted by the JNF. The village mosque is still partially standing, but some of its walls are missing and the roof is caved in. Adjacent to the mosque lies the Muslim cemetery. The Christian cemeteries is inaccessible to descendents of the Palestinian residents, as it is located within the confines of the military base. The two churches have been used in the past as sheds for the cows of the neighboring kibbutz. Recently, though, both churches have been cleaned and are used by the families of the former residents. The inside has been partially repainted, icons have been hung, even a new altar has been installed. It is amazing how little it takes to mark sacred space. While we visiting the Greek Catholic church, unlocked for us by a man who had been expelled from his home in 1948 at the age of 26, some of the Palestinian women among us were chanting the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic. I trust the God was moved by their prayer as much as the rest of us were!

Al Mujaydil
Al Mujaydil is located 6 km southwest of Nazareth, only 2 km south of the village of Ma’lul. In 1945, the village population was composed of 1,640 Muslims and 260 Christians. The village had two elementary schools (one for girls, one for boys), one Greek Orthodox church, and a Roman Catholic church and monastery. After the village was captured and destroyed on July 15, 1948, and its residents fled (some 1,200 of the fled to Nazareth), only the two churches remained. The rest of the village was almost entirely destroyed. On top of the ruins the Jewish town of Migdal ha-̓Emeq was built in 1952 to accommodate Jewish immigrants from Iran. Today, the village site is predominantly populated by Russian immigrants.

Recently, both churches were restored. The different usages of the two churches are revealing: the Roman Catholic monastery now houses one lone Franciscan brother, who offers engaging, contemporary services to the Christian population of the region. He appears to earn a living from giving all sorts of lessons to people. The Greek Orthodox church now is “run” by a Russian Orthodox priest who (while also offering Arab-language worship) primarily serves the Russian immigrant population. Apparently, some among the Russian immigrants only pretended to be Jewish and after achieving citizenship status, went back to their Christian Orthodox roots. Life is, indeed, quite complex. (When departing from the modern Migdal ha-‘Emeq, a group of Jewish residents gestured in a rather obscene manner at us. Is this the proper way of dealing with one’s own past?)

Tal Ashomam
In the dark, we also visited the former train station of Tal Ashomam. While the train station has been converted into a museum by the Israelis, the building reminds its visitors that there had been a flourishing society and economy whose important trade routes supported the East-West trade.