Remembrance Day
This is about memory and forgetting, how we name places, pain and deep
sorrow, and hospitality.
When I checked Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's book for things of archaeological
interest, nothing was listed under El Jish or Jish. It was only after I saw
the signposts that I realized the Israelis had renamed the village Gush
Halav, for which there is an entry.
After lunch in the church hall, we met with the local priest and
villagers, some from the village of Kfar Bir'am nearby. O'Connor says the
village of Baram or Kefar Baram was abandoned in 1948. The signposts show
Baram, an Israeli state park.
Walid Khalidi in All That Remains calls the village Kafr Bir'im. He
explains that the village surrendered to what became the Israeli army in
early November 1948. Its residents, he says, "were 'temporarily' expelled
for 'security reasons.' Some of those expelled across the border were later
allowed to return to Israel, but not to their village. Others found hiding
in caves near the village were transported to the village of Jish and
settled in its previously emptied houses.  The Israeli Supreme Court ruled
in July 1952 that there was no reason to prevent their return. The army,
however, leveled the village in 1953…. The village site has been closed off
and the surrounding area declared an archaeological and tourist site." To
get to this archaeological and tourist site, we drove through land marked
"closed military zone." We walked up uneven stone steps towards the ruins.
A marker told about the Roman relics and the stunning remains of a third
century CE synagogue. Not one word about the Palestinian village and its
still-standing church. Not one word about the events of 1948 or 1952 or
1953.
A refugee from Kfar Bir'im got on the bus to speak as we prepared to
depart. Almost weeping, he said, "I am so sorry that we could not offer you
coffee and hospitality in our village. I hope that you will tell people
what you have seen. I hope that someday you will come back and we will be
able to offer you hospitality in our village here."
There will be no healing until the whole story is told. There will be no
peace so long as the pain and sorrow is not recognized.
There will always be hospitality.
11 November 2006
Remembrance Day
Hebron
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