- Title: ISRAEL-ARABS/IFTAR Israeli Arabs meet for iftar in demolished 1948 village
- Date: 13th July 2015
- Summary: YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN PERFORMING PALESTINIAN TRADITIONAL DABKEH STEP DANCE PEOPLE CLAPPING THEIR HANDS VARIOUS OF YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN PERFORMING PALESTINIAN TRADITIONAL DABKEH STEP DANCE KIDS DRAWING BOY SHOWING DRAWING OF HANDALA, PALESTINIAN CARTOON SYMBOLIZING RIGHT OF RETURN
- Embargoed: 28th July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9MHWC8KJI3DOJ7E9V4ZKBNUTF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO QUALITY PART AS INCOMING
For one night only, residents of Mi'ar village who were forced to flee in 1948 returned to the site of their village with their children and grandchildren.
A group of activists organized the event for the refugees of Mi'ar, the Palestinian village that was destroyed in the 1948 war during Israel's founding, in which hundreds of thousands of fellow Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes, ending up in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as well as in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
People of the village and their descendants picked up where they left, at an iftar table, said Majd Shehada, who is head of the activist collective Oudna (Arabic for 'We returned') that focuses on the right to return.
"The reason why we specifically chose to host iftar because when the people of Mi'ar left the village, they left in Ramadan at iftar time. They were sitting at the table, my grandmother used to tell me, when they heard the Jews enter (the village) and they ran away. They didn't even eat their iftar. They ran away and hid in the olive fields. Our goal was that since we're envisioning the return and how we can make it happen, we're coming back at iftar time just like our people left at iftar time. We wanted to recall it even with only one iftar for one evening," Majd Shehada said.
Mi'ar is one of nine villages participating in the project for the second year in a row.
Eleven young men and women, originally from Mi'ar, organized the iftar night and invited people from the village who are today living in nearby Arab villages and cities.
The idea behind the project is to keep the memory of the young generation alive, according to Ghazi Shehada, originally from Mi'ar.
"We came to reconnect with the village, we came to reconnect with what's left of the village. At the end we concluded that we are supposed to do something that will disappoint Ben Gurion who said that 'You'll die and the young will forget'. In this event we want to tell him, it's correct that we'll die as everyone else, but those who'll come after us will not forget," Ghazi Shehada said.
He added that Mi'ar community rebuilt the village's cemetery, which is near the Israeli settlement that was built on the lands that belonged to the village.
At the iftar, traditional Palestinian dishes were served, like mujadara, a one-pot dish based on lentils, rice and caramelized onions.
People volunteered to bring different dishes and deserts to share.
The iftar was was followed by a performance of a Palestinian traditional dance, Dabkeh.
For people like Kamleh Shehada, she says it's important for the younger generation to maintain their traditions.
"We ask them to keep remembering these gatherings and these old traditions, our traditions that we will never let go no matter what, the traditions of our grandfathers and our people. God willing, the young will always remember and people will return to their homeland and the problem gets solved," said Kamleh Shehada who was five-years-old when she fled the village with her family.
About one hundred people attended the mass iftar.
Mi'ar, located 17.5 kilometres east of Acre was home to around 900 people when it was attacked by Israeli forces in mid July in 1948.
Israeli Arabs make up around 20 percent of the country's eight-million-strong population. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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