ISRAEL: Evicted residents of Palestinian village pray for return

Record ID: 398468

  • Title: ISRAEL: Evicted residents of Palestinian village pray for return
  • Date: 23rd April 2014
  • Summary: IQRIT, ISRAEL (APRIL 21, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERED AT THE VILLAGE OF IQRIT WHOSE RESIDENTS WERE EVICTED BY THE ISRAELI ARMY IN 1948 VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE OF CHURCH THE ONLY REMAINING BUILDING IN THE DESTROYED VILLAGE SMALL SHACK AND LAUNDRY HANGING ON CLOTHES LINE WOMEN STANDING BESIDE STALL PALESTINIAN EMBROIDERED ITEMS ON DISPLAY WOMAN HOLDING EMBROIDE
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACGVVRDPS96EHQSC7N4SJP1XUB
  • Story Text: On a breezy hill overlooking Israel's border with Lebanon, dozens of Arab former residents of Iqrit and their descendants gather ahead of Easter mass in the village depopulated 66-years ago.
    All that remains of the village is the Catholic Church of Our Lady, perched on the hill.
    In 1948, the village was home to an estimated 600 Christian Palestinians who, given the village's proximity to Lebanon, were asked by the Israeli army to leave the village for 2 weeks.
    The residents, who were only allowed to take a few of their belongings, moved to nearby cities and villages waiting to be allowed to return.
    But the village was declared a closed military area and the villagers were forbidden to go back.
    Lana Atallah, whose grandparents were born in Iqrit, says that they return every year to hold Easter celebrations in the church and pray to return. This year there were additional events, including artists at work and stalls selling traditional Palestinian wares.
    "We came to celebrate in the village, like every year. This year, in Iqrit we're having something special, an art bazaar, many artists are coming and there will be shows and items on sale, Palestinian items, and things that are related to our culture," Atallah said.
    In 1948, the year of Israel's founding some 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes during events Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or "catastrophe".
    Most refugees, who number around five million, live in squalid camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
    Unlike most refugees however, the residents of Iqrit hold Israeli citizenship.
    Some 1.6 million Arabs are citizens of Israel, and they comprise a fifth of the Jewish state's total population.
    They complain of rampant legal discrimination in addition to inferior municipal services, unfair allocation of funds for education, health and housing, and curbs on building permits.
    The people of Iqrit took their case to Israel's Supreme Court in 1951, which ruled that they must be permitted to return to the village. But a few months after the ruling, Israeli soldiers demolished the village, leaving only the church and the cemetery intact.
    Dozens of people of all ages filled the small church during the Easter Mass, singing Arabic hymns to candlelight.
    Khalil Sbait, who was born in Iqrit says despite the fact that coming to the village of his childhood to commemorate Easter with other former residents is a happy moment - seeing the village destroyed and uninhabited year after year is terribly painful.
    "We came here on the occasion of the holiday (Easter), to visit our dead family members and to pray in this church that remains here. This is an occasion to meet and talk about our case."
    Ten years ago, after decades of a legal battle, the Supreme Court issued its final ruling, rejecting the residents' demand that they be allowed to return to their land.
    Since then, the 1,500 original villagers and their descendants who live in nearby cities and a village in northern Israel, are only allowed to hold mass in the church and bury their dead in the cemetery.
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