Everyone sat in silence reflecting on the events that have led to the present situation. Finally Hava spoke, looking at her oldest child Sabria, “So what have you learned in Haifa?”
“Let’s hear first from Aunt Judith in Haifa, and Aunt Liana in Jerusalem.”
Both women told their accounts of the tragedies in their respective areas of Haifa and Qatamon. Sabria told the story of the young father waiting to go to work at the refinery who died in the shooting. She also related their conversation with the bitter man as he left his home in Hawassa district with his family carrying whatever they could take on a horse drawn cart.”
“It looks like the Zionist militias want to make the U.N. partition an actual reality on the ground. If that is the case . . . ” Adnan stopped and looked out the window at the sea. “If that is the case trouble lies ahead.”
The family sat in silence, several shaking their heads. Finally Judith asked the question on everyone’s mind. “What is going to happen to us?”
No one spoke. Adnan raised his eyes to Sabria. “You tell us.” Sabria had shared with him privately what she had learned from Eldad.
She began slowly. “I think we have had enough to think about today. Let’s do this tomorrow. I will be glad to tell you what I know from a conversation with a Hagana commander.”
The family gasped, and looked wide-eyed at Sabria.
Chapter 14
After his leadership in cleansing of Hawassa, with the bulldozers moving in to destroy what was left of that district, Eldad was invited to another of the Jewish Consultancy meetings this time in late January 1948, which included the High Command. His star with Palmach and its parent Hagana had risen since the operation in Hawassa. It had been eminently successful with almost complete clearing of the entire district. It would soon be available for immigrant Jewish people to build homes and aid in the “de-Arabization” of Haifa.
Having had this experience and success, Eldad had readily accepted the invitation of the Consultancy to attend another of their planning sessions and report on the Hawassa operation. He understood from the invitation that the Zionist leadership wanted to keep re-evaluating their plan. The British Army had effectively destroyed any organized Palestinian armed resistance years ago. English forces then remained the only credible obstacle to the Zionist cause, and their occupation. But with its army in full retreat, that obstacle also disappeared.
While the Palestinian Arabs had little strength left after the defeat at the hands of the British soldiers, forces from the surrounding Arab countries, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt did pose a concern. Eldad knew that even though they did not like their Palestinian brothers, they might defend the land. These nations’ strength and resolve remained unknown. So security became a major issue in the deliberations, pushed by Ben Gurion. The issue became the overriding concern. It justified everything from arms purchases abroad, to planning a future state, to how to handle the local Palestinian population. Security became the license to do more than just defense and retaliation for resistance.
Eldad sat watching the leaders. David Ben Gurion as head of defense for several years had become the tacit leader of the Zionists. Short, bushy-haired he seemed to be in control and determined. He wanted “a large chunk of Palestine.” But he also quieted the more extreme faction that proposed an immediate takeover of all of Palestine irrespective of the UN resolution for partition.
Ben Gurion and the leadership group had been preparing plans for the time that the British withdrew. They had gone through plans A and B. Now plan C proposed operations in both rural and urban settings. It proposed to retaliate for Palestinian assaults on Jewish houses and roads by killing leaders and senior officials, damaging transportation, water sources and attacking villages, their clubs, coffee houses, and meeting places.
Eldad sat in the back of the large bare room in Tel Aviv on metal chairs observing the important leaders of Zionism and listening to their every word. He had submitted a report of the Hawassa operation to his superiors for the records, but to his disappointment, he was not called on to discuss it. The group began to discuss Plan D. It called for attacks against both cities and villages irrespective of their collaboration or opposition to the Jewish State. No longer defensive, in retaliation for Palestinian resistance. It proposed the steady and complete expulsion of all Palestinian Arabs from their homeland in the area allotted to the Jews in the partition plan. They would go on offense. Then they would occupy the city or village and bring in Jewish immigrants to cement the future state.
“So Plan C is what I did,” Eldad whispered to another young commander sitting next to him. “We had accused the area of Hawassa of shooting one of our soldiers. We weren’t really sure who did it, but blamed the residents, and this became the reason for our cleansing operation.”
“But with plan D, we don’t have to wait until the Palestinians do something bad. We can attack at will and for no reason.” His comrade in arms smiled as he said this.
The demographer, Yousef Weitz presented population figures. “At the end of 1947, just one month ago, the percentage of Jews in Palestine had grown from 10 percent at the outset of the British mandate after World War I to 33% now. Most immigrants have settled in the cities and towns. So Jews own only 6% of the land. But we have been given 66 percent of the territory in the UN partition. So our job is to take it.”
The discussion continued about the UN and the partition resolution, 181. The Arabs would probably reject it. So what did it mean practically? It did at least recognize that the Jewish state would become a legal reality. Ben Gurion spoke to the situation they faced. The UN resolution proposed borders for the Jewish area and for the Arabs. But these were lines drawn by international people who did not understand the situation. So in view of Arab rejection of the proposed partition, and the arbitrary boundaries proposed, Ben Gurion stated that the borders of the Jewish state “will be determined by force and not by the partition resolution.”
After the planning session the leaders gathered in small groups and the conversations raised the noise level echoing in the bare room. Eldad rose, chatting with his fellow soldier. “It looks like we’ll be fighting for the next few months.”
“Yes, and now we are freed from attacking villages and cities only in response to terrorist attacks by Palestinians.”
“And I can vent my anger on them,” Eldad remarked.
“Why do you say that? Are you angry at all Palestinian Arabs? Or because of the centuries of persecution we have endured as a people?”
“Partly both, although the Arabs had nothing to do with the Holocaust.” Eldad paused. “But we still need to get rid of them. The rest is just me. I have been angry all my life.”
“Why?”
Eldad grimaced. “It began early. My biologic mother rejected me. So I was adopted. I have never found her and have no idea who she is or why she cut me loose. I also don’t know who my biologic father is. I never did like my new parents, older people who finally gave up on me and sent me to a kibbutz. I seem to rub people the wrong way. So fighting has been my outlet for many years. That is why I volunteered to help the British army in North Africa and Europe. And that is why I rose so fast in the Palmach. It has allowed me to vent my anger for a good cause.”
Chapter 15
Caleb tried to study in his room, but he couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept drifting back to Sabria. She had dropped her classes and returned home. He tried to imagine what her home was like, what she was doing now, and what she thought about the future. He wanted to contact her but knew only she’d gone home to Tantura. He had neglected to get her telephone number.
She had brought a new dimension to his thinking about the Jewish-Arab conflict. A totally new appreciation for the Arab people. Experiencing together the refinery massacre with death and wounding of many men had established a bond with them. Hawassa also. It had shaken his own world and made him question his own belief system in Christian Zionism. Caleb, sharing concern for the all-important
Jewish security, had never thought about security for the Arab population. He rose from his desk and began pacing back and forth.
He realized he had known nothing of what really happened in the land everyone called Holy. It didn’t make the news at home. He had reveled in the excitement as Jews from Europe particularly, flocked in large numbers to Palestine to at last have a place of safety they could call home. It fulfilled the Old Testament predictions and heralded the return of Jesus. Through the church his family contributed to Jewish funds to help mostly European refugees immigrate to Palestine.
But here Christians are being persecuted and killed along with their Muslim neighbors by those Caleb had always assumed were God’s chosen people. Perhaps even some his own church had helped finance. Something didn’t fit.
His mind wandered back to Sabria. Caleb tripped on a book that he hadn’t noticed. He laughed at his inattentiveness and then inhaled deeply through gritted teeth. He must contact her. But how and when? He began to daydream seeing her in his mind’s eye, beautiful, bright, engaging, determined. He decided to try—a loud knock on the door startled Caleb out of his thoughts.
An assistant pastor of his church in Texas stood at the door. Caleb, flabbergasted, invited him in. Tall and beaming, the pastor extended his hand. That began a long conversation, which led to going out to dinner. Pastor Sam Jamison came on a tour to contact several Jewish immigrants. The church had helped fund their move to Palestine from France through the auspices of a Zionist organization.
“So how have you been doing, Caleb?” Sam asked.
Rather than talk about school, Caleb decided to tell him about the refinery massacre and the young father they had encountered just before he died from a gunshot wound to his chest. He also told Sam of Hawassa, and the man who fled from his home with his wife and children in fear of annihilation from Jewish bombing.
“Are you sure that the trouble started with the Jews?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know of any other inciting incident. We saw the Jewish militia shooting local Arab civilians, workers at the refinery waiting to get in to their jobs. And we saw rubble of Arab homes demolished.”
Pastor Sam furrowed his brow. “It must be some renegades doing this. I’m sure the Jewish leadership would not be involved. They are after all, God’s chosen and have suffered horribly.”
“I know that. I have always believed they would return. I guess I never questioned that their return is prophesied in the Bible.”
“And we believe that it is happening right now. That it is God’s will and his timing.”
Caleb shrugged. “So I guess we believe that this is the beginning of the end of world history. That because the Jewish people are returning in great numbers to the land, then the Messiah will return. Right?”
“Right, Caleb. This is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that his people would populate the land and be a blessing to the world.
“But at what cost to the people that have been here for centuries? It seems as if there’s a movement to get rid of them at least here in Haifa. They weren’t responsible for the Holocaust, and yet it seems like they are being punished for no reason.”
“Maybe so, but they are Muslim. I don’t think they figure into God’s plan for his people—just like Ishmael was not chosen while Isaac became the father of the twelve tribes including the Jews from the tribe of Judah.”
“But most Muslims are not to blame. They have lived here for centuries peacefully with Jews and Christians. Doesn’t God care about justice? Besides, a lot of people here are Christians and date their families back for generations.”
“Oh. Really? I didn’t know Christians still existed in the Holy Land. But yes, Caleb. I think God does care about justice.” He held up both hands. “I don’t pretend to understand all this. And frankly, we don’t know about any Christians in Palestine. Are they real believers, or Christian in name only?”
“Well, I know only one, and she is the most caring Christian I have ever met.”
“Is she Arab?”
“Yes . . . Palestinian. And she cares about people, has Jewish friends. She is surprised at how we Christians in America take just one side of this growing conflict.”
Pastor Sam paused. “I’d never thought of the other side. Frankly we never even consider that there is one. We’ve not heard of the things you describe.”
“I hadn’t either,” Caleb said. “But that massacre with Jewish militiamen killing innocent Arab men waiting to get to their jobs in the refinery has shaken my ideas of what I have always believed. Could we be wrong in the way we understand the Bible? What’s going on is not what Jesus taught, to love your neighbor, even your enemies. Can we at home continue to support this?”
“We always have. I don’t see it changing.”
Chapter 16
Jamal, hearing that Sabria came home appeared breathlessly at the door of the large front room as her family gathered to continue their discussion and to hear what Sabria had learned from a member of the Hagana. He had not realized it had been planned since the day before. Sabria’s aunts Judith and Liana had come from some distance. He had met them long ago but had forgotten what they looked like or where they lived. He gazed at Sabria lovely as ever, but she seemed sad. And then looked around the room at the rest of the family. Grandfather Adnan and her parents sat together.
Sabria’s mother Hava had treated Jamal like a son. He’d almost grown up in their home, eating dinner and sometimes stealing cookies. She would scold him with a loud voice as he ran out of the kitchen but with an underlying smirk of an amused and loving parent.
Khalid, Sabria’s father, liked to come over to his own house to chat with Jamal’s father Ilias. They always said they needed to discuss growing citrus fruit. Jamal laughed as he pictured them in his mind. They would shoo him away and then light the hookah with its fragrant tobacco bubbling through the water and begin puffing. Their laughter boomed through the house. Just in the last year had they sometimes invited Jamal to join them perhaps because he had reached the magic age, twenty-one. But he loved both his own father and Khalid. He had grown up watching them model what its like to be hard-working farmers and loving husbands and fathers. At school he had heard kids complain about their parents. Jamal decided his were close to ideal. And he knew that their friendship as Muslims with both Khalid and Hava who were Christian, remained vibrant. Religion didn’t make any barrier to friendships. It was the same with Sabria and himself.
Jamal’s thoughts turned back to Sabria. She had loved to run and hide as a child and sometimes teased him because he couldn’t find her. They climbed trees and went fishing together. But somehow she had turned into a beauty and now a serious student. He knew she always thought of him as a brother. And although he could think of no better girlfriend, she would probably remain in sister-mode to him, a good friend forever. But he would not give up yet.
The muted individual conversations quieted as Adnan spoke. Jamal always considered him as some kind of prophet or maybe Moses. Even though he was not Muslim, all in the community recognized his wisdom.
“I know all of us are wanting to know what is transpiring in our land,” Adnan began. “Whether the changes and conflict are a threat to us as Arab Palestinians? What our Jewish immigrant friends are planning? So many of them have come from distant lands; like a flood that the British can’t control. This land is big enough for all of us and immigrants as well.” Adnan smiled stretching his arms out in a welcoming way. “We all have Jewish friends and have lived together in harmony with each other. But times are changing. Some Zionists seem to have an exclusive view that only they are entitled to the land. The ‘other’ must leave.”
“Where did that come from?” Jamal asked.
“I’m not Jewish, but I suspect it is from a history of anti-Semitism and persecution down through the centuries culminating in the Holocaust. They have experienced much ostracism and suffering, as you know from studying history. So they want a safe and secure homeland with n
o one to hurt them anymore.”
“You can understand then why security is so important for them,” Jamal said. “But what are they doing to us that will help their security?”
“It seems strange and cruel,” Adnan continued. “Attacking Arab civilians to increase their own security? We hear of more conflict in Haifa and Jerusalem and even some villages on the coast. Some citizens have been killed outright and others driven from their homes and lands.
“Why don’t we fight back?” Sabria asked, her chin thrust forward.
“You may recall that the British defeated the Arab armed uprising of 1936 and few arms remain now twelve years later to defend us. Our representatives in England have worked hard pleading to be heard by our British overlords, but to no avail. We cannot look to other countries of the world for help given their decision at the United Nations to partition the land, leaving us with so little, just one-third when we outnumber the Jewish population two to one. We cannot accept that. But there is no Arab voice in the corridors of power. The well-organized and well-funded Zionists seem to be carrying the day internationally.”
The family stared at each other. Jamal sat unmoving as he realized the deck stacked against them. The old man seemed angry by his grim facial expression, as much anger as he ever showed.
Adnan seemed to expect a response, so sat quietly and shifted in his chair leaning forward, hands on his knees. He continued,“ So we are alone in the world, and subject to the will of others. This is not new. We have no power to change it. First the Turks for four hundred years, then after World War One, the British. It looks now that we will be governed by Israel in their part of the land, and by the Jordanian monarchy on our side of the river. As for those Jewish people who want to take the land, they have militias as you have heard. Some are made up of experienced soldiers who trained and fought with the British army in World War Two. Any ideas of an independent and self-governing Arab Palestine are gone.”
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