Underneath the Forest is Beautiful
Continuity in Palestinian Historical Narratives
The myth of Palestine as an empty and arid land
becomes more plausible in the Jewish psyche when all evidence of Palestinian villages
are razed to the ground and forests and settlements have been built over them. Israeli
narratives of the Jewish people returning to their empty homeland has a more
solid impact on the psyche of the Jewish immigrant when Palestinian villages no
longer exist to incite any questions on the indigenous population of the area.
The role of this post is to point to the fact that the territorial continuity that
the Israelis claim to exist between the Hebrews of yesterday and the Israeli
settlers of today is not real: it is a constructive narrative of one Jewish
organization known as the Jewish National Fund. (Pappe, Ilan, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, p. 227).
Destroying any trace of Palestinian villages, farms and orchards in
land designated as Jewish in the United Nations Partition agreement has two
major objectives in Israeli historical narratives. The first is to focus
territorial disagreement between Palestinians and Israelis on land occupied by
Israel in 1967. In the Israeli mindset, having no visible trace or evidence of a previous Palestinian presence in Israel removes an possible justification for considering this illegally claimed property and land on the podium of
negotiations between the two parties (Pappe, Ilan, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, p. 221). It also implies that the Palestinian
Right to Return will not be recognized because any traces of Palestinian existence
in the area has been hidden underneath the forests constructed by the Jewish
National Fund. Second, everything in Gaza and West Bank, according to Israel, is open to negotiation
due to the illegal Israeli settlements located in the West Bank and currently the illegally confiscated territory in Gaza as security buffers between Israel
and the Palestinians living in Gaza.
Just like the olive trees that have been spotted
making their way back to the top soil of these forests and overrunning the
conifers (pine and cypress trees) that the Jewish National Fund has been so
readily to plant instead of the indigenous trees (almond and olive trees)
Palestinians have to make their voice heard by commemorating the Palestinian
villages that lie underneath the soil. The settlement of Mijda Ha-Emek lies
over the Palestinian village of Mujaydil, the settlement of Tirat Hacarmel
settles over the Palestinian village of Tirat Haifa, Qiryat Shemona settlement
replaced the Palestinian Khalsa village, and Ashkelon settlement has taken over
the land the belonged to Majdal. Note that each Palestinian village was
replaced by a Hebrew version of the Arabic name.
Not only were entire villages razed to the ground,
architectural buildings that called attention to the Palestinian presence in
Jewish urban areas were targeted by the Jewish National Fund for destruction in
order to maintain the false historical narrative of Jewish only presence in the area.
Masjad al Khayriyya in the City of Givatayim and Sarafand mosque in Haifa were
destroyed. Church of Birwa in the Jewish settlement of Ahihud no longer exists there. Majdal and Qisarya mosques have been converted to restaurants, and the
Beersheba mosque into a shop. Five thousand dunams of Huj village makes up
Ariel Sharon’s private ranch of Havat Hashikmim.
We must all continue to approach
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the starting point of the ethnic
cleansing of the Palestinian people from their rightful property. The trauma
and memory of fear as the Palestinians sought refugee from the horrors of the
Jewish militia need to be the starting point in any dialogues between
Palestinians and Israelis. We must work diligently to replace the fabricated Israeli narratives as a continued presence in the area with the authentic
version of the ancient and the on-going Palestinian presence in the area.
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For more information please see
‘Ancient Cultural Roots:’
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Take Action!
Write to the President about Ethnic
Cleansing in Palestine:
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Boycott for Peace!
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