PALESTINE Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem | Page 100

A glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea from the hills of Fgegis, near Dura
Darwish, he went to Rome on an Algerian passport
under the name of Abbas Zaitouni; on the second day
of the conference he decided, for security reasons, to
change hotels and to register under a different name.
He stayed an extra day in Rome in order to buy pre-
sents for his children Samaa, Salam, Dalia and Azza. 5
But on the morning of October 9, 1981, a bomb that
had been planted under his bed was detonated, ending
his life and shattering the lives of all who loved him.
It was normal for a Palestinian family to have
ten children in the 1930s. Mohammad and Fatima,
Majed’s parents, live in Dura, where the family has a
lot of land. Dura is known for its good schools, Noah’s
tomb, its 40 mosques and particularly for the legendary
rebelliousness of its residents. Dura, where today a por-
trait of Majed painted on a wall honours his memory. 6
The family house is built entirely of stone and, from
the rooftop, Majed, the second child, looks out over the
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Memories of 1948
hills which shine red in the setting sun. What he likes
best when spring arrives is the gentle warmth filled with
the scent of bitter almonds. He also loves the smell of
hot bread stuffed with figs from the garden. His father
works in telecommunications while he pursues his law
studies in Hebron; he is a traditionalist but he is open to
the progress. He gives his boys a tough education and
he insists that his daughters be educated too. Even as
a child, Majed plays the role of mediator, intervening
whenever his brothers squabble with his sisters, which
makes him the girls’ favourite in the family.
In 1948, as the British are leaving Palestine, his
parents move to Jerusalem, then to Bethlehem, 7 while
Majed, who is in the best boarding school in Dura,
stays with his grandparents. At 13, this is his first taste
of freedom. During the holidays, the teenager joins
his family at his paternal grand-mother’s in Fgegis,
near Dura. There, from the hilltops with views to the