PALESTINE Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem | Page 169

The inhabitants of Battir have basically been farm-
ers since Canaanite times. Over 2000 years ago, these
resourceful farmers, who lived on the hill slopes, built
low stone walls creating terraced agriculture with
an excellent irrigation system. 7 The families of Bat-
tir organized themselves so that everyone could have
equal and fair access to water.
In 1948, practically all economic activity in Battir
looked towards Jerusalem, where we sold our lemons,
oranges, apples, figs, olives and so on, but our special-
ity was small, sweet aubergines with a reputation that
went beyond the borders. Every morning at about 4
am, the train would stop at the station in Battir, taking
men and women laden with their produce to Jerusa-
lem, and in the afternoon, around 4 pm, it brought
them back. 8 The journey took less than 15 minutes: just
long enough to smoke a cigarette!
Unlike my father, who was a farmer, I chose a career
in medicine. I had started three years before as a stu-
dent nurse in the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem,
which was run by a British religious order. 9 I had many
friends among my British colleagues, and I would often
invite them to Battir at the weekends.
The Israeli army forced its way into the hospital in
1948, which then had to move to the old city of Jerusa-
lem. 10 I felt that I should return to Battir quickly, where
I joined a small group of men with Hassan Mustafa.
We had about 18 ancient rifles at our disposal, in other
words not much, but we were highly motivated. Suffi-
ciently so, in any case, to intimidate the Israelis, who
did not take Battir from us.
A year later, in the spring of 1949, during the labori-
ous armistice negotiations, Hassan Mustafa was work-
ing with the Red Cross, which meant he often went to
Jerusalem and to Amman where the talks were being
held. He met a lot of people there. He soon realized
that the negotiations between the Israelis and the Jor-
danians were going to end in compromises and that
these might have disastrous consequences for Battir.
His fears nearly came to pass because, when the armi-
stice was signed in Rhodes on April 3, 1949, 11 it was
decided that Battir – like the railway line – being part
of the no-man’s-land between the Jordanian and Israeli
demarcation lines, was going to have to be evacuated to
be ceded to the Israelis.
Hassan Mustafa was a politician by nature and could
be very persuasive. He did not believe in chance and
knew that in order to survive, one must not wait but
must act. He got in touch with some of the high-rank-
ing Jordanian officials who were taking part in the
negotiations and managed to convince some of them
not to abandon Battir. Then, with a group of 23 men
from the village, including me and some officers of the
Arab Legion (the Jordanian army) who were dissatisfied
with the outcome of the negotiations, he organized a
ruse, like a theatre play. The trick consisted of making
it look as if the village were still lived in and its inhab-
itants ready to do anything to defend it, whereas in fact
it was practically empty. Every morning the men lit a
fire in each house, hung out the washing, laughed and
talked loudly, turned the radios on, went out to pasture
the animals, lit the candles at night… That was how
those men dissuaded the Israeli forces from intervening
and taking the village. A ruse, I tell you, inspires men in
the face of the all-powerful sword. That trick changed
the psychology of the battle, it meant that it could be
won without spilling a drop of blood, and it made Has-
san Mustafa the symbol of nonviolent resistance against
the Israeli army. Even the elderly accorded him great
respect. And so, two weeks after the signing of the armi-
stice, on April 18, 1949, an extraordinary meeting took
place to decide on the future of the region’s villages: Beit
Iksa, Qattanna and Battir would remain Palestinian Al
Walaja, Al Jura, ‘Ayn Karim 12 and the railway line were
ceded to the Israelis. Battir was saved.
The day that no one in Battir will ever forget is May
1, 1949. That day, Hassan Mustafa had an appointment
with the Israelis, down in the valley, where the station
was. He went there with six other men. The Israelis had
come in large numbers.
They say that when he left that morning, our herald
said goodbye to his wife not knowing how this face-to-
face meeting would end. When he arrived, he asked to
speak to the commander Moshe Dayan and the Israeli
officer to whom he spoke looked very surprised: Dayan
was an important person who did not move around
easily. Nevertheless, he came from Jerusalem to meet
Hassan Mustafa.
Dayan explained that for him the priority was
the railway and the safety of the trains. 13 If Hassan
Mustafa would guarantee him that nothing would
happen to the trains, he would in return respect the
agreement made during the extraordinary meeting: to
let the inhabitants live in their village and the farmers
access their lands in Israel (only their lands, no further
than that); but he would also move the demarcation
Hassan
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