PALESTINE Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem | Page 61

Acre
possible: there was no way of imposing such a move
on my eleven brothers and sisters! Luckily, from Naza-
reth, there was a bus going to Haifa; in the morning it
would take the workers to the refinery and would bring
them back in the evening. With all of my 19 years, I
was amused to be the only woman among 50 men, and
reassured my parents: no, they had nothing to worry
about, in the bus, I was not only respected, but when
it happened that I was a few minutes late, the passen-
gers would ask the driver to ‘wait for Samira.’ The bus
would drop me at the edge of Acre, and I would com-
plete the journey by cart or on foot.
Disquiet was growing daily. We started to hear
talk of rapes, summary executions, the destruction of
entire villages. 7 Palestine was bleeding, the country was
emptying itself. Just to say the names of towns such
as Saliha, Deir Yasin, Abu Shusha, Tantura, Deir Al
Asad, Majdal Krum still pulls at my heartstrings. The
effect on the Palestinians was immediate: the horrified
inhabitants left hurriedly in search of a safe haven. It
has to be said that, on January 20, 1948, a few months
before leaving, the British had declared that ‘Britain
plans to hand over areas of land to whichever group
is predominant in the region,’ thereby sparking all the
violence. 8
In theory, after the Partition Plan, Haifa was part of
Israel and Acre of Palestine. 9 In April, the Palestinians
of Haifa had had to flee on boats provided for them by
the British, which had taken them to Acre – a telling
gesture that showed where their loyalties lay. In Acre, we
saw whole families arriving with one suitcase at most.
We put them where there was some room, in schools,
in mosques, in churches and with local inhabitants. It
was heart-wrenching to be powerless to help them in
their distress, knowing that we would be the next to
suffer. For not long afterwards, it was Acre’s turn to
be attacked by Etzel, an armed Zionist organization. 10
One Sunday, a bomb fell on the prison opposite the
Samira
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