Memories of a veteran Palestinian fighter in 1948
Palestine-Israel, History, 5/1/1998

"It is a day of persistent determination to return to my homeland," said Hassan Jibril Manna' of Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, as Israelis were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of their Israel.

Aged 75, Hassan belongs to the warring generation of the Palestinian people who fought in 1948. A former soldier with the British mandatory forces in pre-1948 era, Hassan, also known as Abu Jawdat, fled from the service along with a number of Palestinian colleagues. One night in December 1947, he said, they decided to desert the camp where they served. They took with them three lorries after they loaded them with ammunition and rifles.

"We took one lorry to Abdul Qader Husseini, the commander of the Palestinian forces who was stationed in his village of Ein Sinya near Ramallah," he said and added that the second lorry was taken to Ramleh for use by the Palestinian residents of the town. "I was with those who drove the third lorry, and we came across a British ambush. A heavy fighting broke out between us. They took over the lorry and killed two of my colleagues."

The other battle that Abu Jawdat well remembers was Bab Al Wad, some 18 kilometers west of Jerusalem on the main road to Tel Aviv. On that day, at least 120 Israeli vehicles loaded with medicine and food supplies drove through the main road trying to reach to Jerusalem, where many of the Jewish gangs were besieged by Palestinian resistance fighters.

"We knew they were coming. We had orders to set up an ambush on both sides of the road. We hid behind trees and waited until the Jewish convoy started to show up. We waited until after the last vehicle in the convoy started to drive up the hill where we were hiding. That area was excellent for an ambush, unlike the rest of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road which was plain and inconvenient for guerrilla warfare."

Abu Jawdat believes that Bab Al Wad battle was one of the most important and significant battles the Palestinians fought before the creation of Israel. He said his group destroyed all the Israeli vehicles except for two; the armored vehicle that led the convoy and was taken over by the Palestinian fighters; and a jeep bringing up the convoy's rear, whose driver managed to make a U-turn and escape back toward Tel Aviv.

In a special independence anniversary edition, Maariv Hebrew daily issued a booklet containing the most famous 50 Jewish songs. One of those was on Bab Al Wad which said: "Bab Al Wad, remember our names forever. Convoys made their way through to the city. And on the roadside, our dead have laid down."

Abu Jawdat's family lived in the village of Zakariya and, like thousands of the Palestinians, was forced out of the village. They fled from one place to another until they settled in 1951 in Dheisheh refugee camp, which the United Nations Relief and Work Agency established shortly after the Palestinian exodus.

In the mid-50s, Abu Jawdat was sent to the Jordanian desert prison of H4 for four years. He was served with an administrative detention because of his membership in the Communist Party. In the early 60s, he quit the party over ideological differences and later joined Fatah where he still holds a lt. Colonel rank in its military wing. In the mid-80s, an Israeli military court sentenced Abu Jawdat to four years of imprisonment for possession of weapons and involvement in anti-Israel activities.

The interview with Abu Jawdat took place at his house the on day Israelis were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of Israel. What follows are excerpts of an interview he gave at his house:

Q: How painful is it for you to see those Israelis celebrating their independence?

A: Undoubtedly, this is very painful for us. We have lost our homeland. Our rights are being denied. Our pain is beyond any description.

Q: What can you say about the past five decades?

A: They were awful. Ever since we were kicked out of our homeland, we have been subjected to a series of setbacks and defeats, despite of the political gains that were achieved here and there. The last thirty years were the worst under Israeli military occupation. A few minutes from here is the city of Bethlehem which is under the PNA control but our camp is still occupied by the Israeli military government since it is considered part of the so-called Area C under the Oslo Agreements.

Q: How do you explain the fact that the Palestinians have been suffering over the past 50 years while Israel has been growing stronger and more triumphant?

A: We do not have the same resources that Israel has. Therefore, you cannot compare what we did to what the Israelis did. The US and most of the western countries back Israel. We have been fighting the Israelis all along since they forced us out of our country but still their gains are larger that ours. Even the Oslo Accords have failed to bring us what we need and what we aspire. On the contrary, the military occupation is still here and the Oslo Accords have divided the Palestinian cities into isolated cantons.

Q: Can you envisage any situation in which peace and coexistence will really prevail in the region?

A: There can never be peace so long the Palestinian people's right is denied and the Palestinian question is unsolved. Israel at the moment demands both peace and land leaving nothing for the Palestinians. Therefore, there can never be a just peace to safeguard the rights of the Palestinian people on their soil and in their homeland. Never.

Q: What does peace mean to you and what sort of a peace arrangement would you like to see occurring?

A: The characteristics of peace that I aspire to should include the right of the Palestinian people on their national soil and the creation of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem its capital. Jerusalem is the core issue of the whole cause of the Palestinians.

Q: A peace agreement that safeguards a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem being its capital won't bring your village Zakariya back. How do you cope with this question? Are you ready to skip the demand to return to you home village?

A: Peace and justice are relative issues. I think there won't be a total peace in the region if I do not restore my own right in my own village, and if nobody returns to his country. Full and ultimate peace for me means not only to liberate Jerusalem but also the rest of the Palestinian cities such as Haifa and Jaffa and of course my village Zakariya.

Q: And what about Israel?

A: Israel? We are not responsible for the problem of the Jews who came to our land. Those responsible for this problem are the US imperialism and Zionism which gathered all the Jews from all over the world and brought them to our country. How come [Ethiopian Jews] Falashas are brought in to live on my land while I am dispersed and kicked out of my own homeland? This can never be accepted. Peace can never be achieved under the present circumstances. Never. Impossible.

Q: Do you feel as angry today at Israelis as you were fifty years ago or has your anger faded away with the passing years?

A: The question is not that of anger. The occupiers have taken over our homeland, kicked us out of our land and occupied our country. How do you expect us to feel about that? The Jews claim they never forgot Palestine for the last 2000 years and yet they expect us to forget ours in 50 years? For me, the Israelis are my enemy who occupied my land. We are using all possible means to restore our rights, or at least part of our right. We believe there are UN resolutions that need to be implemented and this is the minimum the international community can do to maintain stability in our region.

Next to Abu Jawdat, sat his daughter-in-law, Ghada. Aged 30, Ghada is of a family that came from Zakariya too. She knew her village through the remains she saw every time she went to visit it along with elderly relatives. Excerpts of a brief interview with her follow:

Q: You are part of what is now known the uprising generation, how do you feel about living all you life in a refugee camp while your original village is no more than 40 minute drive from your camp?

A: It is natural that one would feel depressed especially when we visit our village, Zakariya. The last time I was there, I wished I could stay there forever. As a matter of fact, our fathers and grandfathers made a big mistake when they left the village. They could have stayed and we might have averted going through a series of endless sufferings.

In the 30 years of Israeli military occupation, we have had lots of sufferings, and detentions. Lots of people were killed. Many more were injured. Even today, we are still suffering. We live in a big prison.

Though the PNA (Palestinian government) is next door in Bethlehem, we do not feel we are free because we are still under the Israeli military occupation. Our presence in the camp is the most blatant evidence that we are suffering after and before the Palestinian government took over. Until now, we are living under political, economic and other sorts of siege. Settlements have increased. The by-pass roads are eating up more of our lands on the West Bank and things are getting worse day after day.

Even during the days of the intifada, we could still go to Jerusalem or anywhere else. But now, with the continued closure imposed by Israel we cannot go to Jerusalem but with a permit.

Q: Have you imagined, during the intifada, that the situation today would be as it is or were your expectations totally different?

A: People during the intifada did not expect anything called Oslo and never had hopes that agreements would be reached or that the Palestinian government would come into being. The Oslo Accords have not achieved anything for us. On the contrary we have retreated 50 years backwards.

As I said, the noose is getting tighter around our neck, and there are many whose economic condition has worsened after the Oslo Accords. We always expected the best. In the worst days of Israeli crackdown, we expected things would be better. We felt the situation would burst and new settlements would be achieved. We always believed that it is always darkest before the dawn.

Q: What sort of a settlement were you expecting?

A: We hoped that at least we would return to the village we left. We hoped that we [would] restore Jerusalem back into our hands. But what happened was the exact opposite. We do not even have a permit to go and visit our village, which as a matter of fact, is very beautiful. I cannot describe how beautiful it was. Last time I visited the village, I decided not to blink and to keep my eyes open all time so I could see the village without missing a single frame of it.

Previous Stories:
  Arabs and some Jews mourn Israel's anniversary   (4/28/1998)
  Interviews: 50th anniversary of Deir Yassin massacre   (4/10/1998)
  Kufr Qassem 41 years later: survivors recall the cold-blooded massacre   (4/9/1998)

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