Lifta - لفتا: Saving a former Palestinian village By Ha'aretz

In the coming days the Municipal Committee on Planning and Construction in Jerusalem will be presenting its recommendations for the Lifta neighborhood to the District Committee on Planning and Construction. The city committee is recommending approval of a plan that in effect erases the memory of the abandoned Palestinian village that can be seen in all its beauty at the entrance and exit to the city on the road to Tel Aviv.

Lifta is the Palestinian village destroyed in 1948 most evident to Israeli eyes. Its houses, which remain standing on the slope of the mountain, are a silent testimony to the hundreds of villages and towns that were destroyed during the establishment of the state. The building plan proposes to keep the houses in the village but to bury them in the heart of a new neighborhood to be called Mei Naftoah. The change of the name is also part of the erasure of the historical evidence of the existence of a Palestinian village that was built long before the state of Israel was established.

"Bamakom - Planners for Human Rights" and "Zochrot" are two NPOs that approached the municipal committee last September asking for the cancellation of the Lifta plan, and for the plans of the former village be brought back into the public arena for debate. They demanded that new instructions be given to preserve the remains of the village, its cemetery and its mosque.

The opponents of the plan reminded the committee of the conclusions of the Or Commission, which ruled that "the establishment of the State of Israel, which the Jewish people celebrated as the fulfillment of a dream held for generations, also involved the most traumatic collective historical memory in the history of the Arab citizens - the Nakba."

The municipal committee, representing the public, responded with demonstrative contempt to the opposition. Committee member Yair Gabai repeatedly interrupted the speakers from the opponents of the plan with comments like "they get their salaries from Europe" and "what happened to my father's house in Baghdad?"

Committee members did promise not to build housing in the abandoned mosque, but the ultra-Orthodox members of the committee, including chairman Yehoshua Pollack, proposed building another synagogue for the village in the mosque, a synagogue that apparently will remain unused.

The committee members did not hear, of course, the representatives of the families whose homes were confiscated and who have never been allowed to return to those homes. A large number of Lifta refugees live in East Jerusalem, but the construction plan completely ignores their existence. On the other hand, opposition to the plans by Jewish residents, some of whom are squatters in the empty buildings and others who, as one of them said, bought the properties "under a certain constellation," were heard at length by the committee.

The committee decided to respond affirmatively to the Al Aqsa NPO, which asked that the Muslim cemetery be marked off and not be used for construction. But when the representative dared ask if he would be able to buy a property in the new neighborhood, the hall filled with scornful laughter. "The High Court has ruled that there can be no discrimination in the disbursement of land for construction," Gabai responded with contempt in his voice. Other members of the committee explained that no church or mosque would be built, only a synagogue, but in any case they were not the ones to decide for whom the neighborhood was being built.

It is possible and proper to develop Lifta as a village that preserves the historical Palestinian memory of the place. Preserving the memory of the village and its history could be a focal point for reconciliation between Jewish and Arab citizens, and offer an experience that helps lead to a solution of peace with our neighbors.

In a country that sanctifies memory, erasing Palestinian history is not only immoral, it is also foolish. We will not be able to build a future worthy of the name here if we erase and deny the memory of thousands of Palestinian refugees. It is possible to take their homes and erase their villages from the face of the earth, but as we know from Jewish history, longing for the roots and memories of homes is preserved for many hundreds of years. It is still possible to preserve the village, repair its buildings and turn it into a place of study of the past, forming a basis for dialogue about a common future of Israelis and Palestinians.



The writer is a sociologist and teaches in the law faculty at the Hebrew University

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