The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (53 page)

The Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations, in a 1998 statement, used a figure of 325,000, part of what it called a "systematic policy of deportation and forced migration." Sayigh, on p. 174, describes "the exodus of another 300,000 refugees" after the 1967 war. John Quigley, professor of international law at Ohio State University, cites a figure of 350,000 in
Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice,
a number "that represented 25 percent of the population" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A September 1967 UN Special Representative's field investigation report estimated that 200,000 left for the East Bank and more were displaced within the West Bank area. The report also documented specific incidents, including home demolitions and intimidation, which led to the flight of the Palestinian population during and after the war. The UN report states that in the West Bank town of Qalqilya, "three weeks after they left their city, the population was allowed to go back. . . . Upon their return they found that out of a total of some 2,000 dwellings approximately 850 had been demolished" (United Nations General Assembly, "Report of the Secretary-General under General Assembly Resolution 2252 [ES-V] and Security Council Resolution 237 [1967]," September 15, 1967). Oren, on p. 307, states that "nearly half the houses in Qalqilya were reportedly damaged, though later repaired by Israel."

The lawyers' strike was recalled by Bashir in a December 2003 interview and corroborated in my correspondence with George Bisharat, author of
Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule: Law and Disorder in the West Bank,
who reviewed relevant sections of this and later chapters for accuracy. Bashir, characteristically modest, would not say that he was a leader of the strike, but Ghiath Khairi insisted that his cousin was indeed
"the
leader." Bashir's comments to the Israeli colonel are recalled from his memory, as are the figures of eighty lawyers. Bisharat believes the number was closer to fifty. The establishment of military courts is mentioned in the United Nations "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories," October 1, 1976.

The quote of "no reconciliation" comes from Sayigh,
Armed Struggle and the Search for State, p.
143. Bashir confirmed the sense of clarity and freedom that settled over many Palestinians immediately following the occupation.

The definition of
fedayi
(plural fedayeen) is from Bassam Abu-Sharif in
Best of Enemies.
Abu-Sharif s account of Habash, of joining the PFLP, and of his own father's dismay is on pp. 52-63. His "eternal foreigner" and "rather be dead" quotes are on p. 53.

The stories of Palestinians returning to their old homes are too numerous to count; I have heard dozens over the years, and most involve a spontaneous journey across the "Green Line," though some travelers indicated they applied for and received permits. In each case, however, it is important to stress that the border was much less defined: not only less defined than it is now, with the construction of the separation wall and fence, but less even than in the 1980s and 1990s, when tensions led to far more checkpoints and patrols between Israel and the occupied territories.

Chapter 9

The notes for this chapter are comparatively short. The chapter relies largely on recollections from Bashir and Dalia as told to me in more than a dozen interviews in 1998, 2003, 2004, and 2005 and as recounted in Bashir's memoir in Arabic (see notes for chapter 1). Ghiath Khairi, Bashir's cousin who also traveled to Ramla that day, provided additional details in interviews in January 2005.

The conversations between Bashir and Dalia, of course, were not recorded; the quotes come almost entirely from Bashir's memory and Dalia's. There were cases where Dalia did not recall saying something Bashir attributed to her in his memoir or was sure she did not say; in such cases, I either did not include the quote or noted the discrepancy. Such discrepancies are minor, however: Essentially, Bashir and Dalia agree on what happened in the house in Ramla that day and in their subsequent meetings.

Both Bashir and Dalia have reviewed this and other chapters for accuracy. My hope is that I have reflected the spirit of the exchange as accurately and fairly as possible.

Bashir's talk with his family on his return to Ramallah was conveyed in his memoir and in the interviews with me. That conversations like the Khairis' were taking place across old Palestine in 1967 has been conveyed to me in dozens of stories and interviews over my last twelve years traveling through Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon. Bashir's return trip with Kamel is conveyed in Bashir's memoir. That the dream of return was as ferocious as ever is evidenced by the political developments in the Palestinian movement after June 1967, which are conveyed in Sayigh's
Armed Struggle in the Search for State,
especially on p. 147, where he describes the "heyday of the guerillas."

The description of Arafat comes from multiple sources, including Bassam Abu-Sharif s account in
Best of Enemies,
from which the "Palestinian spirit" quote comes (p. 58). The analysis of the limitations of cross-border attacks is also discussed by Abu-Sharif on p. 58. Arafat's relaunching of armed struggle is described by Abu-Sharif on pp. 58-59; by Sayigh on pp. 161-64; and by Said K. Aburish, author of
Arafat: From Defender to Dictator,
on pp.
71-77.
These accounts, as well as the Web site of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicate that these particular attacks, during this period, rarely resulted in civilian casualties. The legend of "Abu Amar" is laid out by Abu-Sharif (p. 59, coffee on fire story) and by David Pryce-Jones, a British journalist and author of
The Face of Defeat
(p. 41). Aburish (pp. 82-83) recalls Arafat's slogans and describes how the Fatah leader shaped his keffiyeh in the shape of historic Palestine. "The exercise took nearly an hour every morning," Aburish writes:

He donned the American-style sunglasses, which gave him an air of mystery and which he still wore indoors. . . . In many photos he carried a stick, an improvised field marshal's baton; not only did it distinguish him from people around him, it was also something which he could use constantly as a symbol of his power and to point out the locations of heroic acts or Israeli atrocities.

For the lawyers' strike and the impact of the occupation on Palestinian attorneys such as Bashir, see George Bisharat's
Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule,
especially pp. 145-61. For the attitudes of Palestinians toward the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, see Aburish, pp. 71-72, and Shehadeh, p. 46 and pp. 55-57. Early Israeli settlements in the West Bank are described by Morris in
Righteous Victims,
pp. 331-34. Military Order 145 is mentioned on p. 147; it was implemented in April 1968, according to the Web site of the Israel Law Resource Center.

Bashir recalled his arrest and incarceration of September 1967 in interviews. The wider context of the Israeli counterinsurgency is discussed by Sayigh on p. 180. The "no reconciliation" quote comes from Sayigh, p. 143. Portions of the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967, are taken from the UN Web site (daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/7l67138.html).

For Nasser and King Hussein's attitude toward 242, see Sayigh, p. 143. For the attitudes of many Palestinians, including supporters of the popular factions like the PFLP, see Abu-Sharif, pp. 56-63, and Sayigh, p. 229 and p. 252. Sayigh, on p. 167 and p. 170, discusses Israeli arrests of Palestinian guerrillas and supporters; the figure of "1,000-1,250" activists in prison is on p. 172; this figure would rise to 1,750 (p. 203) by the end of 1968.

The emergence of the PFLP with the airport attack, and its tactical failure, is in Sayigh, p. 167; the date is also mentioned by Abu-Sharif (p. 51) as marking the founding of the PFLP, with a "manifesto" that "had only one item: the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation by means of armed struggle."

For Palestinian attitudes toward Habash, see Abu-Sharif, pp. 50-51.

Bashir recalled his arrest on September 17, 1967, and a stay of "one hundred days"; this would have meant his release in late December.

Oz and his colleagues produced
The Seventh Day: Soldiers' Talk About the Six-Day War,
a book aimed at "recording in permanent form the effect of the Six-Day War on their generation." The soldiers' stories and quotes are taken from it. Oz's early stance against the occupation is documented by David Remnick in his
New Yorker
article "The Spirit Level," November 8, 2004.

The remainder of the chapter—Dalia and Richard's arrival in Ramallah, their reception by the Khairi family, and the encounter between Dalia and Bashir—is recounted according to their memories, as described at the beginning of the notes for this chapter.

Chapter 10

This chapter is based on a combination of eyewitness interviews, memoirs, secondary sources describing the historical and political context of the day, and interviews with various actors among the Palestinian political factions from 1969 to the mid-1980s. Primary interviews were with Dalia, various members of the Khairi family, Israeli veteran Israel Gefen, former members of the PFLP, and Palestinian men who spent time in Israeli prisons in the 1970s and 1980s. The larger political context is understood through Yezid Sayigh's rigorously researched
Armed Struggle and the Search for State;
the feel of the times is vividly conveyed in the interviews with Dalia and in Abu-Sharif s accounts in
Best of Enemies.

The events at the Supersol were recalled in a series of interviews I did with Israel Gefen in 2004. Gefen, then eighty-two years old, had a memory full of tiny, compelling details including, strikingly, his mission at the Supersol that day: to buy a container of frozen lemon juice. The Supersol itself, as well as an Israeli-built park, parking lot, and nearby West Jerusalem buildings, were built on a burial site and
waqf
land used by Muslims until 1948, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Information (
http://www.minfo.gov.ps/permenant/English/Jerusalem/m_
%20j_histoty.htm).

Details from the Supersol bombing are corroborated by clips from the
Jerusalem Post
in its Sunday, February 23, article, "2 Die, 8 Wounded in J'lem Terror Outrage at Supersol." (A third victim died later.) The explosion occurred at 10:40 A.M.; a second explosion was averted when an army sapper disarmed a biscuit tin full of explosives.

Bashir does not recall the precise day of his arrest, but it appears to have been at the end of February 1969 or perhaps on March 1. A March 2 article in the
Jerusalem Post
announced, "Supersol Blast Suspects Held in Round-up of 40"; a follow-up article two days later stated, "It is understood that a Ramallah lawyer, Bashir Khayri, is also among those arrested." Habash's "reassurance and security" quote is from Sayigh, p. 216. Bashir, meanwhile, was named
(Post
article March 6, "Major Terror Gang Seized") as a "leader of terrorist activities."

Early PFLP operations are described by Abu-Sharif on pp. 59-63 by Sayigh on pp. 230-32, and by Morris in
Righteous Victims,
pp. 376-80.

Bashir's incarceration was described in separate interviews with Bashir and Nuha Khairi, and additional confirmation of his presence in Israeli prisons comes from Felicia Langer, at the time an Israeli human rights lawyer. While there are no eyewitnesses beyond Bashir himself (and at one point his sister Nuha) to corroborate his torture, what he describes is consistent with the descriptions summarized in Langer's
With My Own Eyes
and with the numerous interviews I did in the summer of 2004 with Palestinian former prisoners. Josef Odeh's description of his daughter's torture, strikingly similar to the Khairis' description of Bashir's torture, was in the
Times
of London investigation of June 19, 1977. His house demolition is documented in a March 11, 1969 article in the
Jerusalem Post,
"Houses of 9 West Bank Terrorists Demolished."

More information on the history of torture in Israel, including the findings of the Landau Commission and the subsequent judicial restrictions on torture, can be found on the Web site of B'tselem, the respected Israeli human rights organization (
www.btselem.org/english/Torture/Torture_by_GSS.asp
).

The PFLP tactics are described extensively by Sayigh, including on pp. 232-37; Abu-Sharif (pp. 59-60) describes the "electrifying vision" of the PFLP operations "master" Wadi Haddad, who was the author of the "spectaculars." Abu-Sharif also describes the entree that fedayeen enjoyed throughout the Arab world. Aburish (pp. 101-07) describes the tensions between Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian factions in 1969 and 1970; Sayigh does the same on pp. 243-51. The battle of Karama is detailed by Sayigh on pp. 174-79; by Morris
(Righteous Victims,
pp. 368-370); by Hirst
(The Gun and the Olive Branch,
pp. 411-14; and by Aburish in
Arafat: Defender to Dictator
on pp. 81-83. The idea of transforming a military defeat at Karama into a political victory is explored by Rashid Khalidi in
Palestinian Identity, p.
197'.

Khalidi (p. 197), Aburish (p. 84), and Abu-Sharif (pp. 65-66) all describe the role of Karama in inspiring new recruits and support from the Left. A March 5, 1969, article in
the Jerusalem Post
quoted Habash saying: "A Vietnamese-type of revolution is the only way . . . by the
kadaheen
(poor toilers) who are ready to fight because they have nothing to lose but those miserable tents they live in." Habash's slogan, and the "inferno" quote, appear in Hirst (
The Gun and the Olive Branch,
p. 419 and p. 410, respectively).

The attitude that Israelis were "soldiers in civilian clothing" came from an interview with Palestinian scholar Naseer Aruri. Habash's "when we hijack" quote appeared in
Der Stern
in 1970 and is excerpted in numerous U.S. military Web sites. The Israeli crackdown was recalled by Abu Laila in an interview. He also described the growing tensions within the PFLP and with Jordan. Corroboration comes from Sayigh, pp. 243-55, and Aburish, p. 94 and p. 98. The multiple hijacking to "Revolution Airport" is described by Sayigh on p. 257 and by Abu-Sharif on pp. 80-90. Abu-Sharif recalls consoling a passenger with, "Don't worry, it's only a hijack. Nobody will be hurt," as another PFLP operative began attaching plastic explosives to the seats. "You expect me to be relaxed?" the astonished man shouted at Abu-Sharif. "Look at that guy! What the hell is he doing?"