THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH
While growing up I often heard my parents speak about their home in Palestine. I was told it was the most beautiful place on earth.
One day I asked: "Why don't we go back?"
"We are not allowed to go back," my father replied.
He walked away and closed the door. I never brought up the subject again.
My father, Marwan Yahya, was born in a small Palestinian fishing village on the Mediterranean coast located 24 kilometers south of Haifa, called Tantura. It had a
population of about 1500 people, mostly children.
THE DAY THEY STOLE TANTURA
On May 23, 1948, in the early hours before dawn, the Alexandroni brigade commanded by colonel Benz Pridan an American born in Norfolk, Virginia attacked the village. With little resistance from the villagers, the attack lasted less than 3 hours.
After the village was captured, many of the villagers were lined up against a wall and executed. Over 200 villagers were killed. Young survivors, including my uncle Adnan, were ordered to bury the bodies in a mass grave.
The remaining males, including my father, uncles and grandfather, were then taken to Israeli prison camps. The Red Cross took the surviving women and children, including my grandmother and aunts, to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Most of the Tantura villagers ended up in the Yarmouk Refugee Camp outside of Damascus, Syria, which is close to where I was born.
My camera crew followed me through the camp in Syria as I went door-to-door meeting my parents' former neighbors from Tantura. I met with over 25 villagers who witnessed and survived the Israeli attack.
Still today, after 63 years, they are classified as refugees exiled from their homeland, living without valid citizenship, nationality or country.
The last person I interviewed, Yahya Asaad Abu Nahie, turned out to be my father's best friend from childhood. They have not seen each other since they were held together in the Israeli prison camps in 1948. The elderly man wept the entire time. His wife, Fawzia, who is also from Tantura, told me that his tears were for my father and the childhood they lost.
RETURN TO TANTURA
As an adult, I once again became curious about my family background and what brought us to America. I was determined to learn the facts so I could understand where I came from, why I was born a refugee and how we came to immigrate.
I began my quest.
TEDDY KATZ
In 2002, I began searching for information about Tantura via the Internet. I found several news articles written about an Israeli scholar named Teddy Katz who wrote a Master's thesis about the attack on the small village. Teddy was awarded his Master's degree and the highest honor for his research from the University of Haifa.
A local Israeli newspaper, The Ma'ariv, published his findings. Retired colonel and commander of the invading army force, Benzion (Benz) Pridan, read the article and sued Teddy for libel, demanding he destroy his research. The University of Haifa retracted Teddy's degree due to the lawsuit. Teddy's professor, Dr. Ilan Pappe, was fired from the university for defending the research, but was later reinstated due to pressure from the international scholastic community.
After nearly 10 years of daily threats and harassment, Dr. Ilan Pappe moved his family to the UK. He is currently a professor at the University of Exeter.
Since the time of his research, Teddy Katz and his family have lived under constant death threats and have been pilloried in the Israeli media. I contacted Teddy via email to see if I could get a copy of his research. From that moment Teddy and I became friends.
TRY ANOTHER DAY
In 2007, I tried to enter Israel through the Sheikh Hussein crossing at the Jordanian/Israeli border with Teddy waiting for me on the other side. When I reached the Israeli border, a security official took my belongings, including my purse, passport and mobile phone. I was strip-searched, then questioned. After being detained for over 7 hours, I was denied entry. Although Teddy waited patiently, I never arrived.
It is estimated that several thousand Americans are denied entry into Israel yearly. I was given no explanation as to why I was not permitted to enter. They placed me on a bus back to the Jordanian border. An Israeli security officer handed me my American passport, and told me to "try another day."
So I did.
ARMED WITH A JEWISH FRIEND
On April 28, 2010, I flew into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport armed with a Jewish -American friend, named Frederick Marx. Frederick is an accomplished Oscar nominated and award winning documentary filmmaker. He had never been to Israel, so he was not certain what to expect. In less than 2 hours he was permitted entry. Once again I was detained for 7 hours and intermittently questioned. And, again, I feared I would be told to try another day. Eventually, Teddy solicited support from a member of the Israeli Parliament who called the airport on my behalf. Without explanation from airport security, I was finally allowed to enter Israel. Teddy's daughter, Reut, was waiting for me on the other side.
From the beginning of our friendship, Teddy dreamed that he and Dr. Ilan Pappe would take me to see my family home and village. His dream came true.
MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN I IMAGINED
Tantura was more beautiful than I ever imagined. There are only a few remnants left of the once wealthy and thriving village. A small portion of my family's home still stands on the sandy shore. My camera crew videotaped as I wept, explored and imagined how it would have been if I was born and raised here. On the back wall of the ruined home a faded poem written by my great-grandfather remains. It reads:
"What a blissful home, built by Mahmoud Yahya. The glorious rich legacy fills its grounds with personal generosity, copious wealth and giving. A start of history with people flocking towards it, offering abundant greetings. 1878"
LONG LOST RELATIVES
Later we stopped by a neighboring village called Fureidis for dinner. Fureidis is one of the few remaining Palestinian villages in Israel. To my surprise, several men approached to tell me that they were blood relatives. Apparently the fisherman we met at the ruins of my family home returned to Fureidis to tell the villagers who I was. The men told me that I have over 2000 relatives living in Fureidis. One man even held a picture of my uncle Adnan, who now lives in Germany.
I learned that my father had two older sisters, Haleema and Raheema. They married and moved to Fureidis before 1948. After the attack on Tantura, they never saw their other siblings again. The two sisters named their children after their brothers and sisters from Tantura. Sadly, my father and other family members outside of Israel may never meet these relatives because they are not allowed to return.
INTERVIEWING THE MEN WHO ATTACKED TANTURA
The following day I arranged to meet retired Israeli soldier Herbert Pundik, who lives in Tel Aviv. Herbert, who was born and raised in Denmark, was in the second wave of soldiers that invaded Tantura in 1948. Herbert described what he remembers. He also mentioned that he still has a home in Denmark. I asked him if I could return to Tantura. He told me that Tantura is a "fantasy" and my home is now Los Angeles. I asked him why I couldn't move back to my family's homeland? He told me it was because I was not Jewish. I said I would convert, he said even that would not work.
After some effort, and the help of a local Israeli researcher, I managed to meet with the Israeli commander, Benz Pridan, and two of his ex-soldiers, M. Geshoni and Henyu Ben-Moshe. Benz was born in Norfolk, Virginia and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is the colonel who led the front-line attack on Tantura. His troops are responsible for killing nearly 300 villagers, many of whom were my relatives. Pridan himself admits that a mass grave exists under the parking lot in Tantura. Israel refuses to exhume the bodies. Benz tells me that his men stole only one chicken from the village, and that he owes me only one chicken. Retired soldier, M. Geshoni, who was wearing a cowboy hat, recalled my grandfather, Okab Yahya, well and asked me to send his greetings. My grandfather passed away several years before I was born.
FEELING ANGRY AND VIOLATED
It was a very difficult meeting. I felt angry, violated and confused. The men told me that the people of Tantura had very good relations with the nearby Jewish settlement, Zichron Ya'akov. In spite of this fact, they decided to attack the village. As the men were leaving, Benz pulled me aside and said, "If I harmed your family in any way, I apologize." How could he question the harm he and his troops have caused my family? I had difficulty sleeping that night.
As Frederick and I returned to the Ben Gurion Airport to catch our flight back to the US, I could not help but wish I were able to stay longer. I do not know if I will ever have a chance to return, or if Israel would even allow me to enter again. At airport security I was questioned and strip-searched once more. After a 5-hour "security" process, a woman escorted me to the baggage check-in counter. I was not permitted to take my bag as a carry-on even though they checked it thoroughly three separate times. Frederick had no problems taking his bag with him.
The last question the security woman asked me was "Do you have relatives who 'formerly' lived here?" my reply was, "Yes."
