Return is Possible: Uncovering the Stories of Palestinian Villages

Return is Possible: Uncovering the Stories of Palestinian Villages Visualizing Palestine

In 1945, the village Dayr Aban in the sub-district still a development, and as such, represents a barrier of Jerusalem had a Palestinian population of 2,100. to Palestinian efforts to return to their land and On October 19, 1948, Zionist military forces expelled property. all the residents of Dayr Aban, along with the nearby Palestinian villages of Bayt ‘Itab, Dayr al-Hawa, Despite such challenges, Abu Sitta and Zochrot Jarash, Khirbat al-Tannur, Sufla, and Ala’ar. are among those moving the conversation forward

Today, Israelis and visitors to Israel can have a the right of return. picnic on the ruins of these seven Palestinian villages. While Israel never built a new residential comUntil then, telling the stories of these villages is munity on the village lands, the Jewish National an important part of resisting “memoricide”--the Fund established a park in the area in 1976. They ongoing erasure of Palestinian history, culture, and named it American Independence Park “to honor identity. the deep ties between America and Israel.” Just a few kilometers “On July 15, 1948, Zionist military forces depopulated SaAs Palestinian poet Taha Mohammad Ali, a refugee displaced from Safuriyya, away, Canada Park, also esfuriyya. Today, a grove of pine wrote, “I won’t die! I will not tablished by the JNF in the 1970s, sits on top of the ruins of four Palestinian villages, trees stands over the empty ruins of Safuriyya.” die!! I’ll linger on.” In 1945, the village of Safuriyya in the sub-district of Nazareth one depopulated in 1948 and had a Palestinian population the others in 1967. The park receives 300,000 visitors of 4,330. On July 15, 1948, Zionist military forces deannually. populated Safuriyya. Today, a grove of pine trees

While these are stories of trauma, there is also rubble poking out of the detritus, Ali indeed lingers hope in studying what happened to the villages deon, in the form of a tribute in spray paint. He may populated by Israel in 1948. According to data comnot have been able to return to Safuriyya in his lifepiled by Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta time, but in an interview with Al Jazeera in 2016, his and Israeli NGO Zochrot (“remembering” in Hebrother Ameen said “I am sure one day I will return brew), 77% of 536 depopulated Palestinian villages to Safuriyya. If not me, then my son - and if not my are not built over. Return is Possible, a visual created son, then my grandson.” by Visualizing Palestine, shows the present-day status of these villages. —

For Abu Sitta, this data upends one of the myths Israel depends on to deny the right of return: the notion that the land is simply too full.

Still, “not built over” simply means that the land is not currently inhabited by an Israeli community. But as cases like American Independence Park illustrate, uninhabited does not mean unused. A park is by presenting practical plans for the realization of stands over the empty ruins of Safuriyya. On a bit of

On May 12, Visualizing Palestine will release Palestine, Today, a new web app that invites users to discover and share information on hundreds of localities, illustrated with historic 1940s British survey maps and present-day satellite imagery. For more information, subscribe to VP’s newsletter at visualizingpalestine.org/subscribe