Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre by Samia Halaby

Page 1


TAB L E O F CO NTE NTS

8

DEDICATION FOREWORD

10

Raja Shehadeh

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

16

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

24

I

Massacre as a Tool of Ethnic Cleansing

25

DOCUMENTATION APPENDICES

165

Introduction to the appendices

Appendix A | Interview with Latif Dori

166

Appendix B | Tawfiq Toubi’s Press Release

169

Appendix C | From Emile Habiby’s book

177

Appendix D | Thirty-One Individual Witness Statements

186

Salman Abu Sitta 250 258 262

ENDNOTES

RESEARCHING THE MASSACRE AND THE AFTERMATH

LIST OF DRAWINGS GLOSSARY

36

Introduction

A Massacre is like a Hammer Blow 39

II

III

DR AWING THE K AFR QASEM MASSACRE

Killing Inside the Village

70

Killing in the Northern Fields

80

First Wave of Killing on the Western Road

88

Second Wave of Killing on the Western Road

96

Third Wave of Killing on the Western Road

100

Fourth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

108

Fifth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

116

Sixth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

120

Seventh Wave of Killing on the Western Road

126

Eighth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

136

Ninth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

140

Closing Observations and Remarks

152 [COVER] D2147

[FACING TITLE PAGE] D2122

The Martyrdom of Saleh Amer

Implosion, The Killing of Women

[detail of page 109]

[detail of page 141]


TAB L E O F CO NTE NTS

8

DEDICATION FOREWORD

10

Raja Shehadeh

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

16

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

24

I

Massacre as a Tool of Ethnic Cleansing

25

DOCUMENTATION APPENDICES

165

Introduction to the appendices

Appendix A | Interview with Latif Dori

166

Appendix B | Tawfiq Toubi’s Press Release

169

Appendix C | From Emile Habiby’s book

177

Appendix D | Thirty-One Individual Witness Statements

186

Salman Abu Sitta 250 258 262

ENDNOTES

RESEARCHING THE MASSACRE AND THE AFTERMATH

LIST OF DRAWINGS GLOSSARY

36

Introduction

A Massacre is like a Hammer Blow 39

II

III

DR AWING THE K AFR QASEM MASSACRE

Killing Inside the Village

70

Killing in the Northern Fields

80

First Wave of Killing on the Western Road

88

Second Wave of Killing on the Western Road

96

Third Wave of Killing on the Western Road

100

Fourth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

108

Fifth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

116

Sixth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

120

Seventh Wave of Killing on the Western Road

126

Eighth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

136

Ninth Wave of Killing on the Western Road

140

Closing Observations and Remarks

152 [COVER] D2147

[FACING TITLE PAGE] D2122

The Martyrdom of Saleh Amer

Implosion, The Killing of Women

[detail of page 109]

[detail of page 141]


10

11

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Foreword

This is because her politically motivated artistic work is never approached in a sloppy or negligent manner. The drawings in this essential book provide superb examples of her skill and artistry at figurative drawing. In creating them she applies as much metic-

R AJA SHEHADEH

ulous care as she does in the production of the rest of her artistic creations. They are highly evocative works. Looking at them, the viewer is able to feel the pain endured by those who experienced this massacre. The emotions of anger and fear spring from the pages and enable the viewer to relive the terrible suffering endured by the inhabitants of this small Palestinian village that found itself inside the border of the newly established Israeli state in 1949.

AS A VISUAL ARTIST, Samia Halaby always set herself high standards. As she puts it

In the introduction she offers a metaphor for the massacre. She describes it as the blow

in the preface, she has aspired to “do the most advanced painting possible.” But this

of a hammer that shatters a hard mass to smithereens. The task she set herself was

was not the full extent of her ambition. Her credo, so eloquently expressed there, is

to gather data in every form possible: oral testimonials, photographs, media reports,

that she also wanted, through her art, to “support the ambition of Palestinian lib-

anything she could lay her hands on. She pursued this research over a number of years,

eration.” Samia stands out not only for her prodigious output over many decades of

whenever she was able to find the time during her extremely busy schedule as an artist

wonderful paintings of the highest caliber and in a variety of styles, but also because

in high demand. Not only did she carry out archival research, she also managed to

throughout her long career she has dedicated herself to other aspects of her humanity

meet with survivors and conduct face-to-face interviews and field visits.

and served a political cause without feeling compromised. This book is a testament to her success in achieving this goal.

But this was not all. In order to achieve the effect she sought in these evocative drawings, she also had to carry out the more emotionally difficult task of reaching deep

The fulfillment of these ambitions, painting and art in the service of liberation, re-

into herself, drawing on her memories and emotions as a Palestinian who has herself

quired that the artist work on two different tracks because, as she writes, the visual

suffered the deprivations of the Nakba – the dispersion and loss of home and country.

language of each is so different. It is a confirmation of her confidence as a person and

Through all this work and these efforts, she was able to achieve a high degree of empa-

an artist that throughout her illustrious career she has not shied away from producing

thy with the victims of this massacre that made it possible for her to produce a visual

explicitly political posters, banners and leaflets that provide articulations in visual

whole of the scattered parts of human emotions and suffering, of loss, anger and pain,

language of her political stance.

and present in words and drawings a re-creation of that dark time.

The artist is modest enough to call what she is doing in this book mere documentation.

The massacre that took place on 29 October 1956 in Kafr Qassem was not the only

Yet anyone viewing these drawings will immediately realize that it is more than that.

massacre Palestinians have experienced in their long and painful history. But as


14

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

15

CHAPTER TITLE

The Area of the Western Road where most of the massacre occured is known as the Filmaya or the Tabaqa

Th

eW es

ter

nR

oa

d

The Ghazali School building and yard

The

Sc h

ool

Ro a

d


14

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

15

CHAPTER TITLE

The Area of the Western Road where most of the massacre occured is known as the Filmaya or the Tabaqa

Th

eW es

ter

nR

oa

d

The Ghazali School building and yard

The

Sc h

ool

Ro a

d


10

11

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Foreword

This is because her politically motivated artistic work is never approached in a sloppy or negligent manner. The drawings in this essential book provide superb examples of her skill and artistry at figurative drawing. In creating them she applies as much metic-

R AJA SHEHADEH

ulous care as she does in the production of the rest of her artistic creations. They are highly evocative works. Looking at them, the viewer is able to feel the pain endured by those who experienced this massacre. The emotions of anger and fear spring from the pages and enable the viewer to relive the terrible suffering endured by the inhabitants of this small Palestinian village that found itself inside the border of the newly established Israeli state in 1949.

AS A VISUAL ARTIST, Samia Halaby always set herself high standards. As she puts it

In the introduction she offers a metaphor for the massacre. She describes it as the blow

in the preface, she has aspired to “do the most advanced painting possible.” But this

of a hammer that shatters a hard mass to smithereens. The task she set herself was

was not the full extent of her ambition. Her credo, so eloquently expressed there, is

to gather data in every form possible: oral testimonials, photographs, media reports,

that she also wanted, through her art, to “support the ambition of Palestinian lib-

anything she could lay her hands on. She pursued this research over a number of years,

eration.” Samia stands out not only for her prodigious output over many decades of

whenever she was able to find the time during her extremely busy schedule as an artist

wonderful paintings of the highest caliber and in a variety of styles, but also because

in high demand. Not only did she carry out archival research, she also managed to

throughout her long career she has dedicated herself to other aspects of her humanity

meet with survivors and conduct face-to-face interviews and field visits.

and served a political cause without feeling compromised. This book is a testament to her success in achieving this goal.

But this was not all. In order to achieve the effect she sought in these evocative drawings, she also had to carry out the more emotionally difficult task of reaching deep

The fulfillment of these ambitions, painting and art in the service of liberation, re-

into herself, drawing on her memories and emotions as a Palestinian who has herself

quired that the artist work on two different tracks because, as she writes, the visual

suffered the deprivations of the Nakba – the dispersion and loss of home and country.

language of each is so different. It is a confirmation of her confidence as a person and

Through all this work and these efforts, she was able to achieve a high degree of empa-

an artist that throughout her illustrious career she has not shied away from producing

thy with the victims of this massacre that made it possible for her to produce a visual

explicitly political posters, banners and leaflets that provide articulations in visual

whole of the scattered parts of human emotions and suffering, of loss, anger and pain,

language of her political stance.

and present in words and drawings a re-creation of that dark time.

The artist is modest enough to call what she is doing in this book mere documentation.

The massacre that took place on 29 October 1956 in Kafr Qassem was not the only

Yet anyone viewing these drawings will immediately realize that it is more than that.

massacre Palestinians have experienced in their long and painful history. But as


38

39

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Researching the Massacre and the Aftermath

A MASSACRE IS LIKE A HAMMER BLOW that shatters a hard mass to smithereens. At first the pieces, the individuals who suffer this blow, do not all see who wields the hammer nor are they able to attack it. Anger and blame are bottled up. Painful energy flies in all directions. The town receiving the blow is shattered, broken to pieces, and as the pieces settle, loss, recrimination, shock, disbelief, and desperation emerge. Added to all this, in the case of the Kafr Qasem massacre, is the poverty and depression resulting from a brutal military occupation. What could a father tell his wife when he returned home alive while their eight-year old son whom she had sent to warn him dies in the massacre? Why was a small girl unable to tell her mother that her father lies dead or wounded in the street except to say that dinner need not be prepared for him? Why do men and women, unable to believe their own experience, return to the scenes of the massacre to confirm its reality with those who shared it, only to find death instead of fellowship? Why was the only survivor of one of the events of the massacre insensitively asked why was she the only one to survive, adding a sense of guilt on top of shame? Why does a wounded man who had escaped return and, on seeing the soldiers killing 14 women, be shot dead himself? Why did some whisper that the pregnant woman in her final month dropped the baby in the agony of her death?

D2042

Abu Ayyoub [detail of page 135]


38

39

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Researching the Massacre and the Aftermath

A MASSACRE IS LIKE A HAMMER BLOW that shatters a hard mass to smithereens. At first the pieces, the individuals who suffer this blow, do not all see who wields the hammer nor are they able to attack it. Anger and blame are bottled up. Painful energy flies in all directions. The town receiving the blow is shattered, broken to pieces, and as the pieces settle, loss, recrimination, shock, disbelief, and desperation emerge. Added to all this, in the case of the Kafr Qasem massacre, is the poverty and depression resulting from a brutal military occupation. What could a father tell his wife when he returned home alive while their eight-year old son whom she had sent to warn him dies in the massacre? Why was a small girl unable to tell her mother that her father lies dead or wounded in the street except to say that dinner need not be prepared for him? Why do men and women, unable to believe their own experience, return to the scenes of the massacre to confirm its reality with those who shared it, only to find death instead of fellowship? Why was the only survivor of one of the events of the massacre insensitively asked why was she the only one to survive, adding a sense of guilt on top of shame? Why does a wounded man who had escaped return and, on seeing the soldiers killing 14 women, be shot dead himself? Why did some whisper that the pregnant woman in her final month dropped the baby in the agony of her death?

D2042

Abu Ayyoub [detail of page 135]


69

Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre

PART T WO PRESENTS THE SET OF DR AWINGS, and their studies created from 1999 through 2012, divided into the 11 sections representing the events of the massacre. In dividing Part Two into sections, I followed the narrative pattern first used by Emile Habiby where each consecutive event of the approximately three-hour-long massacre was named. The event inside the village and the one in the northern section were designated according to their location. On the western road entering the village there were nine events, which Habiby designated the First to the Ninth Waves of killing. After completing the web site for the Fiftieth Memorial in 2006, the idea that I might finalize my Kafr Qasem project in book form kept recurring. Finally, in 2012, I took up the project again and began a set of large, finished drawings representing each wave of killing. Each section of this part, representing one event of the massacre, begins with one, sometimes two, of the concluding 2012 drawings representing that particular event and accompanied by a dedicated caption. These are followed by the earlier versions of the same subject as well as some of the preparatory sketches, presented in reverse chronological order. Accompanying text sometimes retells the story into which is woven my reactions and observations as well as a confessional description of the formal difficulties experienced when making the drawings. At the end of Part Two are my concluding remarks regarding the problems of visual form and composition, their historical basis, as well as observations about the effects of the massacre. D2151

Abu Ayyoub and Abu Fareed [detail of page 133]


69

Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre

PART T WO PRESENTS THE SET OF DR AWINGS, and their studies created from 1999 through 2012, divided into the 11 sections representing the events of the massacre. In dividing Part Two into sections, I followed the narrative pattern first used by Emile Habiby where each consecutive event of the approximately three-hour-long massacre was named. The event inside the village and the one in the northern section were designated according to their location. On the western road entering the village there were nine events, which Habiby designated the First to the Ninth Waves of killing. After completing the web site for the Fiftieth Memorial in 2006, the idea that I might finalize my Kafr Qasem project in book form kept recurring. Finally, in 2012, I took up the project again and began a set of large, finished drawings representing each wave of killing. Each section of this part, representing one event of the massacre, begins with one, sometimes two, of the concluding 2012 drawings representing that particular event and accompanied by a dedicated caption. These are followed by the earlier versions of the same subject as well as some of the preparatory sketches, presented in reverse chronological order. Accompanying text sometimes retells the story into which is woven my reactions and observations as well as a confessional description of the formal difficulties experienced when making the drawings. At the end of Part Two are my concluding remarks regarding the problems of visual form and composition, their historical basis, as well as observations about the effects of the massacre. D2151

Abu Ayyoub and Abu Fareed [detail of page 133]


84

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

85

KILLING IN THE N ORTHERN FIELDS

The small studies were made in 1999 when I was still trying to understand the event. They represent parts of the event that occurred after the first shooting by the soldiers. Some studies show Sami when he sees the soldiers returning in a jeep or when their dog comes to sniff him ( [17] D2009.5 and [18] D2010.5). Correctly drawing the height relationship between humans, sheep, and goats was difficult ( [22] D2022). Such ratios were not part of my life’s experiences or drawing education. I had once long ago tried researching the subject in sketches at the Honolulu Zoo. These farm animals seemed to come in a variety of sizes and could reach just above a man’s knee or even just below the waist. In an early drawing when all the details were not available, I drew the boys at various locations within the herd ( [21] D2032). That Abed and Abdallah would be walking next to their uncle Ibraheem who was leading the herd would have seemed redundant. I was not aware that shepherds moving their flocks generally would be either in the lead or at the rear. I knew that Sami was retrieving a stray young sheep, but not that he was at the rear. It was also helpful to receive Abu Naser’s critique upon seeing the early sketches. He told me with mild anger that these were peasants, not college boys. Comprehending the knowledge and memories of those who knew the village at that time [17] D2009.5

is difficult. My focus remained to attempt documenta-

TOP

tion while still communicating to a future audience.

Ibraheem Easa, 1999 ink on paper,

5 3/4

x

8 1/4 in

(15 x 21 cm)

[19] D2010

TOP LEF T

Composition for

[20] D2011

TOP R IGHT

[21] D2032

ABOVE LEF T

[22] D2022

ABOVE R IGHT

Jeep and Abdallah

Ibraheem Leading

Shepherd Boy in Northern

Northern Fields, 1999

Just Killed, 1999

the Herd, 1999

Pasturelands, 1999

Dog Sniffs Sami, 1999

ink on paper

ink on paper

conté crayon on paper

pencil on paper

ink on paper, 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

12 3/4 x 19 1/2 in (32 x 50 cm)

11 1/2 x 8 in (29 x 21 cm)

[18] D2010.5

ABOVE


84

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

85

KILLING IN THE N ORTHERN FIELDS

The small studies were made in 1999 when I was still trying to understand the event. They represent parts of the event that occurred after the first shooting by the soldiers. Some studies show Sami when he sees the soldiers returning in a jeep or when their dog comes to sniff him ( [17] D2009.5 and [18] D2010.5). Correctly drawing the height relationship between humans, sheep, and goats was difficult ( [22] D2022). Such ratios were not part of my life’s experiences or drawing education. I had once long ago tried researching the subject in sketches at the Honolulu Zoo. These farm animals seemed to come in a variety of sizes and could reach just above a man’s knee or even just below the waist. In an early drawing when all the details were not available, I drew the boys at various locations within the herd ( [21] D2032). That Abed and Abdallah would be walking next to their uncle Ibraheem who was leading the herd would have seemed redundant. I was not aware that shepherds moving their flocks generally would be either in the lead or at the rear. I knew that Sami was retrieving a stray young sheep, but not that he was at the rear. It was also helpful to receive Abu Naser’s critique upon seeing the early sketches. He told me with mild anger that these were peasants, not college boys. Comprehending the knowledge and memories of those who knew the village at that time [17] D2009.5

is difficult. My focus remained to attempt documenta-

TOP

tion while still communicating to a future audience.

Ibraheem Easa, 1999 ink on paper,

5 3/4

x

8 1/4 in

(15 x 21 cm)

[19] D2010

TOP LEF T

Composition for

[20] D2011

TOP R IGHT

[21] D2032

ABOVE LEF T

[22] D2022

ABOVE R IGHT

Jeep and Abdallah

Ibraheem Leading

Shepherd Boy in Northern

Northern Fields, 1999

Just Killed, 1999

the Herd, 1999

Pasturelands, 1999

Dog Sniffs Sami, 1999

ink on paper

ink on paper

conté crayon on paper

pencil on paper

ink on paper, 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)

12 3/4 x 19 1/2 in (32 x 50 cm)

11 1/2 x 8 in (29 x 21 cm)

[18] D2010.5

ABOVE


102

103

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Uthman Easa, having heard of the curfew, went out to bring back his 12 year old son, Fathi, who was pasturing a herd of black goats. On the way back, soldiers attacked them. Uthman was driving the large herd from the rear when suddenly the goats reversed direction and stampeded toward him. In frantically trying to hold them back, he may not have realized that his son leading the herd had been killed. Witnesses in the truck of the next wave, now temporarily stopped on the side of the road, saw that as the herd dispersed, he too was shot and killed.

[34] D2146

The Shepherd Uthman Easa, 2012 contĂŠ crayon on paper, 38 x 50 in (96 x 127 cm)


102

103

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

Uthman Easa, having heard of the curfew, went out to bring back his 12 year old son, Fathi, who was pasturing a herd of black goats. On the way back, soldiers attacked them. Uthman was driving the large herd from the rear when suddenly the goats reversed direction and stampeded toward him. In frantically trying to hold them back, he may not have realized that his son leading the herd had been killed. Witnesses in the truck of the next wave, now temporarily stopped on the side of the road, saw that as the herd dispersed, he too was shot and killed.

[34] D2146

The Shepherd Uthman Easa, 2012 contĂŠ crayon on paper, 38 x 50 in (96 x 127 cm)


148

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

149

NINTH WAVE OF KILLING ON THE WESTERN ROAD

[64] D2037

BELOW

Safa Reaches towards Her Son, 1999 conté crayon on paper 9 5/8 x 12 3/4 in (25 x 35 cm)

2012, pencil on paper, 12 x 27 in (30 x 69 cm)

corpses along with bicycles, carts, trucks, bricks, shoes, and the bloodied clothing. When soldiers lined [63] D2036

up Masarwa with the males and shot them, he was

ABOVE

Two Men and Two Boys, 1999 conté crayon on paper,

9 1/2

x 13 in (24 x 33 cm)

wounded, but was able to crawl away. After escaping, he could not believe his eyes at seeing how the women


148

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

149

NINTH WAVE OF KILLING ON THE WESTERN ROAD

[64] D2037

BELOW

Safa Reaches towards Her Son, 1999 conté crayon on paper 9 5/8 x 12 3/4 in (25 x 35 cm)

2012, pencil on paper, 12 x 27 in (30 x 69 cm)

corpses along with bicycles, carts, trucks, bricks, shoes, and the bloodied clothing. When soldiers lined [63] D2036

up Masarwa with the males and shot them, he was

ABOVE

Two Men and Two Boys, 1999 conté crayon on paper,

9 1/2

x 13 in (24 x 33 cm)

wounded, but was able to crawl away. After escaping, he could not believe his eyes at seeing how the women


150

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

151

NINTH WAVE OF KILLING ON THE WESTERN ROAD

were being slaughtered. He crawled back, cursing the soldiers for their cowardice while challenging them to kill him and they did ( [65] D2039). This is how Emile Habiby and others described the last event, the Ninth Wave, at the western entrance to the village. There were other reports of men who screamed in pain and begged to be killed. Could that be true? Can physical pain from multiple gunshot wounds create a death wish? More probably it was the agony of thinking that everyone in the village was already slaughtered that may have led to several men being heard asking to die. In the case of Mahmoud, perhaps feelings of outrage at the cold assassination of women or the wish to offer himself in their place led him to return after escaping. Mahmoud’s return was a challenge to the soldiers, an expression of sumoud, saying, you can take my life but you cannot take

away who I am. When historian Abu Naser told me that he saw the blood of Mahmoud Masarwa on the fence where the Israelis had finally killed him, I asked him to describe the fence. And although my inquiries into the exact nature of the fence seemed to momentarily surprise him, he confirmed Rose Amer’s description that many fences in those days were made up of a few lines of barbed wire over a short, stone wall. I drew Mahmoud Masarwa hanging over such a fence reaching toward the bodies of the one man and two boys dead on the road while Safa bends over the body of her younger son, Abdallah ( [1] D2040). In 2006, for the Fiftieth

Memorial exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in New York, I enlarged this drawing to mural size.

[65] D2039

OPPOSITE

Mahmoud Masarwa

[66] D2157.12

TOP

Safa Sees her Son Dead on

Challenges the Killers, 1999

the Road and Screams, 1999

conté crayon on paper

ink on paper

12 3/4 x 9 7/8 in (32.5 x 25 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm) [67] D2015

ABOVE

Safa with Her Two Boys, 1999 ink on paper 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)


150

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

151

NINTH WAVE OF KILLING ON THE WESTERN ROAD

were being slaughtered. He crawled back, cursing the soldiers for their cowardice while challenging them to kill him and they did ( [65] D2039). This is how Emile Habiby and others described the last event, the Ninth Wave, at the western entrance to the village. There were other reports of men who screamed in pain and begged to be killed. Could that be true? Can physical pain from multiple gunshot wounds create a death wish? More probably it was the agony of thinking that everyone in the village was already slaughtered that may have led to several men being heard asking to die. In the case of Mahmoud, perhaps feelings of outrage at the cold assassination of women or the wish to offer himself in their place led him to return after escaping. Mahmoud’s return was a challenge to the soldiers, an expression of sumoud, saying, you can take my life but you cannot take

away who I am. When historian Abu Naser told me that he saw the blood of Mahmoud Masarwa on the fence where the Israelis had finally killed him, I asked him to describe the fence. And although my inquiries into the exact nature of the fence seemed to momentarily surprise him, he confirmed Rose Amer’s description that many fences in those days were made up of a few lines of barbed wire over a short, stone wall. I drew Mahmoud Masarwa hanging over such a fence reaching toward the bodies of the one man and two boys dead on the road while Safa bends over the body of her younger son, Abdallah ( [1] D2040). In 2006, for the Fiftieth

Memorial exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in New York, I enlarged this drawing to mural size.

[65] D2039

OPPOSITE

Mahmoud Masarwa

[66] D2157.12

TOP

Safa Sees her Son Dead on

Challenges the Killers, 1999

the Road and Screams, 1999

conté crayon on paper

ink on paper

12 3/4 x 9 7/8 in (32.5 x 25 cm)

5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm) [67] D2015

ABOVE

Safa with Her Two Boys, 1999 ink on paper 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 in (15 x 21 cm)


186

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D

These narratives are significant as they provide more than a mere retelling of the facts of the massacre. The

Thirty-One Individual Witness Statements

humanity, the honest earthiness, the high moral standards of the individuals are apparent. One begins to live their lives with them as their words are read. They provide a very important window into the life of Palestinians in a village under oppressive Israeli military administration in the 1950s. Thirteen of the interviews and statements in this Appendix D originally appeared in al-Shorok magazine published in Kafr Qasem by Majd Sarsour. Details about

The following 31 witness statements are grouped into

inconsistencies in some of the details of the massacre

the magazine and its editor are provided in the intro-

sections. These are the 11 representing the waves of

in these statements. Details such as age and time of day

duction. Twelve were authored by me between 1999 and

killing, two named and nine numbered, followed by

are often approximated. However, it is amply clear that

2013. The three of the earliest date were recorded by Lat-

one section on the sights of the aftermath and anoth-

there is overwhelming agreement about the facts of

if Dori, handwritten in Arabic on yellow notepaper, and

er one on the burial and afterthoughts. Most of the

how the massacre was executed.

exhibited at the museum of the Kafr Qasem massacre. There I was able to photograph and translate them. The

witnesses are individual citizens from Kafr Qasem who had either witnessed or were wounded in the

It may be wise to point out that Kafr Qasemites did not

distinguished Palestinian poet Tawfiq Ziad conduct-

massacre. A few witnesses are citizens of neighboring

own a lot of watches and clocks. Abdal Tamam, in his

ed one important interview, which he published in a

villages.

statement, page 234–239, describes how people lived

booklet in 1966. Another is an excerpt of an interview

by the motion of day and night. But we can estimate

with a member of the Border Police originally published

Many readers will most probably give up keeping track

clearly that the massacre began just before 5:00 p.m.

in Haaretz. And finally, one was provided by Abu Naser,

of the difficult and numerous names, surnames, and

and ended around 8:00 p.m. We read that notice of the

and one found in the historic press release published by

honorifics. Furthermore, names are differently used

curfew was given to the village at 4:35 in the afternoon

Tawfiq Toubi.

by different individuals. To maintain consistency, I

yet one witness from the Seventh Wave said that his

added missing parts within square brackets. An up-to-

group reached the location of the massacre just after

Witnesses often covered several of the killing events,

date roster of all those who were killed, wounded, or

5:00 p.m. It seems highly unlikely that that is correct

which makes for more repetition. Each witness nar-

escaped of a particular wave of killing are listed at the

considering that a child was first dispatched on foot to

rates in his or her own voice, sometimes giving valuable

beginning of each section in PART II, titled “Drawing

their workplace approximately four kilometers away

additional information. The repetition and the lack of

the Kafr Qasem Massacre.� There, names are limited

and that the workers had to wait for permission to leave

adherence to the continuity of time presented a problem

to three, whereas in many narratives four part names

then change clothes after which they walked part of the

to chronological ordering. In spite of this, an attempt is

are used. It is worth repeating that the reader will find

way before finding a truck to drive them home.

made to maintain such ordering.

187


186

DR AWING TH E K AF R QAS E M MASSACRE

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D

These narratives are significant as they provide more than a mere retelling of the facts of the massacre. The

Thirty-One Individual Witness Statements

humanity, the honest earthiness, the high moral standards of the individuals are apparent. One begins to live their lives with them as their words are read. They provide a very important window into the life of Palestinians in a village under oppressive Israeli military administration in the 1950s. Thirteen of the interviews and statements in this Appendix D originally appeared in al-Shorok magazine published in Kafr Qasem by Majd Sarsour. Details about

The following 31 witness statements are grouped into

inconsistencies in some of the details of the massacre

the magazine and its editor are provided in the intro-

sections. These are the 11 representing the waves of

in these statements. Details such as age and time of day

duction. Twelve were authored by me between 1999 and

killing, two named and nine numbered, followed by

are often approximated. However, it is amply clear that

2013. The three of the earliest date were recorded by Lat-

one section on the sights of the aftermath and anoth-

there is overwhelming agreement about the facts of

if Dori, handwritten in Arabic on yellow notepaper, and

er one on the burial and afterthoughts. Most of the

how the massacre was executed.

exhibited at the museum of the Kafr Qasem massacre. There I was able to photograph and translate them. The

witnesses are individual citizens from Kafr Qasem who had either witnessed or were wounded in the

It may be wise to point out that Kafr Qasemites did not

distinguished Palestinian poet Tawfiq Ziad conduct-

massacre. A few witnesses are citizens of neighboring

own a lot of watches and clocks. Abdal Tamam, in his

ed one important interview, which he published in a

villages.

statement, page 234–239, describes how people lived

booklet in 1966. Another is an excerpt of an interview

by the motion of day and night. But we can estimate

with a member of the Border Police originally published

Many readers will most probably give up keeping track

clearly that the massacre began just before 5:00 p.m.

in Haaretz. And finally, one was provided by Abu Naser,

of the difficult and numerous names, surnames, and

and ended around 8:00 p.m. We read that notice of the

and one found in the historic press release published by

honorifics. Furthermore, names are differently used

curfew was given to the village at 4:35 in the afternoon

Tawfiq Toubi.

by different individuals. To maintain consistency, I

yet one witness from the Seventh Wave said that his

added missing parts within square brackets. An up-to-

group reached the location of the massacre just after

Witnesses often covered several of the killing events,

date roster of all those who were killed, wounded, or

5:00 p.m. It seems highly unlikely that that is correct

which makes for more repetition. Each witness nar-

escaped of a particular wave of killing are listed at the

considering that a child was first dispatched on foot to

rates in his or her own voice, sometimes giving valuable

beginning of each section in PART II, titled “Drawing

their workplace approximately four kilometers away

additional information. The repetition and the lack of

the Kafr Qasem Massacre.� There, names are limited

and that the workers had to wait for permission to leave

adherence to the continuity of time presented a problem

to three, whereas in many narratives four part names

then change clothes after which they walked part of the

to chronological ordering. In spite of this, an attempt is

are used. It is worth repeating that the reader will find

way before finding a truck to drive them home.

made to maintain such ordering.

187


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