Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel) is organizing a lobby for the return of Arab-Palestinians citizens of Israel to the villages of Iqrit and Kufr Birim. On July 26, following an invitation by Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, MK Eli Alaluf from the governing coalition party Kulanu, and MK Ofer Shelah from the opposition party Yesh Atid, 30 Knesset members met to publicly declare their support for the right of the villagers from Iqrit and Kufr Birim in the Upper Galilee to return to their villages.
MK Ayman Odeh during a wedding celebration held at Iqrit, last Thursday, August 18, 2016 (Photo: Hadash
On November 4, 1948, less than six months after the declaration of the State of Israel, the residents of the northern villages of Iqrit and Kufr Birim near the Lebanese border were asked by the Israeli army to temporarily vacate their villages for a period of no more than two weeks for military operational reasons. They have not been allowed to return ever since; this, despite their being Israeli citizens who have continued to reside in nearby villages and towns, and their continuous appeals over the years demanding the right to return to their home villages.
In July 1951, appeals made by the residents of Iqrit and Kufr Birim to Israel’s Supreme Court led to a ruling that the residents of two these villages who were still living in Israel must be allowed to return, but the ruling was ignored by the government of David Ben-Gurion. Instead, Israeli soldiers forced several of the residents to look on as all of the homes of the two villages were demolished by explosives on Christmas Day of 1953. The only building still standing in the village of Iqrit is a small church, together with the adjacent cemetery. No Israelis have settled the site, but the original residents and their descendents have been prohibited by the consecutive governments of Israel from returning to their village.
Similarly, in 1953, the residents of Kufr Birim were also informed by Israel’s Supreme Court that, in accordance with its ruling two years before, they too would be allowed to return to their village unless the military provided a justification to the contrary – but nothing ever changed. Today, most of the lands of Kufr Birim and nearby Iqrit have been converted into a state park, while much of the remaining land has been divided among surrounding Jewish Israeli communities established after 1948.
Speaking at the Knesset meeting on July 26, Odeh reiterated the stories of the two villages. “In Israel, there are different versions and narratives on most cases, except in the cases of Iqrit and Kufr Birim. Everyone in Israel agree that the villages were evacuated under false pretenses and that the Supreme Court has ruled that the villagers – who have never ceased their struggle to return – have the right to rebuild and live in their villages.”
Speaking to the Al-Monitor website, Odeh said that the efforts for the return of the villagers will continue and will be determined. “We are planning to deploy efforts over the course of one year, aimed at bringing onboard Israeli public opinion and encouraging legislative action; the peak of these efforts will culminate in a meeting between the Israeli prime minister and a delegation representing every single party in Israel,” he said. Odeh added that a petition to be signed by a vast majority of Israeli leaders will be published in major newspapers; a march from Iqrit and Kufr Birim to Jerusalem will be organized as part of this campaign.
In addition to the Supreme Court ruling, a ministerial committee established by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 recommended that the villagers’ be allowed to return and stated that “there is no reason to prevent the displaced villagers from returning, and it is the government’s duty to assist them in doing so.” Rabin was assassinated in 1995, and the recommendations have never been implemented by subsequent Israeli governments.
Nimeh Ashqar, the chairman of the Iqrit Community Association, said in a television interview aired on July 29 that serious efforts are being made to create an absolute majority of members of the Knesset (61 out of 120) that support the right of the villagers to return to their villages. In addition to the legal and political efforts, down through the years the villagers of Iqrit have continued to use the still-standing church to conduct their weddings and the cemetery to bury their dead.
Summer camps for descendants of the original residents and supporters of the villagers’ rights have been organized in Iqrit every year since 1995; the adults have organized Roots Camp — an educational and entertainment event on the village grounds for the younger generation.
In the television interview which he gave last month, Nimeh Ashqar said that Israeli governments have continuously opposed the return of Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship to their villages, for fear that this will create a precedent of recognition for the right of return of all Palestinians.
