Golda Meir, George Bisharat and Me

 

 

https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/how-my-family-lost-their-home-when-israel-took-ove

How My Family Lost Their Home When Israel Took Over Palestinan Property in 1948

George E. Bisharat, a professor of law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, in the Arizona Republic (May 16, 2004):

This month, the 56th anniversary of the Palestinian"Nakba" (Catastrophe), when one people gained a homeland and another lost theirs, I was thinking of a home in Jerusalem.

It was the residence occupied by former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir - author of the famous quip that "the Palestinian people did not exist" - when she was Israel's labor minister. It was also the family home built in 1926 by my grandfather, Hanna Ibrahim Bisharat, "Papa" to all of us.   …

My grandparents eventually suffered a reversal of fortunes, and in the early '30s, leased the house to officers of the British Royal Air Force, expecting to return in better times. …

A sense of foreboding gripped many Palestinians in the years leading up to the wars in the region. Under the gathering clouds of unrest, my father and uncles came to the United States to study, while Papa shifted his business activities to Cairo. Thus, the family was outside Palestine on May 14, 1948, when Israel declared independence and war with the Arab states commenced. Our fortunes were better than most of the 750,000 other Palestinians who were driven out or fled their homes in terror during the fighting.   …

Villa Harun ar-Rashid was divided into several flats. During the 1960s, Golda Meir occupied the upper flat. Anticipating a visit from U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammerskjold, some claim, she ordered the sandblasting of tiles on front of the house to obliterate the"Villa Harun ar-Rashid" and conceal the fact that she was living in an Arab home.

When I went to Jerusalem in 1977, I had only a photograph of the home and a general description of its location from my grandmother.   …

As I was resting against a wall in the shade, I saw a home that resembled Papa's. As I hurried across the street, I could just make out the name in the tile: Villa Harun ar-Rashid. I guess Golda's sandblasters had been a little rushed....

Many of us in the U.S. remain apathetic – disengaged from the Genocide in Gaza, and the horrific things that the Palestinian People faced and face in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself!

I am told that Israel is “the only Democracy in the Middle East”.   Native People – in the United States – might question some similar things – related to the breaking of virtually all, if not all, of the treaties by The U.S. Government in our country, and our apathy towards those we dismiss as “drunks” or “profiteers from casinos” or similar.

To say that Israel is a democracy is similar to saying today that Donald Trump is the embodiment of Democratic Leadership for the first time in our countries’ history!   The right to vote for all Israeli citizens is similar to the true equality that someone close to me has being Black, having taken Female Hormones resulting in growing breasts over recent years, while they struggle with severe Fibromyalgia so that they are in Constant Pain!   Yes, they have the right to vote, but…

I have met George Bisharat.   His father was a therapist at the private mental hospital in Kansas, that my (late) brother was hospitalized in for an extended period of time in the mid-1970’s.   He and his wife welcomed me into their house and were very kind to me.    He learned that I am Jewish.   I admire him and all that he stands for!

Rashida Tlaib, George Bisharat, George Marx – December 9, 2023 – at The Bisharat Residence

I hope that more people who care about justice will meet Palestinian People, and spend quality time with them, so they can see a little of what I’ve learned!   Our fears, are best linked to curiosity, getting outside of our comfort zone, and being willing to – discard the narratives we were taught – seeking Deeper Truths – and True Justice.

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