Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

by Sandy Tolan

  For Palestinian attitudes toward Habash, see Abu-Sharif, pp. 50-51.

  Bashir recalled his arrest on September 17, 1967, and a stay of "one hundred days"; this would have meant his release in late December.

  Oz and his colleagues produced The Seventh Day: Soldiers' Talk About the Six-Day War, a book aimed at "recording in permanent form the effect of the Six-Day War on their generation." The soldiers' stories and quotes are taken from it. Oz's early stance against the occupation is documented by David Remnick in his New Yorker article "The Spirit Level," November 8, 2004.

  The remainder of the chapter—Dalia and Richard's arrival in Ramallah, their reception by the Khairi family, and the encounter between Dalia and Bashir—is recounted according to their memories, as described at the beginning of the notes for this chapter.

  Chapter 10

  This chapter is based on a combination of eyewitness interviews, memoirs, secondary sources describing the historical and political context of the day, and interviews with various actors among the Palestinian political factions from 1969 to the mid-1980s. Primary interviews were with Dalia, various members of the Khairi family, Israeli veteran Israel Gefen, former members of the PFLP, and Palestinian men who spent time in Israeli prisons in the 1970s and 1980s. The larger political context is understood through Yezid Sayigh's rigorously researched Armed Struggle and the Search for State; the feel of the times is vividly conveyed in the interviews with Dalia and in Abu-Sharif s accounts in Best of Enemies.

  The events at the Supersol were recalled in a series of interviews I did with Israel Gefen in 2004. Gefen, then eighty-two years old, had a memory full of tiny, compelling details including, strikingly, his mission at the Supersol that day: to buy a container of frozen lemon juice. The Supersol itself, as well as an Israeli-built park, parking lot, and nearby West Jerusalem buildings, were built on a burial site and waqfland used by Muslims until 1948, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Information (http://www.minfo.gov.ps/permenant/English/Jerusalem/m_%20j_histoty.htm).

  Details from the Supersol bombing are corroborated by clips from the Jerusalem Post in its Sunday, February 23, article, "2 Die, 8 Wounded in J'lem Terror Outrage at Supersol." (A third victim died later.) The explosion occurred at 10:40 A.M.; a second explosion was averted when an army sapper disarmed a biscuit tin full of explosives.

  Bashir does not recall the precise day of his arrest, but it appears to have been at the end of February 1969 or perhaps on March 1. A March 2 article in the Jerusalem Post announced, "Supersol Blast Suspects Held in Round-up of 40"; a follow-up article two days later stated, "It is understood that a Ramallah lawyer, Bashir Khayri, is also among those arrested." Habash's "reassurance and security" quote is from Sayigh, p. 216. Bashir, meanwhile, was named (Post article March 6, "Major Terror Gang Seized") as a "leader of terrorist activities."

  Early PFLP operations are described by Abu-Sharif on pp. 59-63 by Sayigh on pp. 230-32, and by Morris in Righteous Victims, pp. 376-80.

  Bashir's incarceration was described in separate interviews with Bashir and Nuha Khairi, and additional confirmation of his presence in Israeli prisons comes from Felicia Langer, at the time an Israeli human rights lawyer. While there are no eyewitnesses beyond Bashir himself (and at one point his sister Nuha) to corroborate his torture, what he describes is consistent with the descriptions summarized in Langer's With My Own Eyes and with the numerous interviews I did in the summer of 2004 with Palestinian former prisoners. Josef Odeh's description of his daughter's torture, strikingly similar to the Khairis' description of Bashir's torture, was in the Times of London investigation of June 19, 1977. His house demolition is documented in a March 11, 1969 article in the Jerusalem Post, "Houses of 9 West Bank Terrorists Demolished."

  More information on the history of torture in Israel, including the findings of the Landau Commission and the subsequent judicial restrictions on torture, can be found on the Web site of B'tselem, the respected Israeli human rights organization (www.btselem.org/english/Torture/Torture_by_GSS.asp).

  The PFLP tactics are described extensively by Sayigh, including on pp. 232-37; Abu-Sharif (pp. 59-60) describes the "electrifying vision" of the PFLP operations "master" Wadi Haddad, who was the author of the "spectaculars." Abu-Sharif also describes the entree that fedayeen enjoyed throughout the Arab world. Aburish (pp. 101-07) describes the tensions between Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian factions in 1969 and 1970; Sayigh does the same on pp. 243-51. The battle of Karama is detailed by Sayigh on pp. 174-79; by Morris (Righteous Victims, pp. 368-370); by Hirst (The Gun and the Olive Branch, pp. 411-14; and by Aburish in Arafat: Defender to Dictator on pp. 81-83. The idea of transforming a military defeat at Karama into a political victory is explored by Rashid Khalidi in Palestinian Identity, p. 197'.

  Khalidi (p. 197), Aburish (p. 84), and Abu-Sharif (pp. 65-66) all describe the role of Karama in inspiring new recruits and support from the Left. A March 5, 1969, article in the Jerusalem Post quoted Habash saying: "A Vietnamese-type of revolution is the only way . . . by the kadaheen (poor toilers) who are ready to fight because they have nothing to lose but those miserable tents they live in." Habash's slogan, and the "inferno" quote, appear in Hirst (The Gun and the Olive Branch, p. 419 and p. 410, respectively).

  The attitude that Israelis were "soldiers in civilian clothing" came from an interview with Palestinian scholar Naseer Aruri. Habash's "when we hijack" quote appeared in Der Stern in 1970 and is excerpted in numerous U.S. military Web sites. The Israeli crackdown was recalled by Abu Laila in an interview. He also described the growing tensions within the PFLP and with Jordan. Corroboration comes from Sayigh, pp. 243-55, and Aburish, p. 94 and p. 98. The multiple hijacking to "Revolution Airport" is described by Sayigh on p. 257 and by Abu-Sharif on pp. 80-90. Abu-Sharif recalls consoling a passenger with, "Don't worry, it's only a hijack. Nobody will be hurt," as another PFLP operative began attaching plastic explosives to the seats. "You expect me to be relaxed?" the astonished man shouted at Abu-Sharif. "Look at that guy! What the hell is he doing?"

  The Jordanian military superiority over the Palestinian factions, and the "state within a state" in Jordan, is detailed by Sayigh on pp. 263-64. The "Arab Hanoi" reference is in Hirst, p. 436. The king's request for assistance from Israel, considered a betrayal by many an Arab, was documented in a January 2001 report on BBC television, UK Confidential, and is based on British cabinet documents released on January 1, 2001. See news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/l09522l.stm.

  Sayigh estimates the Palestinian death toll during Black September at between three thousand and five thousand (p. 267). The agreement between Arafat and King Hussein is also on p. 267; scenes of Nasser's death come from Sayigh on p. 145 and Heikal on p. 159.

  Bashir and his family do not recall the exact day of his conviction, only that it was in 1972. The wording of the sura of Yassin was confirmed by Dr. Hatem Bazian, lecturer in Near Eastern Studies at UC-Berkeley.

  Dalia recalled the proximity of the school and the prison; she believes they actually shared a common wall.

  The murder of Israeli athletes in Munich is recounted by Sayigh on p. 309; by Hirst on pp. 439-45; and by Morris in Righteous Victims, pp. 380-82. The quote from Arafat appears in Sayigh. Sayigh says the attack was under the name of Black September but that the attackers were not part of the original Black September group. The Israeli general was Aharon Yariv, who directed Operation Wrath of God, and his quote comes from Reeve, pp. 160-61. The Habash "inhuman" quote is in Sayigh, p. 71.

  The Israeli assassinations, including the letter bombs that killed Ghassan Kanafani and his niece and maimed Bassam Abu-Sharif, are mentioned in Sayigh, p. 310; by Abu-Sharif, p. 97; and by Morris (Righteous Victims, p. 380), who gives the age of Kanafani's niece as seventeen, not twenty-one. Abu-Sharif describes his maiming in graphic detail in Best of Enemies, pp. 96-99.

  The picture of prison life is drawn from multiple interviews with Bashir and with other Palestinian men who spent time in Isr
aeli prisons in the 1970s and 1980s. These include Jabril Rajoub, the former Fatah activist and later head of West Bank security under Arafat; Abu Mohammad of Tulkarm in the West Bank; and several current and former members of the DFLP and PFLP who wish to remain anonymous. Most of them, as it happens, spent time in one prison or another with Bashir.

  Statistics on incarcerated Palestinian men are listed in Sayigh, p. 608.

  Some of Bashir's artwork, including the rendering of the Palestinian peasant and the replica of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is at his house in Ramallah.

  Bashir described Rabin's visit to the prison in an interview.

  Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and the subsequent Camp David accords are documented by Shlaim in The Iron Wallow pp. 355-83. Rabin's "wall of hate" quote comes from Abu-Sharif, p. 165. Palestinian objections to the accords were reflected in numerous interviews I did, including with Bashir and Abu Laila, and are described by Shlaim on p. 378 and by Edward Said in The Politics of Dispossession, pp. 66-67. Shlaim (p. 326), Morris (Righteous Victims, pp. 330-336), and Hirst (p. 500-502) describe the rise of Gush Emunim (The Bloc of the Faithful) and the National Religious Party in the governing Likud coalition; Hirst, in particular, describes Sharon's connection to these politics, and the subsequent support of the World Zionist Organization through its "Master Plan for the Development of Settlement in Judea and Samaria."

  Said, in an essay on Sadat's death, wrote that the Egyptian leader "worked outside Arab history, society, and actuality . . . in his last years he abused the Arabs mercilessly. . . . He seems to have lost touch with his people."

  Bashir's release from prison was recalled by Nuha and Khanom. Khanom believes Bashir's body was scarred with cigarette burns, but Bashir did not comment on this.

  Dalia's husband, Yehezkel Landau, recounted his and Dalia's contact with the Anglican priest Audeh Rantisi.

  Yehezkel translated the prayer from the Hebrew.

  Chapter 11

  This chapter is based largely on correspondence between Dalia and Bashir and on interviews with Dalia, Bashir, other Khairi family members, Yehezkel Landau, and Bashir's fellow prisoners, including Jabril Rajoub. Historical context comes from numerous primary and secondary sources, as indicated in the text that follows.

  Bashir's time in prison was corroborated in separate interviews with Jabril and by mid-January 1988 articles in the Times of London and the Jerusalem Post. Both Bashir and Jabril reviewed relevant portions of this chapter for accuracy; their nearly identical recollections (recounted separately) of the same events corroborate the overall story of the prison at Jneid.

  Context for the occupation that led to the intifada and the details of the intifada itself come from Meron Benvenisti's chapter "The Uprising" in his Intimate Enemies: Jews and Arabs in a Shared La?id, pp. 72-111; from Abu-Sharif in Best of Enemies, pp. 224 28; Aburish's Arafat: From Defender to Dictator, pp. 199-229; Sayigh's Armed Struggle and the Search for State, pp. 607—65; and Shlaim's Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, pp. 450-60.

  The story of the spark that lit the intifada varies in its particulars. Shlaim (p. 451) refers to a "truck driver" who "killed four residents" of the Jabalya camp; Sayigh (p. 607) mentions "an agricultural vehicle" that "drove into two cars carrying workers from Gaza"; Abu-Sharif (p. 225) writes that "a truck carrying Palestinian workers was ambushed by Israeli soldiers"; Gerner, in One Land, Two Peoples (p. 97), says, "An Israeli tank transporter collided with a line of cars filled with Palestinian workers." All accounts agree that four Palestinians were killed and that rumors, false or otherwise, gripped occupied Gaza.

  Dilip Hiro, in Sharing the Promised Land, p. 185, provides the "brother doctor" quotes.

  Shlaim (p. 454) discusses the reversal of the Palestinian image internationally; on p. 453, he describes how Rabin "greatly underestimated the gravity of the situation," and on p. 451 he makes mention of the "Palestinian war of independence." Benvenisti refers to the "war of liberation" on p. 73.

  The reference to Yassin's home village is from Walid Khalidi's All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, pp. 116-17. The roots of Hamas and its philosophy are discussed by Sayigh on p. 631. Israel's initial encouragement of Hamas, "in the hope of weakening the secular nationalism of the PLO," is mentioned by Shlaim on p. 459.

  Details of how the intifada was organized, including the tax revolt, come from an interview with Elias Rishmawi, a pharmacist in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, in Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestians. Additional details, including the "victory gardens" and chickens hatching in old fridges, come from an interview with Palestinian scholar Naseer Aruri.

  The Hebrew prayer is known as "Rebbe Nachman's Prayer for Peace" and is attributed to Rabbi Nachman ben Feiga of Breslov, 1773-1810 (www.pinenet.com/ rooster/peace.html).

  Rabin's policy of "force, might and beatings" was widely publicized at the time and is mentioned by Shlaim (p. 453), Hiro (p. 186), and Sayigh (p. 619); Sayigh also indicates figures on arrests, administrative detentions, and the closure of schools. The bone-breaking policy is alluded to by Shlaim (p. 453), Gerner (p. 98), and Hiro (p. 186); Hiro refers to a CBS television report showing "Israeli soldiers beating bound Palestinians in order to break their bones." Morris (Righteous Victims, pp. 589-90) also describes the bone-breaking policy.

  Dalia's husband, Yehezkel, confirmed some of the details of Dalia's hospital stay from his own memory.

  Bashir and Jabril Rajoub confirm the scene at the Jneid prison as they were escorted out. That they had abandoned their appeal of the deportations is confirmed in articles in the Times of London, January 13-15, 1988. The "game was fixed" and "among the leaders" quotes come from a January 14 article in the Jerusalem Post. The articles refer to UN and U.S. objections to Israel's deportations policy. United Nations Security Council Resolution 607 of January 5, 1988, "calls upon Israel to refrain from deporting any Palestinian citizens from the occupied territories."

  Jabril Rajoub recalled his own comments to the military judge. Jabril and Bashir recalled the trip in blindfolds in the van and then into the helicopters; each stressed, in separate interviews, that they had no idea where they were going.

  The Israeli presence in Lebanon is discussed by Benvenisti in Intimate Enemies, p. 79, as a means to "destroy the independent power base of Palestinian nationalism in Lebanon"; additional context is provided by Shlaim, pp. 384-423, and Sayigh, pp. 495-521. See also Israels Lebanon War by Ze'ev Schiff, Israel's leading military correspondent, and Ehud Ya'ari; and Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk. The "Israel's Vietnam" reference was made as early as 1983, as evidenced from this article from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+ Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1982-1984/111 + Interview+ with+Defense+Minister+ Arens+on+Israe.htm.

  Bashir and Jabril each recalled their arrival in southern Lebanon, as did Salah Salah, their PFLP escort, in interviews.

  The State Department's "deep regret" and Netanyahu's "totally legal" comments are from the Times of London and Jerusalem Post articles. The death of Yonatan (also known as Jonathan) Netanyahu in the raid on Entebbe is described in an online article, "Entebbe Diary," published by the official Web site of the Israel Defense Forces. Netanyahu was killed while leading a raid to free hostages from a plane that had been hijacked by the PFLP to ldi Amin's Uganda. He was the only casualty. That his younger brother, "Bibi," formed or at least hardened some of his personal and political convictions following the death of Yonatan was underscored to me several times by Dalia.

  Rabin's "courage that deserves respect" quote comes from Heikal's Secret Channels, p. 384; there, Heikal describes the beginning of Rabin's "shift toward moderation"; Shlaim also explores this shift (on p. 467), which would be expressed only later; the continuing "iron fist" policies are discussed on pp. 453-55.

  Dalia's "Letter to a Deportee" appeared in the editorial pages ofthe Jerusalem Post on January 14, 1988, and is printed in full at www.friend
sofopenhouse.org/article3.cfm.

  The general political context of the Palestinian presence in Lebanon is described in Fisk and specifically in Sayigh, pp. 282-317 and especially on p. 291. Hezbollah's founding purpose is described by Fisk in Pity the Nation; Shlaim (p. 559) states that the "main aim of its militancy was to expel Israel from its toehold in southern Lebanon." Friedman, in From Beirut to Jerusalem, mentions a secondary goal of establishing an Islamic state in Lebanon. The funneling of Israeli funds to the Lebanese militias is documented in Schiff and Ya'ari's Israels Lebanon War, p. 18.

  The historical context for the "Lebanese Quagmire," as Shlaim called it, including the various factions fighting one another, is beyond the scope of this book, but a few things are worth noting. Tensions after 1970 were heightened both by the presence of the Palestinian factions and by the Israelis. These tensions played out largely along religious lines, with Muslims by and large supporting the Palestinians and many Maronite Christians, with their Phalangist militias, supported by Israel and periodically demanding their own separate Christian state. In addition, the Muslim population was growing faster than the Christian, even though many of the Muslims were Palestinians living in squalid refugee camps and denied citizenship or the right to live elsewhere or work in most occupations. As the tensions grew, a fragile, religious-based political balance, established by the colonial French when carving up the Middle East with Britain in 1916, would shatter entirely. Civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975 when Christian militiamen near Beirut opened fire on a busload of Palestinian civilians. Within days, reprisals and counterreprisals would escalate into full-blown civil war, as Beirut was effectively divided between the Christian east and the Muslim west. Car bombings, kidnappings, and executions would become the norm for years.