“How Palestine Became Israel,” partof the Deir Yassin Day (DYD) 2006commemorations, was performed at theBloomsbury Theater in London’s West Endon April 9 and 10, and directed by British-Palestinian playwright/director RazanneCarmey and Dan Coleman.

Carmey traveled to Palestine to meet the-ater groups from towns, cities and refugeecamps, and to run a playwrights’ competi-tion, the winner’s work to be showcased atDYD 2006.

“How Palestine Became Israel” was acompilation of four pieces: “In Our OwnLittle World” and “Friday Morning” byCarmey, “The Water Urn” by Issa AbuSrour, and “Far Away from a Nearby Vil-lage” by Abdel Fattah Abu Srour, whowon the playwrights’ competition.

The production opened to a packedhouse with Ahmad Masoud and the al-Zaytouna Dabke Group—but then, some-what primed for a nostalgic evening ofsong and dance, we heard a little morethan we had bargained for:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the members ofthe Al-Zaytouna Dance Group are fromBrouj, Majdal, Deir Snaind and Jaffa butthey have never been there. They were bornand raised in refugee camps in the GazaStrip. The reason for this is that their coun-

try no longer exists. This is what hap-pened.”

With a call to prayer this story begins.So much of this piece takes place in thathour before dawn. In that hour, membersof the family from the Palestinian villageof Sindyana reflect on their lives andloves—the joys and sorrows of familylife—while at that same hour, on the otherside of the stage, the Zionist leadershipplans and plots to steal the land. Zionistspore over maps of Palestine and, focusingon the Haifa district, they discuss the vil-lage of Sindyana—its past, present and itsfuture—and they fix on a name more suit-able for that future. Sindyana, they dis-cover, means “tall oak tree,” which in He-brew is alon, so why not call the new vil-lage “Alona”? Meanwhile, at the other endof the stage, Maleeha, a Palestinianmother, writes to her son, oblivious of thetragedy about to overtake her. And notonce does either side look at the other—noteven a glance as the Jews, seeminglyoblivious of the horror they are about todo, and the Palestinians, equally obliviousof the horror about to be done, both goabout their business. Thus was Palestinelost.

All this is given hard-edged backing asmaps and plans on the one side (we see onthe map that ominous transformation ofthe name Sandyana into Alona) and familysnapshots and letters on the other are, by

projected images, shared with the audi-ence.

“Don’t talk to me about your father,”writes Maleeha, and soon her no-good,lute-playing husband appears, played byPalestinian composer and lutist Nizar Issa,who, with singer/songwriter Shadia Man-sour, charts this narrative with music andsong woven intricately into the storyline.The songs are a treat: “Assmar el Lone”(For She is Dark and Comely), “Rosana” (alove song), another song of the ubiquitouscactus of Palestine which, even when cut,will always return, the songs “Jaffra” and“Dalouna,” and finally the oft-repeated“Wain A Ramallah.”

But it is with the entrance of David Ben-Gurion that this production first goes up anotch. Immaculately played as an irascibleand hyperactive trades union official who,having abandoned his Jewish god andnow worshipping a new deity—a god ofSocialism, collectivism and Zionism—Ben-Gurion is a man who “knows.” He“knows” what is best for the workers ofthe world, he “knows” what is best for theJews of Europe, and he certainly “knows”what is best for the Palestinians of Pales-tine.

Nor need there be any moral obstacles tothe Zionist takeover.

“Zionism must and will not impinge uponone degree of legitimate Arab rights.

“….We do not recognize absolute owner-

SpecialReportSpecialReport

Deir Yassin Day 2006: With But a Wave ofHis Hand…How Palestine Became IsraelBy Paul Eisen

Maleeha’s lute-playing husband serenades her (l) as, across the stage, Zionist leaders plot to steal their land.

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42 JULY 2006THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Paul Eisen is a London-based director ofDeir Yassin Remembered.

ship of any country. The only right by whicha people can claim to possess a land is theright conferred by willingness to work.Palestine is still undeveloped…..Since theJewish laborer is more intelligent and morediligent than the Arab, then the land isours.”

How convenient, because in this beauti-fully drawn character of Ben-Gurion wesee the whole semi-conscious, self-delu-sional morality of the entire Zionist enter-prise…and its inevitable moral collapse.

Act One closes and the darkness looms.A young wife bewails her miscarriageswhile Ben-Gurion and his comrades be-moan that, after nearly 60 years of build-ing the Jewish state, the Jews are simplynot coming.

“Where are the Jews? Where are theJews? Why don’t they come? We’re creatinga Utopia here! Where are the Jews?”

The hard truth is that in order to securethe necessary two-thirds Jewish majoritythey need to lose one million Palestinians,but how?

“Don’t be coy. We all know what must bedone…We need a few massacres—highlypublicized, newspapers with stories of death,rape and burning. As soon as you shoot a fewin the village square—that’s how you emptya village.”

Perfect. And, best of all, no one’s moral-ity need be compromised.

“No one needs to give the order. When thesoldiers are hot enough there is no need togive an order.”

So now massacre is the order of the day.“Friday Morning,” scripted by Razanne,was first performed five years ago at DeirYassin Day 2001. Set in the village of DeirYassin itself, a father is led outside his

home to be shot, while his wife and childsing “Wain A Ramallah” to drown out thesounds of his execution.

Shocked, we prepare for the climax: ananimated image of the march of ethniccleansing across the map of Palestine. Asthe map steadily turns pink, Arab Palestinetransforms itself into Jewish Israel, accom-panied all the time by flashing pinpoints oflight—each of the 70 known massacresmaking its own special contribution toturning Palestine into Israel. And for asoundtrack, jazz musicians Gilad Atzmonand Yaron Stavi step onstage to improvisean agonized “Wain A Ramallah”—thathappy-clappy song used first at a familyparty, then to drown out the sounds of anexecution, and finally now to accompanythe Palestinian people in their long journeyinto exile.

Now all that is left are bedraggledrefugees moving across stage recountingtheir tales of horror on their road to exile.A mother from Beit Natteef has lost hertwo sons, an old man takes a sprig of figtree to remind him of the smell of home,and a young woman carries her dead babygirl in her arms, insisting she’s still alive:

“My daughter cannot die now to be buriedon the road of exile. She cannot be put in agrave on a nameless road? How can I comeand visit her tomorrow?”

And, for the last time, Nizar and Shadiasing. I don’t know any Arabic, but even Iknow what biladi means. I also know whatDeir Yassin means, and I know that I heardthat name in the extra verse added to hiscomposition by Nizar especially for the oc-casion.

That night I thought back on all that Ihad seen. One scene kept coming back to

me—a dramatization of an incident fromthe memoirs of Yitzhak Rabin. Some Ha-ganah commanders go to see Ben-Gurionin his office. They’ve captured some vil-lages in the Galilee and they don’t knowwhat to do next. “Prime Minister,” theyask, “What is to be done with these peo-ple?”

Without a word Ben-Gurion stands, andwith a sweep of his hand he gives themtheir answer and their orders.

Sitting in that audience and watchingBen-Gurion consign an entire people intoexile reminded me of an old Jewish story:A man goes to his rabbi. “Rabbi, how can Ibelieve in the Holy Books? After all, theytell us things like Moses raised his handand the waters of a mighty sea parted.Who can believe such nonsense?”

“Listen,” says the rabbi. “Just one weekago the czar with his pen signed a decreeclearing out the inhabitants of some Jew-ish villages to make way for a new railway.Perhaps in days to come people will say,‘With one drop of ink, the Russian czardrowned a thousand villages.’”

So will Palestinians perhaps one day,when telling their children of the Nakba,say how, with but a wave of his hand, aJewish captain drove one million Palestini-ans from Palestine? Who knows? But onething is for sure: for years the Jewish nar-rative has been used and abused in the ser-vice of Zionism and of Israel. It has longbeen the role of Deir Yassin Remembered,now joined by Deir Yassin Day, to piece to-gether and tell a truthful and meaningfulPalestinian narrative. Deir Yassin Day 2006and the performance of the remarkableplay “How Palestine Became Israel” didjust that. ❑

JULY 2006 43THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

The cast takes a bow.

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