The Cactus Story
Our visit to Iraq al Manshiyya

There is no reason for the cactus plants to grow naturally in straight rows, like a fence, with openings, like gates, so the cactus could keep livestock away from vegetables. But you see cactus fences like this all over Palestine, near Israeli industrial centers, on hillsides near Jewish settlements on the West Bank, in the middle of "Peace Forests" of pine trees planted fifty years ago to hide the cactus which do not stay buried. The cactus fences are remnants of more than 500 Palestinian villages destroyed by tanks and bulldozers in 1948. What would this land look like today if CNN had been there to film the bulldozers in action?

The highlight of our trip to Palestine was visiting the site of Iraq al Manshiyya.

We saw where women and children hid from bullets in 1948, while Egyptian soldiers helped successfully defend the village.

At the end of the war the Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement stated that civilian residents could return to this village, which would then become one of several "Arab villages" within the new state of Israel. The Israelis agreed, but after the Egyptian soldiers left, the Israelis forced the residents to move to a refugee camp, where they and their descendants remain today.

The village well was so deep, and the water so pure, that the Israelis recognized it as an ideal site for industrial development.

So now the village of Iraq al Manshiyya is gone, but these cactus fences remain, just outside of Kiryat Gat, an industrial Israeli city where Intel now makes computer chips, on land illegally taken from Arab residents who Israel said in 1948 could continue to live there.
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 Excerpt from the Armistice Agreement

From: Walter Eytan

Head of the Israeli Delegation at Rhodes

In connection with the Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, I confirm the understanding that, in the course of the evacuation of the Egyptian Force at Al Faluja, provided for in Article III of the Agreement, such of the civilian population at Al Faluja and Iraq Al Manshiya as may wish to do so may also be evacuated along with the Egyptian force. Those of the civilian population who may wish to remain in Al Faluja and Iraq Al Manshiya are to be permitted to do so. Those of the civilian population who may wish to do so may proceed to the Hebron area under United Nations escort and supervision. All of these civilians shall be fully secure in their persons, abodes, property and personal effects.

The Government of Israel reserves the right to treat as prisoners of war any persons electing to remain in the Al Faluja and Iraq Al Manshiya areas who may be identified as having taken part in the fighting in Palestine.

Signed: Walter Eytan

The Mediterranean Sea in Palestine, where refugee children in the West Bank cannot listen to the waves crashing on rocks, where they cannot build castles in the sand.

The Sea of Galilee in Palestine, where Jesus walked and Peter fished, where Israel profits from the tourist business while Palestinians in refugee camps are denied their rights to go home.

A simple place in Palestine where a grandfather may have played when he was young, but a grandson cannot explore because of fences and checkpoints.

 

In a few places there are Bedouins living in tents among the stone walls and cactus fences. But mostly the cactus plants stand as sentinels to a silent past.

The Palestinian word for cactus means "patience," because you must patiently remove the melon-like fruit from the cactus and patiently prepare it for the table. Refugee fathers teach their sons to have patience, but it is difficult for oppressed young men to be patient.

I believe, if I were Palestinian, that I would have long ago lost my patience.

As an American, and a Christian, I am ashamed of what we have let happen here.

With my fingers on a computer keyboard, I will continue throwing stones.

 

And now you know why we call our place cactus48.com

A Cactus Memory

By Nasser Abufarha
 

I have both an emotional attachment, and great appreciation to the cactus tree.

My grandpa (Sidi) used to wake us up early every morning in the month of July after he had collected two big buckets of cactus fruit from the nearby hillside. He used to get there at dawn, before sunrise when the fruit is still cool before it is hit by sunlight, and before there is a breeze in the air so the tiny thorns don't blow at him while picking.

At home we the children would all sit around my grandfather and my father and they would cut the cactus fruit open and feed us. As they handle the thorny fruit with their fingers to cut it open and put the sweet juicy fruit in my mouth, those bites also carried love, care, and sacrifice. In this setting, the cactus fruit is building the bond of love and appreciation to one another in Palestinian society.

I appreciate the cactus tree for its resilience and patience. As the Israelis continuously plow the outskirts of the over 400 Palestinian villages they destroyed, this resilient tree keeps coming up again and again. It has been my guide to destroyed village sites in Palestine. This tree is so patient which is what the name for it means in Arabic, "Sabir".

For over fifty years those cactus trees in stolen Palestine produce their fruit every season and don't find the people to pick them (they are surrounded by strangers who don't know how or when to pick them, or what they taste like, or if they are even edible). They are patiently blooming their beautiful yellow flowers every spring and fruiting every summer hoping that the people who know them would come the next season.

 

We shall return,

Nasser Abufarha
nasserabufarha@hotmail.com