De senaste veckorna har väl inte varit alltför exalterande. Har mest lidit av frustrationsbesvär då jag måste stå ut på jobbet medan en hel massa folk från min avdelning går på semester och liksom "rub it in" i mitt ansikte innan de går. Men jag har egentligen mitt på det torra då jag alltid kan svara de innan de går ut genom dörren att: -"Ja men då får du ha det så bra för att jag ska också på semester men om 2 veckor och därefter ser du aldrig mig igen." Folk blir lika chockade varje gång. Det är helt underbart. För att anledningen är att jag ska plugga och slipper ta mig till det här förbaskade arbetet dag efter dag. Istället får jag banka in hundra ggr mer intressant kunskap än vad jag någonsin kunnat göra här. Trollywood here I come!! Oh yes, ni tänker rätt! Jag ska plugga på Högskolan i Väst i Trollhättan. Jag ska plugga Digital media för design och upplevelse, så fint som det heter. Och mitt program samarbetar med Filminsititutionen plus att jag har filmproduktion/video som ämnen som ingår. Och pga detta (bl.a) så är min kära far mer än bara exalterad. Flera ggr i veckan får jag samtal från honom där han frågar om jag fortfarande är glad att jag kommit in på utbildningen plus att han en dag hade fått "nippran" och sa i sin mest exalterade ton att:

-"Du måste ju arbeta med von trier". 

-"öh, nej, det finns inte en chans att jag gör det, han e ju psykiskt sjuk".

-"Ja, just därför och sen så finns det ju ngt som heter att säga upp sig".

-"Jaha, men, pappa då får väl du arbeta med honom då".

-"Man, ska ta varje chans man får".

-"Inte denna. Du kan väl arbeta med honom".

-"Ja, men jag ska göra det. Jag har aldrig sökt arbete i Trollywood, det är dags nu.

-"Bra, gör det!"

Inte tusan tänker jag slita mig gul och blå bara för att man ska ta alla chanser. Om jag arbetar med von Trier så kommer jag själv behöva terapi och stöd efteråt och det känns inte som att det är värt det. Jag ser verkligen fram emot att göra djupa studier i den grafiska världen. Det brukar sluta med att jag är så slukad i det så det går inte att nå mig på några dagar varje gång. Helt borta! Ser bara färger och former. När jag sitter och skapar musik så är det ännu värre. Förutom det ovannämnda så kan jag inte förstå vad folk säger när jag kommer ut ur musikstudion. Det är både hysteriskt roligt och otroligt frustrerande. När ngn pratar med mig så hör jag bara mummel och ungefär som att den andra personen talar arabiska. Inte ett ord stämmer i mitt huvud. Det brukar räcka med att jag är borta från studion i några timmar så blir det normalt igen.

Anyhow.... jag sitter alltså på jobbet och som ni märker är det inte alltför mycket att göra och det har det inte varit på hela veckan så det är en *pip* tur att det är fredag idag. Jag har skickar otala sms, skickat e-mail coh ringt folk. Believe it or not så har jag repeterat mina språkkunskaper i hebreiska och insett att min hebreiska fortfarande är väldigt bra. Jag förstår allt jag läser i den studiebok jag har från mina tidigare studier. Det flyter helt enkelt!! Men jag kan inte svära på att det går lika bra när jag talar men jag fattar i alla fall enklare konversationer och jag kan beställa på caféer och restauranger och fråga mig fram i affärer.  Och snart kan jag använda mina språkkunskaper på nytt igen. Jag åker tillbaka till Israel den 12 augusti och stannar i 3 veckor. Snacka om att vara laddad inför resan. Plus att.... trumvirvel..... en kompis till mig ska följa med under den första veckan och under vecka 2 kommer 2 andra kompisar ner och vi kommer väl ses lite då och då men det viktiga är att jag får tid att resa runt och hälsa på alla.  Men den där första veckan vet jag kommer bli superkul. Vi har redan planerat en del av rutten. Först Tel Aviv där vi landar sedan, Haifa och därefter Jerusalem och sen är det 1/2 dagar till att min polare drar hem igen. Vi hinner förhoppningsvis med att hälsa på hans kusin som jag tror bor utanför Haifa men jag är lite osäker. Vi får se vad vi hinner med de sista dagarna innan han åker. Det ska bli så himla mysigt.

Idag ska jag åka till Småland där ett gäng kompisar är. De har varit där i stort sett hela veckan men, visst, vissa kom igår och ngn annan kommer i mitten av veckan och en annan kommer också idag men innan mig. De är där och sportar, käkar gott och dricker gott och solar och har det bra helt enkelt. Can't wait till I'm there. Gud så skönt det ska bli. Kan berätta en liten hemlis *är extra glad över att åka dit för att en väldigt speciell person är där men, jag vågar inte säga alltför mkt för att jag vet inte vad det handlar om*. *Jag menar att jag vet inte vad det är vi har som pågår som känns som är*. Jag ska ger en update när jag vet mer. Om jag överhuvudtaget kan veta mer. Det pirrar lite lätt i magen. *Mysigt* En riktig fining! Oh nej nu vågar jag inte skriva mer om honom... vet ju ingenting än.

Outside of class, Haifa University is an amazingly fun and gorgeous place to be. Our dorms are much more like apartments, with six single rooms each with their own bathroom and a shared kitchen. My roommates are Naomi, my friend from Gratz, and Lauren, who went to high school with me, plus one other student from the ulpan who we never see and two Israeli roommates, Liron and Liora. We have made such amazing friends here: Hailey and Maggie, twins from Boston; Ryan, my partner in crime at school who spends half the class explaining grammar to me while I spend the other half translating for him; Kirill, Tzviran, and Thomas, Israeli students who go to the university; Miriam from UChicago (and her friend Charlotte who has been traveling the world and came to visit for two weeks)… we spend all our free time just hanging out around the campus, navigating the bus system in Horev center, or doing homework on the beautiful Dado beach in Hof HaCarmel. Being in Haifa also means being able to see my family, like the other day when I had dinner with Chana Ruti and Rachael (all three of my mom’s sisters), or when Michael brought me a carload of vegetables and fruit from the shuk which we are still trying to get through. I also got to go to another cousin’s wedding on the moshav in Beersheva, where I spent the evening laughing and dancing with my whole wonderful Israeli family.

Last weekend I had an amazing Shabbos, and next weekend should be too: a bunch of us are heading up to Ramat Eshkol in Jerusalem, and I will get to reconnect with some of the Jewel girls too. I can't say I miss America one bit, but I can certainly say I love Israel!

Il Tempio, che con i suoi giardini rappresenta il centro religioso mondiale per oltre gli 8.000.000 di adepti della religione Bahai che da tutto il mondo giungono qui in pellegrinaggio, attrae turisti provenienti da tutto il mondo che giungono per scoprire i giardini conclusi nel 2001 con un investimento complessivo di 250 milioni di dollari oltre ai 4 milioni necessari per l'annuale mantenimento.

Come dichiarato da Shaul Tzemach, direttore generale del Ministero del Turismo d'Israele, il riconoscimento internazionale del Tempio e dei Giardini Bahai come sito posto sotto la tutela dell'Unesco riflette "la qualità, l'importanza universale e la diversità della tipologia di turismo offerta dal prodotto israeliano".

I have been so busy I have had hardly anytime to write. The Ulpan likes to keep you very busy. We are in class from 8:30-1 and are given about 3 hours of homework each night. Even though the work expectation is high, I am enjoying every minute of it. I especially like it when I understand everything that my teacher is saying in Hebrew.

Besides studying Hebrew, I have made many friends. Our favorite place to hangout is the Hof HaCarmel, aka, the beach. We usually go there after class to do our homework and hangout. We haven't been swimming too much in the water because right now it is jellyfish season. They are called m'duzah in Hebrew. They are huge!

Tonight we are traveling, to the Technion for a concert. One of the bands are Hadag Nachash. I'm excited to hear them play epically after there visit to Gratz last year! Well that is all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

It was a partially business trip to Israel. During the non-official part we visited Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It was great fun to return after 8 years.

Pictures can be viewed here.

• Statistics show that 43% of Haifa's tourists' main reason for visiting is because of the gardens.

Photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org

Money for building ($250 million/year) and maintaining ($4 million/year) the site is given solely from the Bahai people because;

• the religion refuses to accept money from non-Bahai members
• this is why there is no entrance-fee into the gardens

Other World Heritage Sites located in Israel are:

• Masada (2001)
• the Old City of Akko (Acre) (2001)
• Tel Aviv - the White City (2003)
• Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheva (2005)
• Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev (2005)

Back to the trip, there is a website about the place. The site is quite power ok, for such a small place, they somehow made it sounds like you can spend half a day there. 1 hour is more than enough actually. Unless you want to take in the scenary and just stare at the Mediterranean Sea.

Haifa is somewhere at the horizon of the picture.

You have to take the steepest cable car ride in the world to reach the grottoes. Sounds good, but its a very short ride and its nowhere as thrilling as a roller coaster.

Into the grottoes we go. So what's a grotto? check wikipedia yourself la, lazy. Some sort of caves made by the power of nature, from the waves of the Mediterannean sea.

After that was lunch at the beach. The whole city is at the beach, since no shopping center is open. Israelis love the beach a lot, they are crazy about it, they go there every weekend it seems. Much more than Singaporeans.. I prefer hiding in MacDonalds. Or maybe its just me. Anyway, they keep telling me to go to the beach as often as possible now, before the jellyfish season wadever this means. Seems like Mr. Jellyfish and family will come visiting soon and then you cant go into the water anymore for a while. No photos of the beach, kinda forgotten after a filling lunch.

But more photos coming up, from my Jerusalem trip last week. Till next time (which probably may be tomorrow)

Yours truly is back from the hell hole they call Haifa Air Force Base =].

Since I experienced a lot this week, I have a very important lesson for you my friends!

Appreciate Every Little Thing You Have In Your Life!!

I mean every little god given thing you have in your life. As simple as a clean toilet, where you can sit in piece and do your “business” in piece. Bed to sleep on, light to read with, friends to talk with, food to eat and water to drink.

I personally experienced the need in the last 2. I literally starved to sleep while I was thirsty as marathon runner on the 36^th kilometer of the way. I showered in a shower with no head, just a pipe coming out from the wall…

So listen when I tell you, APPRICIATE EVERY LITTLE THING IN YOUR LIFE!

I am thankful for this experience because I did have a hard time with saying thanks for everything I have and personally I think I stopped appreciating a lot of things in my life. But now I can honestly tell you I am back on track and please don’t make the same mistake as I did.

We create our contrasts in life, my friends. So next time when you get in uncomfortable satiation, don’t just curse and be angry at something or somebody, stop for a second and think why could you attract this into your life. What lesson life is trying to teach you here? Because inevitably we create those contrasts in life to serve us well, and There Are No Failures Only Lessons In Success!!

Take care!

1 Varje människa ska ha friheten att självständigt söka efter sanningen om vad hon ska tro på. Hon svarar själv inför Gud, inget skrå av själasörjare får träda emellan.

2 Religion ska befrämja endräkt utan att strypa den mänskliga mångfalden.

3 Religion ska vara i harmoni med vetenskap och sunt förnuft. En tro som betraktar varje textrad i en gammal skrift som gudomlig är inte sund och kan vara farlig.

4 Frigörelse från alla slags fördomar som uttrycks genom ord och handlingar som skadar eller kränker en medmänniska.

5 Universell och obligatorisk utbildning för alla människor på jorden.

6 Rättvisa: jämställdhet mellan könen, jämlikhet mellan världens olika folk och mellan olika generationer.

7 Ett universellt språk som används parallellt med modersmålet lärs ut till alla på jorden.

8 Samverkan mellan vetenskap och religion: en andlig dimension ska finnas med när människorna söker ekonomiska, ekologiska, hälsomässiga, demografiska m.fl. lösningar.

9 Ett världssamhälle där alla är världsmedborgare ska inrättas. Ett världsparlament, en världsregering, en högsta domstol och andra världsövergripande institutioner tillskapas.

10 Universell fred ska möjliggöras genom avrustning och en världsövergripande förståelse för att enhet i mångfald är den enda framkomliga vägen för mänskligheten.

De processer som leder fram till världsenhet har Gud förklarat och startat genom Sina budbärare Báb och Bahá'u'lláh. Att riva upp den nuvarande, sjuka världsordningen, för att göra plats för en ny är en oerhört omskakande omvandling som omfattar mycket mänskligt lidande. Denna process kommer att i Guds rätta tid frambringa den mindre freden. Den Mindre freden är det politiska förenandet av världen. Mänskligheten kan vid den tiden liknas vid en kropp som är förenad men utan liv.

Den andra processen, som är bahá'íernas uppgift, innefattar uppgiften att blåsa liv i denna förenade kropp och att skapa sann enhet och andlighet. Detta arbete når sin höjdpunkt i den Allra Största Freden.

Bahá'íerna måste koncentrera sina krafter till att bygga upp bahá'í-tron och dess administration. De kan för närvarande inte ändra eller hjälpa världen på något annat sätt. Om de blir indragna i de problem som världens regeringar eller politikerna strider om kommer de att vara förlorade. Men om de bygger upp bahá'í-mönstret kan de erbjuda det som botemedel när alla andra försök att lösa världens problem har misslyckats.

Bahá'íerna anklagas ibland för att hålla sig borta från sina medmänniskors "verkliga problem". Denna anklagelse kommer vanligen från idealistiska materialister för vilka det materiellt goda är det enda verkligt goda. Men vi har många exempel på att människor inte alls mår bra trots att de lever i länder som utvecklat en hög materiell standard. Inte förrän de andliga förhållandena förändras kan det bli någon varaktig förändring till det bättre i de materiella angelägenheterna. Att ge sig in i tävlan om att göra slut på en efter en av världens onda ting är för en bahá'í bortkastad . Den bahá'í-troendes hela liv är inriktat på förkunnandet av Bahá'u'lláhs budskap, på återupplivandet av sina medmänniskors andliga liv, på att ena dem i en gudomligt skapad världsordning, en andlig världscivilisation.

A moonlit sky

An embrace between friends

I’m going to wash my feet on the shores of Haifa

A morning coffee

A warm breakfast

Conversations of stones built long ago

I’m going to wash my feet on the shores of Haifa

A circle of friends

A march of color

A tree to hug

I am going to wash my feet on the shores of Haifa

A walk on the beach

A long conversation

A discovery of friends

I’m washing my feet on the shores of Haifa

A child’s laughter

A meal of fish out of sea

A sunset from the old walls of Akka

I’ve washed my feet on the shores of Haifa

Another city away

A mustache or two of fun

A meeting of strangers

I’ve washed my feet on the shores of Haifa

A laugh, a smile, a twinkle in the eye

An inking on the heel

A sad goodbye

I’ve washed my feet on the shores of Haifa

A thought

An impulse

A reality

I washed my feet on the shores of Haifa

Our day trip Haifa high-lighted what a homogenous city Tel Aviv is. Haifa has a fairly large Arab-Israeli population, alongside the Jewish one. There also seems to be more religious variety within ethnic groups and religions in Haifa, judging from my very hasty observation. In Tel Aviv I haven't seen many religious Jews and even fewer Muslims. In Haifa there were quite a few women in hijab, as well as Carmelite nuns and visible signs of Christian Arab religion. In all I found it somewhat easier to breathe in Haifa.

Also, insane amount of soliders on the train to and from Haifa. I suppose that is just the way things are in this country. I have to say, I am too much of a softy European/ New Yorker to be at ease when there is an Uzi in the seat next to mine.

We could see Lebanon from Mt. Carmel. I wonder how long it would take to go from Tel Aviv to Beirut by train if such a thing was possible. (It isn't.) Two hours? One, on a high-speed train? That would be neat.

Remains of our Lunch in Wadi Nisnas

The owner; photo taken on the sly.

Quite possibly the best coffee I've had in my life. And I know from coffee.

We wen't to the top.

And looked down.

That's Lebanon in the far background.

More photos on my Flickr page.

During the same time of the 60^th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine and the Tantura Massacre the news station Al-Jazeera held a conversation between some historians researching Palestinian massacres in this region.

The Israeli army on the 23^rd of May, 1948 massacred the residents of the Tantura village after occupying Haifa. After this they started exiling people from the West Bank to Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.

Mustafa Kibha, an Arab historian, stated in regards to the Tantura Massacre: “The Israel army decided to attack Tantura, which was comprised of 1500 families, because it was the weakest area south of Haifa and because of its special location next to the Mediterranean Sea. It was much easier to reach than the other villages near it.

Kibha added: “The Israeli army attacked this village on the 22^nd of May, 1948 from the sea before the ground.”

This historian clearly stated: “The Israeli army attacked that village because they would send weapons and military equipment to Palestinians.”

Full article: www.insight-info.com

In the western neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the demographics are remarkably similar to urban Israel in many ways. Educated, self-made money walks its undersized dogs at all hours. Jews are the overwhelming norm, and ambition is palpable as a breeze, forcing through crowds and windows and the static of urgent dropped calls. There is one difference. In Brooklyn, the average age on the street hovers around twenty-some, the margin stretching by perhaps two decades in the afternoon toddler hours. It is the google-eyed universe of the young. Here in Haifa, the majority of passersby are rheumatic seniors, shuffling from clinic to grocer to peeling apartment. Just now, on my way to the café where I now sit typing, I saw a man who must have long since forgotten his seventy-fifth birthday, inching knock-kneed down the sidewalk in a suit-jacket that must have fit him once, before the weird wasting of age shrunk the gentleman four sizes too small for his own favorite jacket. Haifa is a ghost town that doesn’t believe in ghosts.

My grandfather, incidentally, is offering his own ounce of flesh to the clockworks. He will be losing his left eye in one week, victim to a long series of ophthalmologic maladies. He is understandably upset, and my dementiatic grandmother can still sense this, even from eight floors up in her separate room at the nursing home. I am there a couple of times a week to force a smile onto their faces. I love them, so the guilt of dreading these bleak visits is all the more powerful. First in college and then again at sea, I wrote of my dreams, full of images of mortality. Since I’ve been back, the dreams of death have stopped. Maybe my subconscious looked into the mirror of this city and was spooked by the reflection.

Of course, this is the real world. I am ultimately thankful to live in a city as diverse as this one, and age is a vital part of diversity. The awareness of all of life’s stages enriches my daily grind and gives perspective to the overwhelming worries of post-college young-adulthood. Still, sometimes I just want to escape to where life is frozen in its youth and skin is more a hint of sex than a record of hardship. God bless America and its wicked high.

It was sometime near midnight and I was out prowling the Carmel center in search of something interesting. I walked down into Gan HaEm, just above the Haifa zoo where as a child I had wondered over the majestic wild animals which I now recognize as barely conscious souvenirs of their wild selves, stuffed into cages about ten sizes too small to accommodate any but the most stunted of souls. In a primary, emotional way, this zoo is everything that sustainable design is not. It's a place where complex, beautiful and valuable ecosystem treasures are wasted for the half-assed benefit of largely oblivious human beings.

But, only meters from the green bars of the zoo's front gate, as I ascended towards the thoroughfare of Shderot Hanassi, the sidewalk narrowed between two wrought-iron fences, and flowed around something. It was a huge cyprus tree, standing in the middle of the sidewalk like a tourist pausing to stare up at the tops of the high-rises. Everybody would just have to go around.

This is the right idea. Sustainable design is not just the mitigation of ecological damage by lessening the damaging outflows of pollution, sewage, or carbon from inevitable development. Sustainable design should, from stage one, be about design; specifically, it should consider and respect the local environment. This does not mean leveling an entire valley with bulldozers, then making sure to add skylights and waterless urinals into the subsequent office buildings. Real sustainable design is about using the valuable resources of the local ecosystem (natural drainage, wetlands (for effluent treatment), heritage trees or habitats, shaderows and natural wind-blocks, beautiful native flora and geomorphology) and building around nature, not on top of it. In this overlooked pocket of urban Haifa, decades before the term Sustainable Design was coined, some prescient architect was told to build a sidewalk where a tree was, and decided that between the two of them, the sidewalk would be the one to get out of the way.

Smart (read:green) builders these days have a wide selection of efficient appliances, bathroom fixtures, heating and cooling systems, water recycling mechanisms, electricity sources and biodegradable or recycled building materials to choose from. With all the new technologies on the market, lets not forget about how much of the Sustainable Design process occurs before a single blueprint has been drawn.

The Fall of Haifa

Caption: zionist terrorists forcing Palestinian civilians out of Haifa at gunpoint

The all-out Zionist attack on Haifa began in the early morning of Wednesday, 21 April 1948, and ended the following day with the fall of the city into Zionist hands. Within a week, some 50,000 Arab inhabitants had been expelled. The attack was not an isolated phenomenon, nor was it a reaction to any local Arab initiative. It was an important phase of the general Zionist offensive begun on 1 April that was to pave the way for the proclamation of the State of Israel.

Until 1 April, the Zionists had confined themselves to sniping, mortar shelling, and the planting of time bombs and booby-trapped vehicles in Arab urban areas, and to hit-and-run attacks in the countryside wherein several houses at a time would be blown up over the heads of their inhabitants. But the Zionists did not begin to seize and hold on to Arab territory until their new April offensive, which was motivated primarily by political considerations.

The Setting

[The April] offensive aimed at consolidating and broadening the areas under Zionist occupation by clearing them of Arabs and by linking them [i.e., the Zionist areas] more closely together. It was to this end that Operation Nachshon was launched on 1 April to carve out an adequate corridor from Tel Aviv on the coast to Jerusalem in the interior. This involved the occupation and destruction of a score of Arab villages and culminated in the Battle of Castel on 11 April. (The Dayr Yasin massacre by the Irgunists on 9 April was an integral part of Operation Nachshon.) As soon as the operation, which resulted in the expulsion of 10,000 to 15,000 Arab villagers, was concluded on 13 April, Operation Jephtha was launched to clear Eastern Galilee of Arabs and to link Tiberias with Safed. Operation Jephtha was inaugurated with the seizure of Tiberias on 18 April and the expulsion of its Arab inhabitants, about 4,500, a number that was swollen threefold by refugees from neighboring villages as Operation Jephtha proceeded.

Haifa was not coveted only for its relative importance, but as a prize in itself. It was the greatest Arab harbor in the Eastern Mediterranean after Alexandria. It was the terminal point of the oil pipeline from Iraq (and therefore perhaps an important bargaining lever with the Arabs). It was a key rail and road communication center. It was in close proximity to the “industrial belt” that skirted the bay of Acre.

To the Arabs, Haifa was an integral part of their country. Their aim was to see that it did not fall into Zionist hands, but the most they could do was simply to hold their ground. Their position at the foot of the Carmel ridge, with the Jewish quarters dominating them from higher ground, was precarious in the extreme. Though Arab villages such as Balad al-Shaykh in the east and Tireh in the south were near at hand, the strategic approaches to the city were completely dominated by Zionist settlements, such that reinforcements from farther afield could often reach Haifa only at suicidal cost to the Arabs themselves.

As soon as street fighting broke out in Haifa after the UN partition decision in November, Muslim and Christian residents of the city formed an Arab National Committee (ANC). Its chairman was Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim, a benign 62-yearold gentleman who looked and felt out of his depth in the bewildering series of situations he was called upon to face. Broadly speaking, the ANC was politically responsible to the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) for Palestine, but militarily it depended for supplies on the Arab League Military Committee based in Damascus. On 28 December 1947, the ANC engaged a young and energetic lieutenant in the Arab Legion, Muhammad Hamad al-Huneidi, who resigned his commission to volunteer his services as the local commander. Huneidi acted under the ANC and was put in charge of all security matters. When he took over, the Haifa National Guard numbered 75 members armed with weapons ranging from rifles to wooden clubs and canes. By the time Huneidi was killed in action on 17 March, as he was returning from Lebanon with supplies, the National Guard had increased to about 350. Many of these were members of sporting organizations in Haifa, and some were ex-servicemen who had served with the British army on the Egyptian front during World War II. About half were part-timers, and the vast majority were from Haifa itself. Under Huneidi, the town was divided into ten security zones, each under a local defense group led by a person reporting directly to a central headquarters. The limiting factor was always arms supplies, and the most frustrating problem was obtaining the right ammunition to match the rich variety of rifles, which included not a few museum pieces. Huneidi was ably assisted by Yunis Naffa, a sanitary inspector in Haifa with a flair for military organization. Upon Huneidi’s death, he temporarily took over command of the National Guard before the arrival of Huneidi’s replacement.

In addition to security, the ANC looked after the general welfare of Haifa’s Arab community. Quite early on, a system of rationing was introduced, and prices were monitored to prevent profiteering. Offenders were tried before special courts. These courts also came down heavily on Arab lawless elements who took advantage of the general confusion during outbursts of fighting to break into shops or houses. The ANC also collected regular contributions and supervised their expenditure. As the scale of fighting increased, the Committee became more and more preoccupied with such problems as identifying corpses, medical care for the wounded and disabled, and food and shelter for the destitute and orphans. Contact between the Haifa ANC and the Palestine AHC in Cairowas maintained through messengers and telephone conversations between Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim and Haj Amin al-Husayni, the mufti of Palestine and head of the AHC, in which the two gentlemen brushed up their Turkish in a valiant attempt to hoodwink the British CID and the Zionist espionage network. On 28 March, Captain Amin Izzeddin, a Lebanese Druze formerly of the Trans-Jordanian Frontier Force, arrived in Haifa as Huneidi’s successor. With Izzeddin came reinforcements of approximately platoon strength (30–40 men). Though too small to affect the overall balance of power, the reinforcements were welcome in view of the heavy losses incurred in the ambush in which Huneidi had lost his life ten days earlier. Izzeddin retained Naffa as his second-in-command.

Haifa and the Myth of the "Arab Evacuation Orders"

For some inexplicable reason, the Zionists have chosen Haifa to support their myth that the Arab authorities had an organized plan to evacuate the Arab inhabitants of Palestine as a preliminary to the invasion of the country by the regular Arab armies when the Mandate ended on 15 May. The present writer discussed this myth at length in his article in Middle East Forumin July 1959. There is no point in covering the same ground here. But since the Zionists seem to base their case on Haifa, it would seem relevant to ask why they single out Haifa. Haifawas not the first town to lose its Arab population; Tiberias had fallen three days earlier. Where are the evacuation orders for its Arab population? Nor was Tiberias the first locality to be occupied. Operation Nachshon, which preceded its fall, accounted for the occupation and destruction of a score of Arab villages and the expulsion of some 10,000 to 15,000 villagers. Where are the Arab evacuation orders in this case? Nor was Haifa the last Arab town to lose its Arab inhabitants before the end of the Mandate. There was Operation Jephtha, which began before (and continued well after) the fall of Haifa and “cleared the ground” between Tiberias and Safed, involving the conquest and evacuation of scores of Arab villages.

But to go back to Haifa: The specific directives not to leave the country addressed to the people of Palestine by the Arab League, the AHC for Palestine, and the Arab Liberation Armywere referred to in this writer’s article mentioned above. These directives applied to Haifa as much as they did to any other part of Palestine. Indeed, if anything, the AHC erred on the side of excessive zeal in opposing evacuation of whatever kind.

It is normal in all countries in time of war to evacuate women and children from endangered zones, particularly if the enemy’s land forces are nearby. But even this simple precaution the AHC would not countenance. This is clear from a copy of the telegram sent by AHC president Haj Amin to the AHC representative in Beirut on 3 March 1948. The telegram, which is initialed in its draft form by Haj Amin himself, reads: “The emigration of children and others fromPalestine to Syria and Beirut is detrimental to our interests. Contact the proper authorities in Damascus and Beirut to prevent it, and inform us of the result.”

But let us look more closely at the attitude of the Haifa National Committee. The Committee issued twelve communiques between its formation and the fall of the city. These communiques constituted its only public pronouncements and embodied all the orders and warnings it ever made to the Arabs of Haifa. The writer has been able to locate all twelve communiques. The following are their contents:

Communique 1 (6 December 1947) announces the formation of the committee and asks for the cooperation of all the Arabs. “Every Arab man and woman must be patient and display self-control. He must not listen to rumors. He must stay at his post or at his work whenever an incident occurs. This is both to insure his or her safety and to avoid confusion. The telephone numbers of the committee are 3540 and 2167. All incidents must be directly reported. Finally, no Arab must attack a fellow Arab; old enmities must be buried; large gatherings in the streets, open spaces, or cafes are not allowed; children must not play in groups; profiteering and lawless acts will be severely punished.”

Communique 2 (10 December 1947) categorically forbids public gatherings and individual acts and attacks (against the Zionists). Children must be kept either at school or at home and must not be allowed to play in groups on the streets.

Communique 3 (12 December 1947) starts with the words “Beware of Fifth Columnists” and goes on to say that some “vile and criminal” individuals are disseminating false reports and rumors among the public “which are designed to help the enemy by spreading panic and confusion.” This Fifth Column “has actually succeeded in its first round in influencing some people to leave their properties and houses, which have become an easy prey to the enemy who has seized and occupied them.” The communique ends by urging all Arabs to oppose confusion and defeatism.

Communique 4 (14 December 1947) announces the formation of local subcommittees which are to be in charge of security matters in all quarters. “These subcommittees are empowered to prevent people from abandoning their houses, particularly along the borders of the mixed Arab-Jewish areas.” The committee warns against public gatherings and calls upon tradesmen and shopkeepers to return to work.

Communique 5 (16 December 1947) comprises 25 specific requests which are largely a repetition of what had been said earlier viz. warnings against public gatherings, instructions about how to get in touch with the committee in case of need, etc. Request no. 11 is: “Carry on work as usual and do not neglect to open your shops and offices.” Request no. 13 reads: “Do not give in to warnings and threats and never desert your houses.”

Communique 6 (27 December 1947) refers to recent victims of attacks and calls upon Arabs not to give in to the temptations of retaliation. It asks for closer cooperation with the local committees and states that it will be very strict with those who, by taking the law into their own hands, encourage brigandage. The committee urges the public “each to apply himself to his work, the tradesman to open his shop, the laborer to carry on his work as usual.”

Communique 7 (29 December 1947, after the Zionists had rolled down a barrel bomb from Hadar Ha Carmel): The committee prays for the victims of the barrel bomb and asks that all firing (begun after the explosion) should cease “in the national interest” and that the public resume work as usual.

Communique 8 (8 January 1948 ) is about rationing and profiteering.

Communique 9 (8 January 1948 )is addressed to “employees in the oil companies, (British) army camps, and railways, to all Arab workers in Haifa and its district, and to Arab members of the police force and other Arab government officials.” The text is as follows: “The National Committee has undertaken to help you in all that pertains to your security and to safeguard your interests, both present and future. The committee believes that in no circumstances must you give up your jobs or delay in the performance of your duties. Members of the police are particularly requested to remain at their posts and are warned against attempting to abscond with theirweapons. Allmust stay at their work. Those who leave their work not only harm themselves by losing their means of livelihood, but they also harm their nation, for they pave the way to the employment of foreigners in their places. The committee believes that the country’s resources must remain in our hands. But this can only be insured if the workers in the oil companies and army camps and the government employees and members of the police force all remain at their posts. This is their national duty and theymust be fully aware of it. The committeewould like to assure you that it is watching over your interests and is ready to give you all the necessary protection.”

Communique 10 (1 March 1948 ) is a warning to lawless Arab elements. It announces the formation of a special security committee and special military and civilian tribunals to deal with offenders.

Communique 11 (18 March 1948 ) announces the death in action the day before of Lieutenant Huneidi, the garrison commander, and thirteen of his comrades and gives particulars of the time and place of the burial ceremonies.

Communique 12 (20 March 1948 ) triumphantly announces the American reversal of attitude on partition: “The Americans and their accomplices in support of partition (with the exception of Communist Russia) are in full retreat.” The committee, however, warns that all is not over yet. “We must persevere in our work and beware of surprise attacks and treachery. We must hold firm to our positions.” The communique, the last official Arab pronouncement to be made in Haifa before its fall, ends as follows: “The Committee would like to drawattention to the following points: (a) What has so far been achieved is only a preliminary victory; (b) we must avoid all clashes with the security forces and the army [i.e., the British] in the next phase. We must likewise continue our policy of not attacking government departments and installations. (c) We must avoid all individual acts. (d) Everyone must maintain his position and carry out all instructions and orders given to him. Long live Palestine, free, Arab, united, independent. Long live the memory of our martyrs.”

Wednesday, 21 April

The 21st was a Wednesday. To the Arabs it looked at first like any other day. There was firing in the early morning in various parts of the town, but there was nothing unusual about that. It certainly could not have occurred to the Arabs in Haifa that this was to be their last morning in their homes.

The impact of the British withdrawal on the Arab position was catastrophic. The Zionist foreknowledge of the British withdrawal enabled them to occupy, at no cost to themselves, the commanding and key points along the demarcation line previously held by the British. This not only vastly strengthened their already preponderant position over the Arabs below, but also presented the Arabs with a new facade of fire to which they had to adjust themselves in the heat of battle. The Zionists, in their knowledge of the direction of the British withdrawal, could decide at leisure where their main thrust was to be and could plan and orchestrate coordinated attacks from both the commercial center near the harbor and from Hadar Ha Carmel. The Arabs of Haifa were entirely cut off from the outside world. British road blocks on the roads to Jaffa, Nazareth, Acre, and Jenin stopped and pushed back Arab reinforcements from the neighboring villages. Tactically, there was very little the Arabs could do. A showdown was forced on the Arabs by the British at a time and in circumstances selected by the Zionists—and known by the British to have been so selected.

Thus, perhaps the least warlike urban population in the eastern Mediterranean was called upon to engage in a life and death struggle: facing an enemy entrenched in impregnable positions uphill and poised to pounce upon them, with their backs to the sea only 300 yards away, where crack units of the British army and Marines surveyed the scene with perhaps more than a flicker of professional curiosity. Above all, it was the element of surprise that counted. The psychological shock to the Arabs was all the more profound in that they had not felt any sense of urgency about Haifa. Their understanding and hope based on official British pronouncements was that the British would remain in Haifa for three months after the termination of the Mandate, since it was through Haifa’s harbor that the evacuation from Palestine was to be channeled.

Advancing Columns and Psychological Blitz

At 1:30 P.M. Farid Saad, a Haifa banker and member of the ANC,was invited to lunch at the house of Rafiq Beydoun, the senior district officer in the Mandate administration. Beydoun had also invited the British military commander of Haifa [General Stockwell], the British superintendent of police, and Beydoun’s superior, the British deputy district commissioner, together with a number of Haifa notables. Stockwell and the police superintendent excused themselves, but the deputy district commissioner, a Mr. Fitzpatrick, attended. According to Saad (Al-Kulliyah, April 1949), “On his arrivalMr. Fitzpatrick took me aside and hinted that the Army was on the point of withdrawing from the Arab quarters of the town, and that if I had the welfare of the Arab women and children at heart I should immediately contact the Jews and save innocent blood from being shed” (Saad had not yet heard of the Stockwell-Izzeddin meeting, and it is interesting that Fitzpatrick should have said that the British Army was “on the point of” withdrawing).

As they were talking, firing broke out. This was not the kind of firing that had become routine at that time of day, but rather, according to Saad, was “on a hitherto unprecedented scale.” In fact, the firing was connected to the capture of the Arab Najjadah building overlooking the Wadi Rushmiyya Bridge from the south, intended by the Zionists as the preliminary move before zero-hour, which they had set at sundown (Sacher, p. 243).

A few hours before sundown, from about 3 P.M. onwards, the Zionists launched what Kimche himself describes (Seven Fallen Pillars, p. 219) as “a psychological blitz.” According to Kimche: “Loudspeaker vans and leaflets were distributed calling on the Arab population to stand by for an important announcement, to keep away from foreign volunteers, and to stay indoors.” Arthur Koestler in Promise and Fulfillment (in the chapter entitled “David and Goliath,” p. 207) also describes this psychological blitz. “Haganah was using not only its radio station but also loudspeaker vans which blared their sinister news from the vicinity of the Arab suqs. They warned the Arab population to keep clear of the billets of the foreign mercenaries who had infiltrated into the town,warned them to send their women and children away before any new contingents of savage Iraqis arrived, promised them safe conduct and escorts to Arab territory, and hinted at terrible consequences if their warnings were disregarded.” After several hours of this, coming on top of the sound of the unusually severe battle for the Najjadah building, the Arab population of Haifa became restless and panicky. Farid Saad had still not gotten his interview with Stockwell.

Six-thirty P.M. was zero hour. The Zionists opened up with heavy machine guns and mortars. The lower parts of the town were shelled indiscriminately [fromHadar Ha Carmel], while the four Zionist columns tackled the nearer Arab obstacles. According to Saad, “this was quite different from what we had been accustomed to.” According to Sacher (p. 243), the shelling “caused much terror and some destruction.” The psychological blitzwas kept up simultaneously with the shelling, creating a strange cacophony of sounds. According to Kimche, (p. 219) “this procedure [i.e., the psychological blitz]was repeated throughout the evening until midnight.”

Stampede to the Harbor

The Zionist column from the commercial center had finally fought its way through the Old Town and linked up with the other columns. The state of panic and confusion in the Old Town had reached its climax, and there was a continuous mass stampede for the sea. According to Wilson, "While the Arabs were in full flight they were engaged by the advanced Jewish posts which inflicted a number of casualties on them. The British police did great work in restoring some measure of order outside the suq and minimizing the effect of panic, and the Royal Marines were equally outstanding in the port. The latter had three officers wounded by Jewish fire as they sought to control the stream of refugees." (p. 193)

The Zionists had also begun rounding up young [Arab] men for “interrogation.” Arab corpses were thrown into the thus-far unaffected residential quarters west of Carmel Avenue to frighten the middle-class Arab inhabitants remaining there. According to Koussa (Jewish Observer, 11 September 1959), the American consul, Mr. Aubry Lippincott, “saw the marks of floggings on the bodies of a number of Arabs.” Inside the Old Town, a most serious problem had arisen because of the dead bodies lying about. Eyewitness accounts say that volunteer Arab squads dug communal graves for Christian and Muslim Arabs because of the difficulties of identification.

Kimche toured the Arab suq that day (Seven Fallen Pillars, p. 220): “I walked later through the suq and saw the state of disorder in which the Arabs had left their homes, often not bothering to pick up silver and valuables which they could easily have carried in their hands.”

This is what the Zionists call a calculated policy sponsored by the Arab League and the Palestine Arab Higher Committee to evacuate the Arabs of Palestine as part of a carefully worked-out strategy to facilitate the entry of the Arab regular armies at the end of the British Mandate.