Here is a picture of the Palestinian home I grew up in. You can see the green gate where a traditional metal key belonging to a Palestinian family is probably kept somewhere.
After talking to two researchers, they have told me this house appears in several Nakba databases, like Bethlehem University one where I got this picture. It once belonged to the Dajani family, which was never compensated for the expropriation.
I grew up in stolen Palestinian land. Literally. What a shameful way to grow up. This is why I take this issue so personally.
Start at 14:53 in this interview if you want to know about AIPAC, the group that gives millions of dollars to my colleagues so they’ll support things like US involvement in Israel’s war against Iran. FWIW, AIPAC spent $400k against me last election and is banned from my office.
I grew up in a Palestinian home nestled in the German Colony. Most of the neighborhood was built by German Templars, but this house stood apart with its traditional Arab architecture. That’s why it stayed cool through the scorching summers and cozy in the chilly winters — perfectly designed for the climate.
The house features a large green gate with one of those classic heavy metal keyholes, so typical of Palestine. Somewhere out there, a family probably still holds the original key — a key that no longer fits, since the lock was swapped for a modern one back in the late 1990s.
My parents bought the house from a Jewish family in 1976. Today, I asked my father if he knew anything about the Palestinian family who lived there before us. He paused and said, “You’re right. There must have been a family here before ’48.” It was like the idea hadn’t crossed his mind before. Then he quickly changed the subject. That silence speaks volumes about how we handle the Nakba.