Transcript for the Piece Audio version of The Imaginary Village
Imaginary Village Script
By Sandy Tolan and Melissa Allison
INTRO: Fifteen million people around the world live as refugees. And while the details of what drove them from home may be different, the longing to return is almost universal. Producer Sandy Tolan says he's witnessed that longing again and again in his visits to the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. As he has traveled and reported in the region, an image has remained lodged in his mind, of an old woman carrying the key to a house that was destroyed in 1948, in a village that was wiped off the map. Our next story is produced by Sandy Tolan and Melissa Allison.
Abu Hani: This is the map of Palestine, contains all of the villages before the occupation of 1948. All the villages of Palestine.
And this is the name of our village. This is our village
YOU COULD BE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, REALLY: DETROIT
OR SAN FRANCISCO, SAN SALVADOR OR SYDNEY, PARIS,
BEIRUT, AMMAN, OR RAMALLAH ? AND THE EXILE WILL PUT
HIS INDEX FINGER ON A MAP OF OLD PALESTINE AND TELL
YOU:
Abu Hani: This is our village. This is.
I KNOW AN OLD MAN NAMED ABU HANI. WE MET IN RAMALLAH.
HE IN HIS SPORTCOAT AND TIE, VNECK SWEATER. AND SNOW
WHITE KEFFIYA HELD DOWN BY A DOUBLE BLACK BAND. ABU
HANI?S WET, SAD EYES SEEM ALWAYS TO BE LOOKING INTO
THE PAST.
Abu Hani: Always when I think of my village and see my ruined home, I cannot stop myself from weeping.
ABU HANI?S VILLAGE, DEIR ABAN, DOESN?T EXIST, EXCEPT
IN HIS MIND, AND IN THE PAGES OF A BOOK HE TOOK
DECADES TO ASSEMBLE.
[flipping]
Abu Hani: This is the village. The three mountains.
Some pictures. My wife eating figs. [flipping]
DEIR ABAN IS NOW AN IMAGINARY VILLAGE, FORGED BY ABU
HANI?S MEMORY AND LONGING. IT DID EXIST, UNTIL ABU
HANI WAS 13 AND A HALF, BACK IN 1948. HE SAYS, HE?S
STILL 13 AND A HALF. NOW WHAT?S LEFT OF THE VILLAGE IS
ABU HANI?S BOOK; SONGS OF THE FINEST WHEAT IN
PALESTINE; BROKEN STONES. AND DIRT. SOME OF THAT
DIRT HE TOOK WITH HIM TO THE WEDDING OF HIS NEPHEW IN
JORDAN.
Abu Hani: I believe the soil of Deiraban means many, many things. Therefore, I gave the soil to the nephew and his bride. All the audience in this hall were no speaking.
Music
THESE ARE IMAGES FROM THE IMAGINARY VILLAGE: RIPE
OLIVES BOUND FOR THE OIL PRESS. APRICOTS THAT GROW
PLUMPER, ORANGES THAT GROW SWEETER IN THE MEMORY,
EVERY YEAR SINCE 1948. WOVEN BIRDS ON THE BREAST PLATE
OF A PALESTINIAN DRESS. COINS FROM THE OTTOMANS, MADE
INTO JEWELRY. DYES FROM THE INDIGO OF PALESTINE. A
JAR OF DIRT, FOR A WEDDING PRESENT:
Abu Hani: [sigh] In Arabic I wrote, this is a gift for you from your village, earth Deiraban. Which says to you, don?t forget me.
Don?t forget your village
THE IMAGINARY VILLAGE IS THE PLACE THAT DISAPPEARED
HALF A CENTURY AGO. AFTER 1948, WHEN THREE QUARTERS
OF A MILLION PALESTINIANS FLED OR WERE DRIVEN OUT OF
THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL, WRECKING CREWS DESTROYED MANY
OF THEIR VILLAGES. NOW,HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ? SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH GENERATIONS ? WILL TELL YOU THEY ARE FROM A PLACE THAT DOESN?T EXIST. THEIR HOME IS THE HOMELAND THAT THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN. AND YET THEIR MOTHERS STILL CARRY THE KEYS; THEIR GRANDFATHERS, THE DEEDS TO THEIR HOMES, FROM 1948. AND IT IS THESE LANDS THAT MILLIONS STILL DREAM OF ? STILL INSIST ON ? RETURNING
TO.
Nadir: When I think of a picture, I think of a farm, like a plantation in a way. And when I wake up in the morning, I wake up to a nice smell. I wake up to the smell of my country. I eat from my land. I?m there with my family.
Man 1: There are stories about how fertile the land was. It bore olives, lemons and figs. But there were always stories about this amazing apricot tree in the yard. My parents used to stay that each branch would be heavy with apricots: an entire kilo, in one
cluster of apricots.
Hanine: I want to go to school there. And I want to
play with my friends. And I want to play hide-and-seek
between the trees.
Man #1: It has figs, many dif types of
figs. It has apples and pears. It has all kinds of things.
Man #1: And when he was young, he used to go to the forest, and he used to climb up the trees and pick all the pine cones. And then he used to use to break the green cones, so he could eat the kernel inside of them. So he?d stay all day, eating pine cones.
Music Break?
THE IMAGINARY VILLAGE CAN?T BE FOUND ON A MODERN MAP.
IT IS A PHANTOM VILLAGE ? PHANTOM, LIKE THE PAIN IN
THE LIMB OF AN AMPUTEE. SOMETHING LOST, THAT GOES ON
HURTING. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A REAL VILLAGE;
THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF THEM. THEN, THEY WERE GONE.
Music
Ali: It was dark; it was night. We walked between the hills. We walked all through the night. People tripped up. It was a long journey.
Music Break?
IT BEGAN IN MAY, 1948, WHEN JEWISH LEADERS IN PALESTINE PROCLAIMED THE BIRTH OF MODERN ISRAEL. ARAB GOVERNMENTS PLEDGED TO BLOCK THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW STATE. SOME SENT TROOPS WHO CAME TO THE AID OF ARAB VILLAGERS IN OLD PALESTINE; EVENTUALLY THOSE TROOPS WITHDREW, OUTMATCHED BY ISRAEL?S DETERMINED ARMY.
Fatima: Abu Saleem ? my husband -- he came running up the stairs, he was a young man at the time?and he said to me, "Come on, pack up. Pack up. We have to go." So I said to him, "Why should we go?" He said you know, the country is falling. The country is falling.
Fatima: He said you know, there could be some problems. Anyway, you?ll only have to leave for a short time. So just take whatever you can, light stuff with you.
Fatima: I said but where are we going to go to? He answered me we?ll go to Lebanon. We only have to go there for 15 days. And then they?ll be able to bring everything back.
Fatima: So we took our little daughter and just a couple of belongings, and we left everything else behind. And there were lots of people leaving with their children. We started off walking in the early morning. And we arrived in Ramesh at dawn. So we walked through the night. We walked all the way through the night. And when we got there, so many people had arrived from different places.
FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST, THEY WALKED TO GAZA.
FROM THE CENTRAL PLAIN, TO RAMALLAH AND EAST ACROSS THE RIVER JORDAN. THOSE WITH THE MEANS WENT
FURTHER INTO EXILE: TO CAIRO, TO LONDON, TO AMERICA.
BUT MOST CAMPED OUT CLOSER TO HOME: FROM THE GALILEE
AND THE VILLAGES AROUND HAIFA, THOUSANDS WENT NORTH,
INTO LEBANON. "JUST FOR FIFTEEN DAYS," THEY WERE TOLD.
THERE, AT THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF A STRANGE COUNTRY,
THEY COULD GAZE ACROSS THE FENCE AT THE LIGHTS OF
PALESTINE.
Man #: You know, when a child is born into the family, as this child starts speaking, we show them on this map, where our village is, where their village is.
ANOTHER MAP, ON A LIVING ROOM WALL IN A REFUGEE CAMP
NOT FAR FROM THE SOUTH LEBANON BORDER. THE CAMP IS
CALLED EIN AL HILWEH. WELLSPRING OF BEAUTY. ITS
CROWDED STREETS ARE STREWN WITH GARBAGE. AND THEY ARE
NAMED AFTER THE VILLAGES YOU CAN SEE ON THE MAP ?
PLACES THAT HAVEN?T EXISTED FOR FIFTY YEARS. THIS
FAMILY CAME HERE FOR FIFTEEN DAYS, 55 YEARS AGO. YET
THE CAMP IS STILL TEMPORARY; REPAIRS AND IMPROVEMENTS,
NEVER MADE. WHY BOTHER IF SOON, YOU?RE GOING HOME?
Man 3: And now, I bring my children, I used to bring my children, and I bring my grandchildren and tell them the story. And I often bring a pen and paper, and I will draw the neighborhood for them?every little alley way, and every house, and tell them who lived
where and how to get from one side of the neighborhood
to the other, and going out of the neighborhood, to the sort of hills above where we used to play.
Man 3: There's a tree there, and a tree there?and this is where the mayor's house is. This is where the girl's school is, this is where the boys school is?So I also let them know every bit of the town, not just our neighborhood. And I even have the smallest kid and he's absolutely fascinated looking at my drawings.
Young Woman: And if you ask me what is my dream, my dream is to die in Palestine, even though I don?t know it.
SHE DOESN?T KNOW IT. BUT SHE SAYS SHE IS WILLING TO
SACRIFICE FOR IT. THAT?S BECAUSE WHAT ENDURES IS NOT
ONLY IMAGINARY. WHAT ENDURES, IN THE REFUGEE CAMPS
ACROSS LEBANON AND JORDAN AND GAZA AND THE WEST BANK
AND SYRIA IS AN IDEA: PRESERVED IN UN RESOLUTIONS AND
SPOKEN FROM MILLIONS OF PALESTINIAN LIPS: THE RIGHT
OF RETURN. IN THE SAME SMALL LIVING ROOM, OPPOSITE THE
MAP OF AN IMAGINARY PALESTINE ? ON A WALL YOU COULD
POUND DOWN WITH YOUR FISTS ? HANGS A CHINESE RIFLE.
FROM ITS BARREL, A PLASTIC ROSE.
Ali: This is the son of my son, so it?s my grandson. He is the son of a martyr. My son was a martyr. His picture is on the other wall. The one with the star. And this also is my son, and he was also a
martyr. And this is my wife?s father, who was also a martyr. The two were martyred in the Israeli invasion.
FOR THIS WOMAN, AND FOR THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES
SCATTERED IN THE CAMPS ACROSS THE ARAB WORLD, OR
SERVING YOU BUTTERY DATE PASTRIES, AND COFFEE IN
DOLLHOUSE CUPS IN THE LIVING ROOMS OF AMMAN AND CAIRO,
THE DREAM OF RETURN IS NOT ONLY ENERGIZED BY MEMORY.
IT COMES FROM WHAT HAPPENED IN 1948, AND HOW IT
HAPPENED, AND HOW, THEY SAY, MUCH OF THE WORLD HAS YET
TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT.
Fatima: You know, I wouldn't have sacrificed my children, if it wasn't because I was living with Palestine. My children were newly weds, they'd only been married a couple of years. I sacrificed my
children. I am bringing up their children. And it's because of Palestine.
SOME PALESTINIANS REJECT THIS ATTACHMENT TO THE PAST.
ONE REFUGEE SAYS HE?S SICK OF PEOPLE MAKING A FETISH
OF MEMORY. OTHERS SAY THE FIXATION ON THE PAST
CREATES A MURDEROUS PRESENT. AND SO, WHY NOT JUST
MOVE ON? ONE SIDE WON AND THE OTHER LOST IN 1948 ?
TIME, FINALLY, TO BUILD A LIFE IN A NEW PLACE. AND
ANYWAY, IF THE VILLAGE IS GONE, ISN?T THE DREAM JUST
AN ILLUSION?
Suheil: I was on the barbed wire between Palestine and
Lebanon. I had my had in the air of Palestine, in the
atmosphere of Palestine. But I was on the barbed wire.
THIS IS A POLITICAL ACTIVIST NAMED SUHEIL. HE SPENDS
HIS DAYS WORKING FOR RETURN FROM A REFUGEE CAMP IN LEBANON. A FEW YEARS AGO HE DROVE TO THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE COUNTRY, AND STUCK HIS HAND THROUGH THE FENCE.
Suheil: I saw the Israelis moving in the land there,
army and civilians. It was sitting there, immobilized. You can?t step one step forward, towards your country, toward your dream.
It was one of the worst moments I had ever in my life.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE LAY SOMETHING STILL
IMAGINARY? AND THEN, SUHEIL?S MOTHER GOT PERMISSION TO
VISIT HER OLD HOME, ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST.
SUDDENLY THE IMAGINARY VILLAGE BECAME REAL.
Suheil: When she got the opportunity to visit Akah, she went there, she was realizing that the life and the facts there are different from what she has in mind as dreams and hopes. and my mother was saying all the time, "This is not what I dreamt. This is not the return I would like to do.
A REAL RETURN COULD NEVER BE AS SWEET AS THOSE DREAMS
OF AN EVER MORE PERFECT, IMAGINARY VILLAGE. BUT WHEN
REALITY IS EXILE, RETURN SEEMS THE ONLY THING WORTH
DREAMING OF.
Fatima: This is not my house. This is not my home, you know? This is not my land. Anytime the person who owns this land?the government, whoever it is?they can come, knock on my door and say, "okay, you have to leave."
They can bring the bulldozers in. They can knock it down. They can kick me out. They can send me somewhere else. This doesn?t belong to me. My home is there?with my family, on my land. Where my parents were. Where their parents were. Where my brothers and sisters are. That?s my home. That belongs to me.
OUTRO: That piece was produced by Sandy Tolan and Melissa Allison for Homelands Productions. It is part of the Worlds of Difference series on global cultural change.
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