Left: Abla Dajani, 18, at her home in #Jerusalem in 1948
Right: Abla, now 92, walks past her old home like a stranger. It's been taken over by Israelis since 1948
"A lifetime of beautiful memories hit me with a force that took my breath away... [but] I was not allowed to enter"
Right: Abla, now 92, walks past her old home like a stranger. It's been taken over by Israelis since 1948
"A lifetime of beautiful memories hit me with a force that took my breath away... [but] I was not allowed to enter"
2\ Abla's family fled to Egypt in 1948, thinking they would return in a few days.
Her father was allowed into the neighborhood a week later with a special permit he got through the Belgian ambassador, but only to visit, not return.
He found another family in their home.
Her father was allowed into the neighborhood a week later with a special permit he got through the Belgian ambassador, but only to visit, not return.
He found another family in their home.
3\ "All furniture & family belongings had been stolen, including the jewelry that my mom hid in the window shutters." Abla recalled, "The only things surviving the robbery were the family albums that I cherish till this day."
#Israel never allowed the family to claim their home.
#Israel never allowed the family to claim their home.
4\ In 1970, #Israel passed a law that exclusively gives Jewish Israelis the right to reclaim #Jerusalem properties that were once owned by Jews before 1948, even if they were compensated.
The law doesn't apply to Israeli Arabs or Palestinian Jerusalemites like Abla.
The law doesn't apply to Israeli Arabs or Palestinian Jerusalemites like Abla.
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