On the Anniversary of Deir Yassin

On the Anniversary of Deir Yassin - A Remembrance
(excerpt from Sabeel's Contemporary Way of the Cross Handbook)

The establishment of the State of Israel brought with it the tragic destruction of 513 indigenous, Palestinian villages, dispossessing some 750,000 residents. One of the most horrific incidences during this campaign of ethnic cleansing occurred in the village of Deir Yassin. On April 9, 1948, this thriving Palestinian community of 600 suffered a massacre of approximately 120 men, women, and children at the hands of Zionist Jewish military and Zionist underground gangs. Eyewitness accounts relate the execution, rape, and torture of Palestinian men, women, and children. This atrocity occurred with the prior knowledge and assistance of the Haganah (which later became the Israeli Defense Forces), and despite the fact that the community of Deir Yassin had a previous agreement of peaceful co-existence with the neighboring Jewish population within Jerusalem. Apart from the tragedy inflicted upon the residents of Deir Yassin, the massacre served as a catalyst to generate fear and flight among Palestinian populations throughout the country. The Haganah, employing a propaganda campaign to "encourage" Palestinian exodus from Jerusalem, would broadcast messages in Arabic of "Remember Deir Yassin" or "Unless you leave your homes, the fate of Deir Yassin will be your fate," over radio broadcasts and loudspeaker vans. Some of the buildings that remain are used by the Israelis for an institution for the mentally ill.

Station Three: Destroyed Villages

Poem (by Fadwa Tuqan)

The heart said:

What have the troubles done to you, homes,
And where are your inhabitants-
Have you received news of them?
Here where they used to be, and dream,
And draw their plans for the morrow-
Where's the dream and the future now?
And where have they gone?
The rubble stayed silent.
Nothing spoke but the absence.

Prayer

O God:

You bring hope out of emptiness
Energy out of fear
New life out of grief and loss.
As Mary returned to mourn
Yet found unspeakable joy,
So comfort all who have lost their homes
Through persecution, war, exile,
Or deliberate destruction.
Give them security, a place to live,
And neighbors they trust
To be, with them,
A new sign of peace to the world.
Amen

Scripture (from Micah 2:2-3, Micah 3:9-11)

They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away;
They oppress householder and house, People and their inheritance.

Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong!