8 Friday, October 2, 2020 | Haaretz SUKKOT

Ofer Aderet we have become as all the nations.” *** “All along the way there is no house, e turned a ma- no store, no workshop from which ev- hogany closet into erything was not taken… Things of a chicken coop ‘Like a swarm of locusts’ value and of no value – everything, and we swept up literally! You are left with a shocked the garbage with a impression by this picture of ruins and “Wsilver tray. There was chinaware with Refrigerators and caviar, champagne and carpets – a first-ever comprehensive study heaps of rubble, among which men are gold embellishments, and we would by historian Adam Raz reveals the extent to which Jews looted Arab property in wandering, poking through the rags in spread a sheet on the table and place order to get something for nothing. Why chinaware and gold on it, and when 1948, and explains why Ben-Gurion stated: ‘Most of the Jews are thieves’ not take? Why have pity?” – Ruth Lu- the food was finished, everything was bitz, testimony about looting in Jaffa taken together to the basement. In another place, we found a storeroom Raz, 37, is on the staff of the Akevot with 10,000 boxes of caviar, that’s Institute (which focuses on human- what they counted. After that, the guys rights issues related to the conflict), couldn’t touch caviar again their whole and edits the journal Telem for the life. There was a feeling on one hand Berl Katznelson Foundation. (He is of shame at the behavior, and on the also a frequent contributor of histori- other hand a feeling of lawlessness. We cal pieces to Haaretz.) Though he does spent 12 days there, when not possess a doctoral degree, his ré- was groaning under horrible shortages, sumé includes a number of studies that and we were putting on weight. We ate could easily have served as the basis chicken and delicacies you wouldn’t for a Ph.D. thesis – about the Kafr believe. In [the headquarters at] Notre Qasem massacre, the Israeli nuclear Dame, some people shaved with cham- project and Theodor Herzl. The loot- pagne.” ing of Arab property by Jews has been – Dov Doron, in testimony about loot- written about before, but Raz is appar- ing in Jerusalem ently the first to have devoted an entire *** monograph to the subject. On July 24, 1948, two months after “Unlike other researchers who have establishment of the State of , Da- written about the war, I view the loot- vid Ben-Gurion, head of the provision- ing as an event of far greater order al government, voiced some extreme than what has been said about it pre- criticism about its people: “It turns out viously,” the historian notes. “In the that most of the Jews are thieves… I book, I show how disturbed most of the say this deliberately and simply, be- decision makers were about the looting cause unfortunately it is true.” His and the dangers it posed to Jewish so- comments appear in black and white ciety, and the degree to which it was a in the minutes of a meeting of the Cen- contentious issue among them.” tral Committee of , the forerun- He also maintains that there has ner of Labor, stored in the Labor Party been a “conspiracy of silence” about Archives. the phenomenon. As a result, even now, “People from the Jezreel Valley in 2020, colleagues who read the book stole! The pioneers of the pioneers, prior to its publication were “surprised parents of [pre-state com- by its scale,” he says. mando force] children! And everyone He describes the plundering of took part in it, baruch Hashem, the Arab property by Jews as a “singu- people of [] Nahalal!... This is lar” phenomenon, because the loot- a general blow. It’s appalling, because ers were civilians (Jews) who stole it shows a basic flaw. Theft and robbery from their civilian neighbors (Arabs). – and where does this come to us from? “These were not abstract ‘enemies’ Why have the people of the land – build- from across the seas, but yesterday’s ers, creators, pioneers – come to deeds neighbors,” he says. like this? What happened?” On what grounds do you claim that The protocol was unearthed by his- this was a singular event? History torian Adam Raz in the course of his , April 1948. “As they fought and conquered with one hand, the fighters found time to loot, among other items, sewing machines, record players and clothing, with the shows that in World War II, the Pol- research for his new book which, as other hand,” according to one observer. Fred Chesnik / IDF and Defense Establishment Archive ish public also looted the property of its title suggests, addresses a highly their Jewish neighbors, who had lived charged, sensitive and volatile issue: alongside them peacefully for centu- “Looting of Arab Property in the War Jewish community in ] with shops broken into and its homes emp- chy reigned,” added Zadok Eshel, from gency Committee. The army’s Judi- ries. Maybe this is a response that’s of Independence” (Carmel Publishing a grave material temptation… pas- ty of occupants… The most shameful the Carmeli Brigade. “Along with the cial Service Staff, part of the military not unique to our case? Maybe it’s hu- House, in association with the Akevot sions of revenge, moral justification spectacle was of people rummaging joy at the city’s liberation and the relief justice apparatus, noted, in a document man nature? Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Con- and material allurement tripped up a among the heaps that remained af- after months of blood-soaked incidents, entitled “Epidemic of Looting and Rob- Raz: “Looting in wartime is an an- flict Research; in Hebrew). The task great many… Events on the ground ter the great robbery. One sees the it was shocking to see the eagerness of bery”: “This affliction has spread to all cient historical phenomenon that is he undertook was daunting: to collect, rolled down a slope unchecked.” same humiliating sights everywhere. civilians to take advantage of the vacu- the units and all the officer ranks… documented in texts thousands of years for the first time in a single volume, all The testimony of Haim Kremer, who I thought: How could it be? This should um and raid the homes of people whom The robberies and the pillage have as- old. My book does not deal with the existing information about the pillag- served in the Palmach’s Negev Brigade never have been allowed to happen.” a cruel fate had turned into refugees.” sumed appalling dimensions, and our phenomenon in general, but with the ing of Arab property by Jews during and was sent to Tiberias to prevent Netiva Ben-Yehuda, an iconic Pal- Yosef Nachmani, who visited Haifa soldiers are occupied with this work Israeli-Arab-Palestinian case. It was the 1947-49 Israeli War of Indepen- looting, was found in the Yad Tabenkin mach fighter who took part in the battle after it was taken by the Jewish forces, to an extent that endangers their pre- important for me to emphasize that the dence – from Tiberias in the north to Archive, in Ramat Gan. “Like locusts, for Tiberias, was uncompromising in wrote, “Old people and women, irre- paredness for battle and their devotion looting of Arab property was different Be’er Sheva in the south; from Jaffa the residents of Tiberias swarmed into her description of the events. “Such spective of age and religious status, are to their tasks.” from ‘regular’ wartime looting. These to Jerusalem via the villages, mosques the houses… We had to resort to blows pictures were known to us. It was the all busy looting. And no one is stopping Members of the Communist Party weren’t American soldiers, for exam- and churches scattered between them. and clubs, to beat them back and force way things had always been done to them. Shame and disgrace overwhelm also spoke out on the subject. In a ple, who plundered the Vietnamese, or Raz pored over 30 archives around the them to leave things on the ground,” us, in the Holocaust, throughout the me; there’s a desire to spit on the city memorandum to the People’s Admin- Germans thousands of kilometers form country, perused newspapers of that Kremer stated. world war, and all the pogroms. Oy, and leave it. This will take its revenge istration (the provisional government home. These were civilians who loot- era and examined all extant literature The diary of Yosef Nachmani, a Ti- how well we knew those pictures. And on us and in the education of the youth cabinet) and headquarters, ed their neighbors across the street. I on the subject. The result is shattering. berias resident who had been a founder here – here, we were doing these aw- and the children. People have lost all the party referred to “a campaign don’t mean that they necessarily knew “Many parts of the Israeli public – of the Hashomer Jewish defense orga- ful things to others,” she wrote. “We sense of shame, acts like these under- of looting, robbery and theft of Arab Ahmed or Noor whose property they civilians and soldiers alike – were in- loaded everything onto the van – with mine the society’s moral foundations.” stole, but that the neighbors were part volved in looting the property of the a terrible trembling of the hands. And So widespread was the looting and of a shared social civil fabric. Arab population,” Raz tells Haaretz. that wasn’t because of the weight. Even theft that the general prosecutor who “The Jews from Haifa and the area “The pillaging spread like wildfire Palmachnik Kremer: ‘Units now my hands are shaking, just from accompanied the fighting forces in Nachmani, of the Haganah: who looted the property of close to among that public.” It involved the writing about it.” Haifa, Moshe Ben-Peretz, stated in 70,000 Arabs in Haifa, for example, contents of tens of thousands of homes, of the Haganah… came in Tiberias, conquered by the Jew- June 1948: “There is nothing [left] to ‘Old people and women knew the Arabs whose homes they stores and factories, of mechanical cars and boats and loaded ish forces in April 1948, was the first take from [the] Arabs. Simply a po- irrespective of age and pillaged. That was certainly the case equipment, farm produce, cattle and mixed, Jewish-Arab city to be taken in grom… And the commanders all have also in the mixed cities and the vil- more, he continues. Also included were all kinds of objects… The the War of Independence. It was “an excuses; ‘I just got here two weeks ago,’ religious status, are busy lages that existed next to kibbutzim pianos, books, clothing, jewelry, furni- Jewish crowd in Tiberias archetype in miniature of everything etc. There is no one to detain.” looting. Shame and and moshavim. The book is rife with ture, electrical appliances, engines and that would take place in the months *** examples attesting to the fact that the cars. Raz has left to others investiga- burst in. It left a very harsh ahead in the country’s Arab and mixed “There were so many houses in disgrace overwhelm me. looters knew that what they were do- tion of the fate of the land and buildings cities,” Raz says. In the course of his ruins, and smashed furniture lying ing was immoral. Furthermore, the left behind by the 700,000 Arabs who impression, the ugliness of research, he discovered that no official amid the heaps of rubble. The doors This will take its revenge on public knew that the majority of the fled or were expelled in the war. He it… Our struggle is harmed data exist about the looting, its physical of the houses on both side of the street us and in the education of Palestinian community had not taken focuses on movables only, items that and monetary scope. But clearly, such were broken into. Many objects from an active part in the fighting. In most could be stuffed into bags or loaded at its moral level.’ acts took place extensively in every the houses lay scattered on the side- the youth and the children.’ cases, in fact, the looting took place af- onto vehicles. such town. walks… On the threshold of the house ter the fighting, in the days and weeks Ben-Gurion is not the only senior Indeed, Raz found accounts similar was a cradle leaning on its side, and following the ’ flight and figure Raz quotes. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, to those about Tiberias in documenta- a naked doll, somewhat crushed, was expulsion.” Ben-Gurion’s fellow law student de- nization, was deposited in its archive tion of the battle for Haifa, which took lying next to it, its face pointing down. property in frightening dimensions.” Still, it’s not the only case of its kind. cades earlier, and later Israel’s second and contains the following entry about place a few days later, on April 21 and Where is the baby? Which exile did he Indeed, “The great majority of the “As a historian, I am not an advocate president, also mentioned the phenom- events in his city in 1948: “The Jewish 22. “As they fought and conquered go into? Which exile?” homes of the Arab residents have been of comparative history, and I didn’t enon. According to his account, those mob rampaged and started to loot the with one hand, the fighters found time – Moshe Carmel, commander of the emptied of all valuables, the merchan- find that much could be gleaned about who engaged in looting were “‘decent’ shops… By the dozens and dozens, in to loot, among other items, sewing Carmeli Brigade, about the looting in dise and commodities have been stolen the Israeli case from pillaging that took Jews who view the act of robbery as groups, the Jews proceeded to rob the machines, record players and cloth- Haifa from the shops, and the machines have place in history.” natural and permissible.” In a letter, Arabs’ homes and shops.” ing, with the other hand,” according to been removed from the workshops and *** dated June 2, 1948, to Ben-Gurion Many soldiers, too, “didn’t hang Zeev Yitzhaki, who fought in the city’s Members of the Yishuv’s Chamber factories.” From Haifa, Raz’s book moves to Je- quoted by Raz, Ben-Zvi wrote that what back and joined in the festivities,” Halisa neighborhood. of Commerce and Industry had warned After the conquest of Haifa, Ben- rusalem, where the looting went on for was happening in Jerusalem was doing wrote Nahum Av, the Haganah com- “People grabbed whatever they about possible looting. “In the future Gurion wrote in his diary about “total months, he says. He quotes the diary “dreadful” damage to the honor of the mander of the Old City of Tiberias, in could… Those with initiative opened we will stand before history, which will and complete robbery” in the Wadi of Moshe Salomon, a company com- Jewish people and the fighting forces. his memoirs. Jewish soldiers who had the abandoned shops and loaded the address the subject,” they wrote to the Nisnas neighborhood, perpetrated by mander who fought in the city: “We “I cannot remain silent about the rob- just done battle against Arabs were merchandise onto every vehicle. Anar- pre-state leadership body the Emer- the Irgun, the pre-state militia led by were all swept up by it, privates and bery, both [that which is] organized by posted at the entrance to the Old City, , and Haganah forces. officers alike. Everyone was seized by groups and [that which is] unorganized, he wrote, in order to prevent Jewish “There were cases in which Haganah a craving for possessions. They rum- by individuals,” he wrote. “Robbery residents from breaking into the homes people, including commanders, were maged through every house, and some has become a general phenomenon… of Arabs. They were armed “when con- found with stolen items,” he wrote. A found food, others found expensive ob- Everyone will agree that our thieves fronting Jews who tried to force their few days later, in a meeting of the Jew- jects. The mania attacked me, too, and fell upon the abandoned neighborhoods way into the city with the aim of rob- ish Agency executive, not- I was barely able to stop myself. In this like locusts on a field or an orchard.” bing and looting.” Throughout the day, ed that “in the first day or two [follow- regard there is no limit to what people Raz’s thorough archival work “crowds thronged around the barriers ing the city’s conquest], the situation in will do… It’s here that the moral and turned up countless quotes, which and tried to burst in. The soldiers were the area of conquests was grim. In the human slope starts, so one can under- make for painful reading, from senior compelled to resist with force.” sector taken by the Irgun, especially, stand the meaning of the doctrine that and junior figures in the Israeli pub- In this connection, Kremer noted not a thread was left in [any] house.” says that moral values and humanity lic and establishment, from leaders to that “there was competition between Reports about the looting also ap- become blurred in war.” low-ranking troops. different units of the Haganah… who peared in the press. At the end of 1948, Yair Goren, a Jerusalem resident, In an archival file of the Custodian came in cars and boats and loaded all Aryeh Nesher, Haaretz’s Haifa corre- related that “the hunt for booty was in- of Absentees’ Property (i.e., property kinds of objects… refrigerators, beds spondent, wrote, “It turns out that the tense… Men, women and children scur- owned by Palestinians who left their and so on.” He added: “Naturally, the Jewish people has also learned this pro- ried hither and thither like drugged homes or the country after passage of Jewish crowd in Tiberias burst in to do fession [theft], and very thoroughly, as mice. Many quarreled over one item the Nov. 29, 1947, UN partition resolu- likewise. It left a very harsh impres- is customary with Jews. ‘Hebrew labor’ or another in one of the heaps, or over tion, which was seized by the Israeli sion on me, the ugliness of it. It stains now exists in this vocation, too. Indeed, a number of items, and it reached the government), Raz located a 1949 report our flag… Our struggle is harmed at the scourge of thefts has struck Haifa. point of bloodshed.” by Dov Shafrir, the official custodian, its moral level… disgraceful… such a All circles of the Yishuv took part in it, The operations officer of the Harel which states: “The panicky mass flight moral decline.” irrespective of ethnic community and Brigade, Eliahu Sela, described how of the Arab residents, leaving behind People were seen “wandering be- country of origin. New immigrants and “pianos and armchairs in gold and immense property in hundreds and tween the looted shops and taking former denizens of Acre Prison, long- crimson were loaded onto our trucks. thousands [of] apartments, stores, whatever remained after the shame- time residents from both East and West It was awful. It was awful. Fighters saw warehouses and workshops, the aban- ful theft,” Nahum Av added in his ac- without discrimination… And where a radio and said, ‘Hey, I need a radio.’ donment of crops in the fields and fruit count. “I patrolled the streets and saw are the police?” A reporter for Maariv, Then they saw a dinner set. They threw in gardens, orchards and vineyards, all a city which until not long beforehand who took part in a tour of Jerusalem out the radio and took the dinner set… this amid the tumult of the war… con- had been more or less normal. Whereas Raz. “The looting of Arab property... exerted, and continues to exert, considerable in July 1948, wrote, “Bring judges and fronted the fighting Yishuv [pre-1948 now it was a ghost town, plundered, its influence on the relations between the two people who share this land.” Tomer Appelbaum police officers to Jewish Jerusalem, for Continued on page 12 12 Friday, October 2, 2020 | Haaretz SUKKOT

scribe the plundering of Jewish property start dealing with closets, refrigera- ‘LOCUSTS’ in Arab countries after the Jews fled or tors, pianos and with the property in were expelled from them. Wouldn’t it the thousands of homes and shops that have been proper to refer to that? were left behind. They fled in a hurry Continued from page 8 “The book is a historical document, and the great majority of them thought not an indictment. Let me tell you a they would be back in a short time. The Soldiers pounced on bedding. They load- story. I was invited to deliver a lec- country was emptied of its Arab popula- ed and loaded [things] in their coats.” ture at Ariel University [in the West tion within a span of days, and civilians David Werner Senator, one of the Bank] in the wake of the publication and soldiers moved quickly to plunder leaders of Brit Shalom, which advo- of my book about the Kafr Qassem their possessions. cated Arab-Jewish coexistence in one massacre. At the end, someone in the “The Arab fighting forces, the state, and a senior administrator at the audience, who was apparently over- great majority of whom were not lo- Hebrew University of Jerusalem, de- wrought by what I had said, asked cal residents, also engaged in looting. scribed what he saw: “These days, when me, ‘Why didn’t you write about the But the scale is completely different. you pass through the streets of Rehavia massacre that the Arabs perpetrated And, of course, the conquests of the [an upscale Jerusalem neighborhood], against the Jews in Hebron in 1929?’ Arab fighters were, happily, quite few. you see everywhere old people, young Well, the title of this book is ‘Looting , which was taken folk and children returning from Kat- of Arab Property by Jews in the War by Egyptian forces, was looted and amon or other neighborhoods with bags of Independence.’ It’s not ‘Looting and subjected to massive destruction. I filled with stolen objects. The booty is robbery in the history of the Israeli- do note in certain places (in the case diverse: refrigerators and beds, clocks Arab conflict from the First to of Jaffa or the Etzion Bloc, say) that and books, undergarments and cloth- the Trump Plan.’ the Arab forces engaged in looting. ing… What a disgrace the Jewish rob- “I think that the looting of Arab prop- Even the British did some pillaging bers have brought on us, and what moral erty during the war is a singular and dis- in the tumult of the hasty evacuation. ruin they have brought on us! Clearly, tinctive case – at least singular enough But not on the same scale. You have a terrible licentiousness is spreading to understand that the Jewish forces among both younger and older people.” captured Tiberias, Haifa, West Jeru- An operations officer in the Etzioni salem, Jaffa, Acre, Safed, Ramle, Lod Brigade, Eliahu Arbel, described sol- ‘The great majority of Arabs and other locales. On the other side, diers “wrapped in Persian rugs” that the Arab fighters captured, for exam- they had stolen. One night, he came thought they would be back ple, Kibbutz , Nitzanim Haifa, 1948. The pillaging, says Raz, “was tolerated” by the leadership, and first and foremost by Ben-Gurion – despite his across a suspicious armored vehicle. in a short time. The country and the Etzion Bloc. condemnations in official forums. Fred Chesnik / IDF and Defense Establishment Archive “We discovered that it was filled with “Haifa, for example, had a population refrigerators, record players, carpets was emptied of its Arab of 70,000 Jews and a similar number of and what have you.” The driver said to population within days, Arabs before the war. After the Israeli ask. The sight of the empty city and the ful table and stole it, considered the achieve his purposes. The reason [for him, “Give me your address, I’ll bring conquest of Arab Haifa, around 3,500 taking of all the possessions of its inhab- matter carefully and said to himself, “I such an approach] lies in the fact that whatever you want to your house.” Ar- and civilians and soldiers Arabs were left in the city. The property itants, and the questions all this aroused am stealing this table so that its owners there is a substantive difference be- bel continues: “I didn’t know what to do. quickly plundered their of the 66,500 Arabs who fled from the in me, haunted me for years.” will not be able to return, for political tween the looting by masses of Jewish Arrest him? Kill him? I told him, ‘Get city was looted by the Jews, not by the – Fawzi al-Asmar, about the looting reasons”? citizens of the property of Palestinians the hell out of here!’ And he drove off.” possessions.’ beaten and frightened Arab minority.” in Lod “The person who looted his neigh- who left their homes, shops and farms, Subsequently, he recalled, “A neighbor What befell the looters? Archival doc- bor’s property was not aware of the pro- and the collection of the property by told my wife that an electric refrigera- uments show that between dozens and Following a comprehensive discus- cess in which he was an accomplice to a an authorized institution. Socially and tor could be had cheaply in a certain hundreds of cases were opened against sion about the plundering that went on political line that aimed to prevent the politically, it’s significantly different. store. I went to the store and encoun- to write a book about it. I think that this suspected looters, both civilians and in the country, Raz turns to its political Arabs’ return. But the moment you en- “And that was exactly the point of tered the man from the armored ve- plundering of property exerted, and con- soldiers. However, Raz points out, “As a implications. “This is not purely an ac- ter your neighbor’s building and remove Ben-Gurion’s critics: that the looting hicle there. He said, ‘For you, 100 liras!’ tinues to exert, considerable influence rule, the punishments were always light, count of looting, it is a political story,” the property of the Arab family that was creating a corrupt society and ‘Aren’t you ashamed?!’ I said to him. He on the relations between the two people if not ridiculous,” ranging from a fine to he writes. The pillaging, he maintains, had been living there until the day be- served the line of segregation drawn replied, ‘If you’re an idiot, I have to be who share this land. The book shows, on six months in jail. Raz’s opinion was ap- “was tolerated” by leaders in the po- fore, you have less motivation for them between Arabs and Jews. Ministers ashamed?’” the basis of much documentation, that parently shared by some of the cabinet litical and the military arenas, and first to return in another month or another and decision makers, such as the *** an integral part of the Jewish public ministers, as is attested to by correspon- and foremost by Ben-Gurion – despite year. The passive partnership between minister of minority affairs, Bechor “I brought a few fine things from took part in the looting and theft of the dence from 1948. his condemnations in official forums. a specific political approach and the in- Shalom-Sheetrit, and Zisling and Ka- Safed. For Sara and me I found exqui- property of more than 600,000 people. Justice Minister Pinhas Rosen wrote, Moreover, according to Raz, the loot- dividual looter also had a long-term in- plan, were critical of the plundering sitely embroidered Arab dresses, and It doesn’t resemble the pogroms and the “Everything that has been done in this ing “played a political role in shaping fluence. It reinforced the political idea by individuals. In their view, one au- they might be able to alter them for us robbery carried out by the Arabs dur- area is a disgrace to the State of Israel, the character of Israeli society. It was that espoused segregation between the thority, effective and with concrete here. Spoons and kerchiefs, bracelets ing the Palestine riots. The plundering and there is no appropriate response allowed to proceed apace with no inter- peoples in the years after the war.” power, should have been created to ag- and beads, a Damascene table and a of Jewish property in the Arab states – a by the government.” His colleague, ference. That fact calls for a political Without justifying the thieves, what gregate all the property and see to its set of gorgeous coffee demitasses made fascinating subject in itself – is also un- Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling, explanation.” do you think should have been done distribution and handling. Ben-Gurion of silver, and above all, yesterday Sara related to my book, whose first section complained that “the greatest robbery And what is that explanation, as you with this property? Transfer it to the objected to this idea and torpedoed it.” brought a huge Persian carpet, totally is intended to describe the looting as a in the few cases of trials… received the see it? Red Cross? Distribute it to the Jews in What did you take away personally new and beautiful, beauty like I never widespread phenomenon over the span lightest punishment.” Finance Minister “The plundering was a means to real- an “orderly” way? from the comprehensive research you saw before. A living room like that can of many months, and whose second sec- Eliezer Kaplan wondered “whether this ize the policy of emptying the country “The question is not what I, the his- conducted, beyond the historical docu- compete with that of all the rich folk of tion explains how such acts are interwo- is the way to do battle against robbery of its Arab residents. First, in the simple torian, would want to happen to the mentation? As a person, as a Jew, as a .” ven with a political approach.” and thefts.” sense, the looting turned the looters into Arab property. To offer recommenda- Zionist? – A Palmach fighter, about the looting You write that “there is no compari- *** criminals. Second, it turned the looters tions 70 years after the events is inane. “The looting of Arab property and of Safed son between the scale of looting” by the “The people who came with the who perpetrated individual acts willy- The book shows that there were deci- the conspiracy of silence around it con- Arabs and that of the Jews, and that in trucks went from house to house and nilly into accomplices to the political sit- sion makers who were critical of what stitute to this day actions with which the There are only marginal references any case most of the Arab plunderers removed the valuable items: beds, mat- uation – passive partners in a political- was happening in real time, both at the Jewish public, and the Zionist public, of in Raz’s book to the reverse phenome- “were from neighboring countries and tresses, closets, kitchen utensils, glass- policy approach that strove to void the level of the events on the ground and which I am a part, must come to terms. non: cases in which Arabs looted Jewish not local residents.” What is the basis of ware, sofas, curtains and other objects. land of its Arab residents, with a vested at the political level. They thought that Martin Buber said in this context (in property. that assertion? When I returned home, I wanted very interest in not allowing them to return.” the fact that Ben-Gurion had permit- a letter written at the time), ‘Inner re- In a footnote you write, “Arabs, too, “It’s a simple matter. The Arab resi- much to ask my mother why they were That may be so in certain cases, but ted the looting was intended to create demption cannot be acquired unless we looted and pillaged during the war.” One dents fled or were expelled – and fast. doing this – after all, that property be- do you really think that the ordinary a particular political and social reality, stand and look into the face of the lethal might also wonder why you didn’t de- They didn’t have the time or ability to longs to someone… But I didn’t dare person on the street who saw a beauti- and was a tool in Ben-Gurion’s hands to character of the truth.’”

Itay Levy, 23; lives in stay there, where everything is familiar. Arrivals | Departures Yael Benaya, Photos by Tomer Appelbaum I’m not sure what to tell her. We used to Modi’in, arriving from help her in whatever way we could, but even we haven’t been able to manage New York here completely. Every day you learn something new. Hi, where are you coming from? Why did you choose Eilat, of all plac- New York. Two months ago, we es? flew to Los Angeles and did a coast- The first time we visited Israel, we to-coast trip in a van. Friends of ours really loved Eilat and decided to go bought it last year, refurbished it, straight there. I loved the landscape, the used it and then left it with a relative. sea, the fact that everything is close by. He was just waiting for someone to But the truth is that in the past two years come and take it. I’ve been at the beach maybe five times. Where did you get the idea? Whenever I’m on a break, I’m so tired A friend suggested we make the trip. that I don’t want to leave the house. I also It was during exam period, there was got burned; we went to Timna a month the coronavirus, I had no money, so I ago and I got a sunburn. You can still see told him it wasn’t going to happen. A the stripes on my hand, and I prefer to quarter of an hour later, we agreed that stay home. we’d go for it. How do Israel and differ? What happened in that quarter of People are a little calmer in Ukraine, an hour? and here it was hard for me to get used First of all, I realized that it would to everyone shouting all the time, in be relatively cheap, because the van every line, in every shop you enter. I was already there. We didn’t slum it; can’t say that they are angry or any- we lived well but we always cooked thing, but they’re always shouting. And in the van and hardly ever ate out. nothing is orderly. There weren’t many attractions to Such as what? pay for. Almost all we did was hike in The way I was drafted. I live in Ei- parks. We flew out three days decid- lat and the recruiting office is in Be’er ing, and returned at the last possible Sheva. I had a medical problem, with moment. Overall, we were guided blood pressure, and the doctor gave me by the parks, wherever there were a few months to complete all the tests, beautiful things to see. And also what food there. We saw a few local folks closed.” In the end he let us go. Kostiantyn to Israel for the first time. We thought and then to report. After two weeks I Luke wanted to do. there who said great, we should go in. You got off easy. So what America that maybe she would come for a longer get another letter from the office to Who’s Luke? We went in and took a dip and it was did you see on your trip? Prysihzhuniuk, 27; lives period. Now we’re thinking about that come and finish filling in forms, so I The van! We knew it would cost amazing. We went back out and sat In California and New York they in Eilat, flying to Sofia, again. She’s doing a master’s in law in took time off from work, went to Be’er us around $2,000 to fix it completely there a little longer, and then someone really experience the coronavirus Ukraine, so until she’s done she won’t be Sheva, went there, and then they ask, and we worked that into the expenses. arrived in a car. After about 10 minutes pandemic much better than here, and Bulgaria able to come for a long visit. ‘Why are you here?” That happened When we got there, though, we discov- of looking at us, he said: “If you don’t in country’s center, they look at you What are you doing in the mean- to me maybe five times. I didn’t fin- ered that we could save that money if leave now, I’m calling the police.” So strangely if you wear a face mask. It’s time? ish with the forms, I didn’t receive a we traveled across the whole United we said, no problem, we’re going. We totally political. It was my first time in Hi, what awaits you in Sofia? I live in Eilat and work in a hotel; proper army profile, but I was still States by sticking to 60 kilometers an get into our van and start it up. Then America, and I was always sure that My girlfriend – she came from I’m shift manager for room service. I drafted. hour [37 miles an hour]. a big pickup pulls up and a policeman the movies and the TV series exag- Ukraine to meet me there. We’ve been made aliyah from Ukraine five years Did you want to serve? Coast to coast, in a motorized wheel- in civilian clothes with a vest, holding gerate the situation there, but it was together almost two years. I met her in ago, and since then I completed my Not really. At the age of 24, I didn’t chair. his Taser, gets out. spot on. Ukraine when I was in the army. Be- army service. take the army all that seriously. If I’d Yes, we did 10,000 kilometers all Oh, no. In what way, for example? fore the coronavirus we would meet Why did you immigrate to Israel? been 18, I might have wanted to en- told, and I think we passed about 10 Now, what do we know about po- When we got to Los Angeles, we took once every few months, and since the Mostly because of the economic situ- list in a combat unit, but at 24 you’re cars the whole time, including on the licemen in America? That they shoot. the Metro. You see one kind of L.A. pandemic started I haven’t seen her. ation in Ukraine. I made aliyah with thinking about other things, about how highways. I’m not exaggerating. Even though I have the right skin col- there, the people who travel by subway, Bulgaria is about the only country you my brother, who’s four years older than to organize your life. And they’re all Tell us about a special experience or. We open the window. In this situ- and that was stressful. And then we can fly to both from Israel and from I am, and it really helped to do it to- kids there. In the end it worked out you had. ation what we need to do is play the took Luke, and within 20 minutes we’re Ukraine without being quarantined. gether. If I’d been alone, I’m not sure all right, because I also worked and We have a sort of ugly Israeli story. tourist to the hilt, someone who’s clue- in Beverly Hills. The poverty is such Is it hard to maintain a relationship I would have succeeded. We worked received ‘lone-soldier’ conditions. But Or maybe not really so ugly... less. The guy comes over and we see real poverty there and the wealth is by remote control? together, we went to ulpan [Hebrew if I’d made aliyah half a year later, I We can handle it. that he’s prepared a line in advance: such real wealth that it’s crazy. And the Yes, but I’ve been far away from al- language course], we did the whole wouldn’t have needed to serve. We were in Nevada and there was a “Show me your licenses, and yes, lines. There aren’t any lines like that most all the girlfriends I’ve had. Some- route together. My parents stayed in What’s the story with the beard? really lovely spring in the middle of the you’re under arrest.” We look at each in Israel. We were at the Department how I’m used to it. But we talk a few Ukraine, and I live with my brother, I had a beard before the army, too, desert, 300 kilometers from nowhere, other, not believing that this is hap- of Motor Vehicles, and people stood in hours a day on video. So that helps. She his wife and a niece. and I made the mistake of shaving it that it took two days to get to. Google pening. Our English is all right, but we line there for six hours. Did you ever still tells me that it’s not enough, and I Are your parents also considering off before being drafted, because they said the place was temporarily closed, start to say, “Licenses? Passports? We see a line a whole block long? Like in understand. We need to be together moving here? said it was forbidden. I thought: If it’s but a lot of things are listed as tem- don’t know...” We say we’re sorry and the movies; people put up a tent. So we physically. But there are couples who The truth is they’re not. They’re di- forbidden, it’s forbidden. And then I porarily closed these days, so we said: that we don’t understand English all slept in the van there and we got up at live in the same city and see each other vorced. Our father is not Jewish, so he got to the army and I saw that every- Yalla, let’s go for it. We got there, and that well. He saw that we were tour- 6 A.M. to be first in line, and even so, only once every few days. can’t come. Our mother is Jewish, but one had a beard. By the time we were it really did say, “Closed, entry for lo- ists, and he said, “All right, no prob- we were still 20 meters back. Maybe it’s Do you want to change that situation? she thinks that she’s too old to move to discharged, everyone had a beard, but cal residents only.” We said we’d see; lem, just take note that in America, just me, but I think Israel is a lot bet- Just before the coronavirus started, I Israel and that she wouldn’t be able to I only managed to get a beard permit maybe we’d stay outside or just make when it says ‘Closed,’ that means it’s ter in lots of things. That’s my feeling. planned to buy a plane ticket to bring her learn the language. So she prefers to in the last month before my discharge.