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Impressions of Palestinian
Women |
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My name
is Daria. I was born in Baysan, Palestine in the year 1920. My
father was one of the first DRs in Palestine. That is, a medical
doctor. A few years later we moved to Safad. It is the most
beautiful place…That is how I saw it as a little girl. The city was
built around a hill in the center with the Moslems first, then the
Christians, then the Jews. They were so few-- the Jews, that is--
because when the (Palestinian) revolt started in 1929 all the Jews
ran and hid in the Government house in the center of the town, and
this shows you how few they were. That was during the Turkish rule.
And it was the same time that the first martyr was hung. He was a
health department employee. His name was Fouad Hijazi.
At this time my parents put me as a boarder in the Friends Girls
School in Ramallah because my father was moving to Nablus and later
to Tul-Karem. I used to see my parents only during vacations. In
1936, my parents were in Jenin and school was closed due to the
troubles. I had to spend my vacation with my uncle and his family in
Jerusalem because my father could not come to get me.
I graduated from the Friends Girls School in 1938 and went to Egypt
to the American Girls College until 1939. Sadly, I could not finish
my education because of the war.
I got married in 1943 and lived in Jaffa for three years. Then I
left to Gaza.
In 1947, we left Gaza by car to Aqaba (south of Jordan). We could
not stay so we went on to Ma’an (a town in southern Jordan). I can’t
tell you how bad it was. It took us 12 hours from Ma’an to Amman
(today the road trip takes two hours). We all got sick.
Then we went back and stayed one month in Jericho then to Ramallah
where we lived until 1966.
My husband had a job in the (Arabian) Gulf, so we left and have
never been able to go back home because it was and still is under
occupation. We left our house fully furnished because we like to
come back for the holidays. We never saw it again.
This is my story and I assure you there are thousands much worse
than me.
Daria is a Palestinian woman who currently lives in Amman. She gave
Jerusalemites this information, orally. What you have just read has
been transcribed without editing.
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