Testimonials:

..he took us of course to see the house in ‘68, I remember very well, January ’68. We went to the house, they didn’t allow us in. A girl was eating an apple and he told her:

‘I want to show my daughter our house,’

she did not accept to let us in….’

Liliane Cattan

When I went up to our house I came to the room where was living a Moroccan Jew... and he told me: “Im sorry, you don’t have to be angry with me because Im not the one who took the house or want to live in it but the government brought me here and gave me the house...” This Moroccan with his wife and children were living and sleeping in my parents bedroom. ...the rest of the house was turned into apartments...

Yacoub Rock

While walking across the wide gap over the rubble in the thick dust, I turned to Dumia and said, “This is a historic moment in our lives.” – We had not been on the other side of the wall for nineteen long years.

Hala Sakakini

From the car, we heard Mother say politely, but firmly

“May I have your permission to see the inside of my house?”

“Your house?” the woman gasped. “But we bought it!”

Mother said: “I did not sell it.”

Serene H. Shahid

I went in…I saw a big woman, Russian woman came out:

“Don’t come, don’t take photos.”

I told her: “This is my house.” She said: “No.”

I said “Yes, you don’t know, you don’t know, this is my mother’s house and I want to take a photo…

She kicked me out. She didn’t let me in.

Samia Lorenzo

The woman watched me. I pushed open the door, my heart pounding.

…I wanted to stay longer, to go into the room kept for visitors where my mother had had her istiqbals, into my parents’ room, into the room where we slept.

They were no longer there, knocked down...

Ghada Karmi

After 1967, we went back to ‘Ayn Kerem to visit our house – and met a man who asked us what we wanted.

My brother told him, “This is our house.” He responded, “This was your house, get out of here.”

Omar Qunnais

And when I went to Qatamon, in our home where I was born, we were prohibited from entering because they turned it into a Religious Institute (Jewish).

We were not allowed to enter. We viewed it from the outside, but I could not enter. But, I could recollect memories about some houses, neighbours and the time that has passed.

Elie Ayoub