Welcome to the DHPC Open House Collection.
In 1967, 2 or 3 days after the occupation, we went to see our old house, the one in West Jerusalem .We found an Israeli family living there. We told them this is our house. They said they bought it from the Israeli Authorities. We contacted the Israeli Authorities after a while with no avail. They said that this could be solved if and when there was peace.
The last time we had been there was on April 30, 1948… Everything about it was bright and shiny. Only a month before leaving we had had all the shutters freshly painted. The garden was well kept, and on that day in spring it was in full bloom. How different we found the house and the garden now.
‘….I haven’t been inside the house nor do I think of going back because I have pictures of that house and it really makes me mad – so I don’t want to go and see because I know, I know from what people said when they went in there that they have partitioned the hall and they have done this and that to the house and they turned it into offices or clinics or God knows what -so it’s no more, it’s no more the house, I know.’
After 1967, my mother insisted to see our house. She found out that 2 families lived in our small house and it was very dirty. She said she didn’t want to see it any more, so they told her it is not yours any more so don’t ever come back.
Sofie Shamieh
After the 1967 war, the borders were opened so we decided to check on our house. We found that each apartment was split into 2 and each one had a family in it, Tunisians, Moroccans (Jews).
They said they were only tenants and that we will have our house back once things settle down. The hurt was that we cannot regain our house in spite of the fact that we have papers proving the ownership of the house.
My mother left her jewelry and sewing machine in the Catholic Monastery because she had to leave at the time 'Ayn Karim.
When we went back in 1967 to 'Ayn Karim we went to the Monastery, asked about our jewelries and machine - they told us, 'Yes we had them for more than ten years and we don’t know what happen to them.'