Summary
Tarshiha communist and memoirist, arrested by the Arab Liberation Army for distributing the League’s October 1948 leaflet and held at Bint Jubayl, whose handwritten memoirs Manna uses for Tarshiha’s return, census and 16 January 1949 expulsion, and who pressed the village’s case with Tawfiq Tubi (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.141, 176-177).
Details
- Bishara was imprisoned by the ARA for nearly three months and released from jail on 6 December 1948; in Beirut he found dozens of Tarshiha inhabitants meeting at a hotel near Martyrs’ Square, decided after a few days to return, and crossed with villagers via Fassuta to Tarshiha without encountering any problem (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.176).
- When the authorities recorded villagers’ names Bishara became a volunteer census worker, as did his brother Hanna, who had also returned from Lebanon (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.176).
- His memoirs record that after the census a curfew operation took those considered “Infiltrators” — even if registered — to the Jordanian border; other sources put about 130 Tarshiha people expelled on 16 January 1949 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.176).
- In February 1949 Bishara met Knesset member Tawfiq Tubi, explained Tarshiha’s circumstances, and Tubi promised to follow the case up in the Knesset and conveyed the expulsion attempts to UN representatives (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.177-178).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, Tarshiha, Tawfiq Tubi, National Liberation League