Picture of our guide Nahida Zahra showing us where her grandparents home once sat in the destroyed village, Kafar Bire’m in Northern Israel.

On Monday October 10 we visited Kafar Bire’m, the birth home of Elias Chacour. We were reminded of the deep identity of Palestinians with the land. Palestinians who were uprooted fro the small village of Kafar Bire’m in 1948, still have an emotional attachment to the land. The land and memories of the location of each house destroyed by bombing are ever present in the refugee and displaced Palestinian mind. Although Palestinians of Kafar Bire’m have lost the land, it is not completely lost. Refugee and non-refugee memories of village life are strong. Identity passed on from parent and grandparents of life before the Nakba is an expression of their nationalism. For Palestinians, Land is an integral part of life and identity and more precious than gold. This is why they remain. This is why they struggle. This is why they hope.

Rev. James Thomas