Jerusalem 1948: Yoom ilak, Yoom aleik

Produced by Badai Resource Center & Leone Film & Video, 1998, 50 mins. List: $29.95; AET: $24.95.

Reviewed by Rob Swanson and Samia El-Mahdi

Under the November 1947 U.N. partition of Palestine, the city of Jerusalem was to become an international zone under U.N. control. This, however, did not happen. Between adoption of the partition plan in 1947 and the formal end of the first Arab-Israeli war in 1949, Zionist forces attacked Arab villages throughout Palestine, and especially near Jerusalem, instigating fright and flight among Palestinians.

By the end of the war, some 750,000 Palestinians had become refugees. “Yoom ilak, Yoom aleik” examines the displacement of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and surrounding vicinities through research and eyewitness accounts of events between November 1947 and June 1948.

It is interesting to realize that according to conventional Zionist accounts, the war began on May 15, 1948 with the departure of the British and the entrance into Palestine of Egyptian, Jordanian, and Iraqi troops. In fact, however, by then the Zionists had already made most of their gains. The arrival of Arab forces merely halted rather than reversed the route of the largely unorganized Palestinian villagers.

Rather than recounting the historical events via typical documentary techniques, “Yoom ilak, Yoom aleik” (Good Day, Bad Day) seeks to grab the viewer’s attention by retelling the story directly through the words of the Palestinian residents who lost their homes in the catastrophe, giving the video a uniquely human feel.

These first-hand accounts are enlightening, often challenging the conventional myths about the war and the resulting refugee crisis. Umm Yasser, a former inhabitant of Lifta, describes how Jewish and Arab residents in the area lived in harmony prior to 1948, baking and sharing food with one another. This changed drastically, she notes, when the Zionists entered, and the Palestinian residents were evicted from their homes.

“The Jews we knew were like relatives,” she recalls. “The Jews who came later weren’t so nice. They did not want us here.” Umm Yasser still carries the key to her former home.

The video also tells the story of Deir Yassin, a Palestinian village decimated in April 1948 by two extremist Zionist militias, the Irgun Zvai Leumi, headed by future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Lehi (the Stern Gang), one of whose leaders was future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Survivors of the massacre tell of its unexpected result. One survivor said that by dwelling upon and even inflating the horrors of the massacre of men, women, and children in Deir Yassin, Arab radio broadcasts inadvertently caused many more Palestinians in other villages to flee their homes.

“Yoom ilak, Yoom aleik” intersperses historical facts with eyewitness accounts of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in Jerusalem. Palestinian historian and University of Chicago Professor Rashid Khalidi offers commentary throughout the film, intertwining historic events with his own family’s experiences.

For all who seek a first-hand account of this tumultuous period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “Yoom ilak, Yoom aleik” provides a useful resource.

In English and Arabic with English subtitles.

Rob Swanson is the administrative director and Samia El-Mahdi is the circulation director of the Washington Report.