Adonis Diaries

What happened in village of Afouleh (Palestine) in 1920?

The Zionist World Fund purchased 5 villages around Afouleh from the Sursock family living in Beirut (Achrafiyeh).

These Palestinian peasants cultivated the lands and sent the yearly rent to the Sursock family.

Now the Jewish colons wanted to immediately evacuate the Palestinian families who worked the land and lived there for many centuries.

The two parties clashed and a Palestinian was killed. A battle ensued.

The Jews received rescue from Jerusalem strong with British sub-machine guns. A bloodshed was averted.

The Palestinians were allowed to remain in the land as salaried peasants.

The Jewish colony in Afouleh occupied the plain of Esdrelon, stretching from Mount Tabor to the Carmel.

They had new European tools and new ploughing machinery and lived in houses that were easily dismantled.

Note: Most of the land purchased by the Zionist Fund in Palestine, particularly in Galilee, were owned by rich and feudal Lebanese families from all religious sects.

The Palestinians barely sold their lands and were evacuated from their villages and towns by brute force and frequent genocide in 1948 and a few years after the recognition of Israel as a State.