A Righteous Jew
Haim Bajayo was born in Hebron in 1935, and grew up there, until his family fled west to Israel in 1948. Unlike the Palestinian refugees of ‘48, he can go back to his home and property, under the protection of the occupation army.
But instead of claiming his home back, Haim Bajayo has ceremonially ceded the property to the Palestinian municipality. Now he has visited Hebron’s mayor and told him: ”I don’t want any of my property or my house back as long as Palestinian homes and lands are not returned. The same day the Palestinians regain what was taken from them in 1948, I’ll come to you and say ‘I have a house … registered in the real estate department.’ And I will return to my grandfather’s home.”
And he asks the mayor if he can be buried in a humble Muslim plot in the Hebron cemetery. “I won’t go to a Jewish cemetery under the settlers’ control”. And the mayor responds by wishing him a very long life, declaring him an authentic Hebron citizen, and inviting him for dinner.
There’s a nice little feelgood video on You Tube
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