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say that you’ve given in to fear, like a woman.”
    My uncle exploded. His voice seemed loud, but as he continued speaking it rose more and more until it reached the houses of the village and the beach beyond, and perhaps even the islands and the sea behind them.
    “Haifa fell in two days, it went in two days , Abu Sadiq! I was there, and you know it. The city was besieged from all four sides, surrounded by ten settlements. And inside the city they lived on the mountain and we were on the plain, they had cannons and we had to be magicians to obtain weapons. Two hundred fifty rifles arrived from Syria and Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim only got eighty-nine, because the rest were old and useless. He refused to accept them.And despite that we did all that we could, all that we could—for five months. Attack and retreat, bravery, martyrdom. And Haifa fell in two days! The villages are as scattered as beads from a rosary. Surur Burhum said to al-Hunayti that we would spend the night in Acre and make the road to Haifa safe for the weapons so as not to fall into an ambush. Al-Hunayti wanted to arrive quickly and talked on the telephone, and said, ‘We’re coming with the weapons.’”
    My uncle shouted, “Does anyone in his right mind say on the telephone, ‘We’re coming with the weapons’? My God! They died and the weapons were lost. No arms and no leaders. Hajj Amin says ‘right’ and the National Committee says ‘left.’ Seven hundred soldiers from the Jordanian army were near the city observing events and could not intervene. Do you expect them to intervene when their commander is British? The whole thing is as clear as day. They have weapons and the British are with them and they are trained and they have cohesive leadership, and we… .”
    “We have God with us because we are in the right.”
    “We are in the right, yes. We have God with us, I doubt it.”
    My father’s voice rose: “I take refuge with God Almighty from all mighty sins! Blasphemy, on top of everything else!”
    “Haifa fell in two days!”
    “I know that it fell in two days, but the guerrilla fighters are still resisting on the plains and in the mountains, from Galilee to Gaza, and not a day passes when they don’t score victories. The Arab armies will get involved, they will definitely get involved.”
    “Brother, you can judge a book by its cover. They will not come in, and if they did they would be defeated.”
    “And the solution is for us to flee?”
    “The solution is for us to get ready, a year, or two, or three, even if it takes ten years. Use your brain, Abu Sadiq. They’ll enter the village and destroy it and kill the inhabitants and take it over. The solution is to save lives and see what we can do after that.”
    My father struck one hand with the other in despair. His face was flushed, with a blue tone hidden under the red. My aunt wascrying. My mother got up to look for incense, since she was certain that someone had struck them with the evil eye. She was the only one talking, talking in an audible voice as she came and went looking here and there. We didn’t know if she was talking to us or to herself, and then she suddenly shouted, “Where has the incense gone?”
    That was when the second match fell on the fire: “I’m going to take Zeinab and Halima and Ruqayya and Ezz.”
    “Are you crazy?!”
    “Perfectly sane, Abu Sadiq. I’m taking the dependents.”
    “You’re not taking anyone!”
    “The battle is lost, so why should we risk death for them? I’ll take them to Sidon and leave them safe with my friends and come back.”
    “Shame on you, brother! You’re saying surrender before the young men do? By God it’s shameful!”
    “They took over Haifa in two days. Our village will fall in one night.”
    “Haifa is half Jews, they were barricaded on Carmel, they were on the mountain and we were on the plain. Our situation is different. The young men will protect the town proper and guards are stationed to the