Kifah*
By Mark Schneider
January 2, 2001
Ever meet a movie star? I almost did.
Before our delegation left Colorado for Palestine several of us went
and saw a new movie documentary called "Promises." The plot was
simple: A Jewish Israeli man wanted to see if he could create
relationships between Israeli and Palestinian children. Seemingly a
simple proposition – after all, they are neighbors, right? And yet,
he did succeed, sort of.
Kifah was one of the child stars of the film. Made about three years
ago, Kifah was just 9 years old. With the filmmaker's prodding, the
Palestinian children decided to host a meeting with two secular
Jewish Israeli twin boys.
All the Palestinian kids lived in Dehaisheh refugee camp – located
near Bethlehem. All these Palestinian refugees came from villages
located in present-day Israel. Some villages remain, though Israeli
settlers occupy the Palestinian homes; many villages were bulldozed
by Israel – to try to eliminate any history of the massive
Palestinian presence in present day Israel.
In the film, the gathering of Israeli and Palestinian kids was
magical because kids are kids. They shared food and stories,
wrestled and made a promise: to keep the relationships going.
Fast-forwarding a few years later in the film, the filmmaker went
back to see if the relationships still existed. Several of the
Palestinian children called the Israeli twins but never got their
calls returned. It was heart-breaking.
More heart-breaking, though, was before the film fast-forwarded. At
the original meeting of all the children, one of the Palestinians
kids, one that gave off the toughest exterior, began sobbing after
their "promise" had been made. Why? As tears rolled down his cheeks
he said that he feared that soon after the filmmaker left them all
alone their Palestinian-Israeli friendships would wither away.
The filmmaker, knowing this scenario was quite likely, openly sobbed. The camera panned around the Palestinian children's living room and hovered briefly at each child's face. One of them was Kifah.
Yesterday I visited Dehaisheh refugee camp and got excited at the
thought of maybe meeting one of the Palestinian stars of the film.
When I asked the refugee camp guide if the children still lived in
Dehaisheh, she paused. Most were off in school. Then, almost matter-of-factly, she told me that one of the film's stars, Kifah, had been
killed two months ago.
With a few other children, Kifah went to the Bethlehem checkpoint,
the only way to for Palestinians that live around Bethlehem to visit
East Jerusalem, the capitol of Palestine. The children began
throwing stones and the soldiers responded with live ammunition.
Kifah, which means "warrior" in Arabic, was killed instantly.
In the 3 weeks I've been here, with my international status, I've
freely traveled through this checkpoint more than 10 times. In two
massive marches, one on Christmas and the other on New Year's Eve,
hundreds of internationals supported over a thousand Palestinians in
their attempt to travel to Al-Quds (East Jerusalem). All of the
Palestinians were denied entry, stopped by dozens of Israeli
soldiers. From Bethlehem to Jerusalem it's about 7 miles. From
Dehaisheh Refugee camp it's about 8 miles.
Out of a population of 12,000, Kifah is the 9th martyr from Dehaisheh
camp to be killed in this Intifada. Like all the 900 Palestinian
martyrs of this Intifada, there is a poster, widely circulated, of
young Kifah. His smile is a small one.
For now I'll try to find Kifah's poster, one I can keep of a film
star I almost met.
* We've since learned that Kifah did not appear in "Promises." While he
was a friend to the children in the film, he was not one of the stars. The
original source was based on interviews in the Deheishe Refugee Camp. We
apologize for the error.