Int’l Rescuers Day 2020 - awards to Latrun Abbey, Bella Freund, Issa Kurdia

On Thursday, March 12, 2020, in the framework of the Pluralistic Spiritual Centre, we celebrated International Rescuers Day (whose official worldwide date is March 6). The ceremony took place in the Garden of Rescuers and this year we presented awards to Israeli and Palestinian rescuers.

Who are the rescuers? These are ordinary people who apparently acted instinctively and in opposition to the actions of the majority of people in their own society. They risked their lives and reputations without thinking or considering the consequences. They acted from inner belief, sometimes religious, and a deep conviction that this was the right thing to do.

The event was facilitated by Hezzie Schouster, director of PSCC and Raida Ayashe Khatib, an English teacher of the primary school.

Prof. Yair Oron opened and spoke about the idea of ​​the International Rescuers Garden, of its close relationship with the Italian GARIWO organization under the management of Mr. Gabriel Nissim, which works to form Rescuers’ Gardens around the world. The annual event was conducted in our garden for the fourth year.

This year, we honored the following people:

• The Kurdia family from Hebron/Al-Khalil - for the late Mr. Issa Kurdia
• Ms. Bella Freund
• Latrun Abbey

Before each award was given, we told the story of the action on which it is based. The three stories are attached. You can read them and be as moved as we are.

In addition, speeches were given by Mrs. Bella Freund and Father René Hascoët, abbot of Latrun Abbey, spoke. The school choir under the guidance of Omer and Haim, the music teachers, sang two songs - in Arabic and Hebrew.

The event was aired on the second channel of Voice of Israel by broadcaster Ron Nashiel. You can hear it from the 25th minute.
https://www.kan.org.il/Radio/item.aspx?pid=124404

Also attached is a link to an article that aired on the "Mosawa" channel based in Nazareth.

The event was the last before the closure of all cultural and leisure events in Israel following the Novel Corona Virus epidemic.

We thank the members of the recognition committee:

• Prof. Yair Oron - a thinker and initiator of the Rescue Garden
• Diana Shaloufi-Rizek - Director and Curator of the Gallery
• Samah Salaime – Director of Communications and Development
• Hezzi Schouster - Director of the Spiritual Center

As well as everyone who contributed to the success of this impressive and distinguished event.

Issa Kurdia

Today, we are proud to honor the memory of Issa Kurdia and his family. The late Mr. Kurdia performed the most noble and humane act – that of saving human lives.

In 1929, violent disturbances shook the country. These events were formative to the history of Jewish-Arab relations. One hundred and thirty three Jews and 116 Palestinians were killed.

It is important to emphasize that wherever there is evil, there is also good. Almost in every situation of massacres or lynchings, there are some people, however few, who choose not just to avoid committing bloodshed, but actively to save those whom they are able to save. According to sources and testimonies of rescuers and survivors of that time, a number of Palestinian families from the city of Hebron/Al-Khalil protected their Jewish neighbors, hid them, and in this way saved their lives. Thanks to these actions, some 425 Jews were saved.

Among those saved by the Kurdia family were Dr. Zvi Kita’in (the grandfather of WAS-NS member Boaz Kita’in) and his family. Dr. Kita’in worked in Hebron/Al-Khalil for the Hadassah Medical Association, which served Jews and Arabs alike. At the time of the events, many Jews hid in the doctor’s house because they assumed that the rioters would avoid harming him, as a physician with strong ties to local Palestinian society.

Dozens of Jews, including many children, gathered at the Kita’in family’s home. Their landlord, Mr. Issa Kurdia, hid them all in the basement. When the rioters came, he told them that the Jews had fled. At the same time, another Kurdia family neighbor broke a hole in the wall and moved the Jews through to his house, promising to protect them. Two women of the family sat in the doorway, milling flour with a grain mill. They too prevented the rioters from entering. By these actions, the Kurdia family rescued the Jews who were hiding in their home. During and after the events, Dr. Kita’in offered assistance to the many wounded on both sides.

Unfortunately, due to the reality of life under occupation and despite our attempts to facilitate their arrival, we met with refusal by the army to grant the necessary permits, and therefore no representatives of the Kurdia family were able to join us today.

We, the WAS-NS Garden of Rescuers awards committee, present the family with today’s award. A delegation from the awards committee will travel to Hebron/Al-Khalil, visit the family and present them with the award soon.

Bella Freund

Today, we are proud to host Bella Freund, who performed the most noble and humane act – that of saving human life.

The date was May 13, 1992, during a period of severe hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians. That day, Adnan al-Afandi, 21, of the Dheisheh refugee camp, stabbed two Jewish teenagers near the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. Al-Afandi then fled the scene pursued by a crowd intent on lynching him. Bella Freund, an ultra-Orthodox woman, happened to be passing through the area with her two daughters.

Finding al-Afandi on the ground and currently endangering no one, Bella left her daughters’ side, struggled through the crowd to reach him and then managed to shield him with her body for 27 minutes, while being kicked, punched, cursed and spat on. She did not rise until the police arrived, and thus saved his life. She herself was badly hurt in the incident - her injuries are noticeable to this day.

This act of Bella Freund was on one hand acclaimed and, on the other, castigated - both in the wider Israeli society and in the ultra-Orthodox community of which she was a part. By her own testimony, she acted according to Jewish moral law and in the spirit of the saying, "A person who saves one life is accounted by scripture in the same way as if he has saved the entire world."

The award committee considers Bella’s worthy act to be that of a woman who went according to her own beliefs and morals, without consideration of what it might cost her. The award committee holds that this free decision to act in order to save human life, in direct opposition to the expected behavior of the majority during that time, is worthy of appreciation.

We, the award committee of the Garden of Rescuers in Wahat al-Salam Neve Shalom, are privileged to receive Bella Freund, who has been selected as one of the rescuers to be honored today.

Latrun Abbey

Today, we are proud to host representatives of Latrun Abbey, who saved hundreds of people from ’Imwas village (historically, Emmaus Nicopolis) during the 1967 War.

We chose to honor Latrun Abbey for the compassion and humanity shown towards the villagers of Imwas, before, during and after their forced permanent displacement by the IDF in the context of the 1967 war.

The relationship between the people of ’Imwas and the abbey has remained strong throughout the years. Mutual assistance and good neighborly relations existed between the two communities even before the 1948 and 1967 wars.

At the beginning of the 1967 war, the people of ’Imwas were expelled from their village overnight. When the villagers were ordered to leave their homes, hundreds of them including women, elders and children, sought refuge in the monastery. The monks of Latrun opened their doors and hid them in the abbey’s cellars. A large number stayed in the abbey’s cellars for a whole week, while the monks fed them, took care of all their needs and refused to turn them over to the army. After a week, an IDF force arrived with trucks and the monks had no choice but to obey. The ’Imwas residents were deported to Ramallah.

A diary written by the pastor Guy Khoury and published in Lebanon describes the events of the period as experienced by one of the monks, Father John (aka Hanna). Father John told him of the immense desolation and distress he felt that day. He said that since the time of this parting from the villagers of ’Imwas, he had ceased to take part in happy occasions and holidays.

Over the next few weeks, refugees from ’Imwas returned to look for fellow villagers who had failed to reach Ramallah. Father John, some of his fellow monks and others searched the ruins of the village following its destruction by the IDF and found the bodies of 14 villagers. Together, they tried, unsuccessfully, to bring the bodies to a dignified burial in the village cemetery. Remnants of the cemetery still exist near Canada Park(the recreation area that was created over the ruined village). The monks also collected various items, clothing, furniture and belongings and made sure to transfer them to the refugee families.

The Latrun Abbey has continued to support the refugees morally and financially, as acknowledged by the people of ’Imwas till today.

In particular, Father John (aka Hanna) RIP, deserves special commendation for his humane actions, compassion, assistance, the material and mental support he gave to those who had lost their homes and entire world.

We are honored by the presence of the abbot, Father Renée, of Father Paul and of Father Louis, who helped us gather the information we needed in order to make our decision to present the award to the Latrun Abbey.

With us today are two refugees from ’Imwas, Abed Amara and Ahmed Hamdi who witnessed the events then. Back in 1967 Ahmed Hamdi was very young at the time, and lives today in Beitouniya. He works at the abbey, and is in fact the only person working for the abbey whose roots are in ’Imwas. Abed Amara, who was 22 years old in 1967, is considered to be the only Palestinian witness still alive and resident in the country. Abed, like everyone, is still gripped by and prepossessed with what took place in that period.

Video (Arabic) from Musawa Channel: