PalestineRemembered.com  The Home of Ethnically Cleansed & Occupied Palestinians Satellite View Search Donate Contact Us النسخة العربية
 Home    Pictures     Maps   Oral History   Zionist FAQ  Zionist Quotes    The Conflict 101   R.O.R. 101    Site Members   About Us
About Us
Maps
Refugee Camps
Acre
Baysan
Bethlehem
Beersheba
Gaza
Haifa
Hebron
Jaffa
Jericho
Jerusalem
Jinin
Nablus
Nazareth
al-Ramla
Ramallah
Safad
Tiberias
Tulkarm
Guest Book
Satellite View
Videos
Register
     Donate       
Contact Us
Useful Links
Miracle in Al Bassa eMail to a friend  
Return to al-Bassa

Posted by Eid Haddad on May 19, 2004

This is one of the real and unusual stories, which happened in Al Bassa. The story tells about a miracle, which took place in a dry spring season about 10 or 11 years before the Nakba (the occupation of Palestine in 1948). According to old bassawis (Al Bassa villagers), that spring was very dry, and even winter was not so generous with rain. The bassawis were very worried about their crops, because grain, hay and olives were the main source of their living. Lots of bassawis used to pay back their one year´s dept from the harvest of the following year. The bassawis were very worried, especially the poorest ones and those who owed a lot.

A lot of bassawis had a tradition of playing cards and gambling on their next years crops. That was a tradition, which the Khammaras and cafés in Al Bassa made possible to keep (khammara is a traditional palestinian pub and café for men). Actually it was the gamblers, who were the most worried. The bassawi christians could not find a practical solution to that problem except to go to the catholic priest George Bittar to find a solution. The Priest held a mass at the church, and later went with the crowds (Catholics and Orthodox) to Al Bayader square (an open area near the southern entrance to Al Bassa, which was used to gather the crops after the harvest).

The crowds and the priest carried the church´s cross, some sacred icons, and the holly communion to that square, while others ringed the bells of the church. At that time my father was still a boy, and he was one of those who carried the sacred icons. At Al Bayader the priest carried on with the holly mass. Sometime later the moslem Bassawis came and joined in prayer with their christian bassawi brothers and sisters. All the Bassawis prayed and chanted for many hours. Suddenly a dark cloud appeared in the sky and started raining heavily. The Bassawis kept on praying and chanting until every shiber (a hand measure equal to 25 cm) in Al Bassa got soaked with rain-water.





If you are the aboveauthor of the Story, you can edit your Story by clicking the button below:

Disclaimer

The above documents, article, interviews, movies, podcasts, or stories reflects solely the research and opinions of its authors. PalestineRemembered.com makes its best effort to validate its contents.

 
Return to al-Bassa

What is new?

-Nakba Oral History Video Podcast: Over 450 Oral History interviews (including 1,600 hours of recording) can be viewed now online.
-Gaza Jail Break
-Arabic version now available - النسخة العربية للموقع الان متوفرة
-Videos:Documenting the destroyed villages in video: Tracing all that remains since Nakba.
-Videos: Responding to Zionist Propaganda
-Satellite View & Google Earth: Over 6,000 placemarks identifying all destroyed towns, W. Bank & Gaza Strip Towns, & refugee camps.
-Interview:The ethnic cleansing of Palestine: George Galloway interviews Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe.
-For Palestinians, memory matters. It provides a blueprint for their future By George Bisharat.
-Zionist FAQ now available in Hebrew שאלות שציונים שואלים, עכשיו בעברית
-Video: The Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer report on the influence of the Israel Lobby on U.S. Foreign Policy
-The Nakba - an event that did not occur (although it had to occur) By Eitan Bronstein
-The Palestinian-Israeli conflict for beginners

Home | Mission Statement | Zionist FAQ | Maps | Refugees 101 | Zionism 101
Zionist Quotes | R.O.R. 101 | Pictures | Towns Listing | Ethnic Cleansing 101 | Search
Chronology | Site Tour | Profile | Guest Book | What's New? | FAQ | Links | Looting 101 | Contact
Oral History | DONATE

? 1999-2006 PalestineRemembered.com all rights reserved. All Pictures are copyright of their respective owners.