It has been over 70 years since he was expelled as a boy, but Yacoub Ahmad Odeh is still determined to return to Lifta.
An attack on a tour of the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta is a sobering reminder of the necessity of marking the Nakba.
Lifta must be saved not only because it is a gem of precious natural beauty and human architecture, but also because it is a step towards healing and redress.
From April 1st to May 14, 1948 — before Israel was declared, before the British left, and before any Arab soldier entered Palestine to save it — Zionist militias essentially conquered Palestine. Salman Abu Sitta says this critical period leading to Al Nakba has rarely been looked upon in this light, and shows how massacres that took place during this period were pivotal in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.