DÉJÀ VU
by Jusuf Hajir
~
I was born in 1945 in Palestine, three years later the Jews founded their state, Israel, in that very area. We Arabs were bothering them, we had to look for another place to live. I was only three years old then, and my mother told me about all the horrors that we survived. They stuffed us into some trucks like cattle, mistreated us. Two of my brothers were killed and we were evacuated to Syria. We were a well-to-do family, we had servants and everything that goes with that, and then, in Syria, we were without anything. We received some help, flour, sugar, mother had to work from morning to night to feed us. I thought that horror would never happen again.
Then came 1992, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina began. I lived in Vrace with my wife and daughters, worked in traumatology, went to work regularly, returned to my house in which I had invested my whole life. March, April. Barricades, armed men with or without beards, my neighbors from yesterday. At the beginning, they didn't cause me any problems, I still went to work regularly, of course with the obligatory and unpleasant crossing of many barricades. They knew me before, we were neighbors. There were those first barricades in March and they passed, without any major problems. I hoped that something like that wouldn't happen again, but... There were more and more weapons, more and more barricades. My Palestine was happening again. For the safety of my family, I had to leave my home. We managed to take only two suitcases and that's all we have, I'm not complaining. We came to Dobrinja to visit some friends and most importantly
we are alive and well, that is the greatest wealth today...
Here they accepted me as one of their own, and I helped them as much as I knew and could. With the help of commanders and many victims of madness, we established a military hospital through which more than five thousand patients have passed so far.
If I were to weigh what I have lost and all the gratitude I have from the people of Dobrinja, I am sure that I am in "gain".
Only one human life is more valuable than all material goods. That should be clear to everyone.
Palestine always happens, and to me, well, twice in my life...
~
From a collection of stories
'100&1 NIGHT - SARAJEVO STORIES