Inheriting a Lost Legacy
Located in Little Palestine, just southwest of Chicago, is a pastry shop continuing a legacy that began back in 1896. Knafa Kataifi prepares several types of Knafeh from scratch, but is most famous for their Knafeh Nabulseyeh, made with golden brown fine pastry dough, stretchy Nabulsi cheese, and soaked in sweet sugar syrup.
However, a recent addition has been added to their menu, Knafa Arabiya, a savory version of Knafeh that substitutes cheese with nuts, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Uncommon even when Gaza still stood, this desert was barely, if at all, affordable for the residents of Gaza, and almost impossible to get through Israel's border restrictions.
This recipe was adopted from The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, as a form of remembrance of one of the most famous Gaza sweets shop, Abu Al Saoud, or Saqallah's sweet shop, whose family home was bombed by an Israeli air raid in 2023 just weeks after the start of the Gaza war resulting in dozens of deaths, and days later, another 16 members of the family died after evacuating.
What happened in the Palestinian Genocide?
The Palestine Genocide was the forced or coerced deportation of over 1 million Palestinians shortly after the conclusion of the Gaza War. Then Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the relocation of the displaced civilians out of Israeli territory and responded to heavy criticism and backlash,
"We have been blamed for not making a distinction between guilty and innocent Palestinians. To do so was impossible. Because of the nature of things, one innocent today could be guilty tomorrow. The concern for the safety of Israel had to silence all other concerns. Our actions were determined by national and historical necessity."
The flames of the outrage were further fanned when leaked audio between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the United States Ambassador was leaked, in which Netanyahu stated:
What on earth do you want? The question is settled; there are no more Palestinians. There is none at all left in Gaza. The hatred between Israel and the Gazans is now so intense that we have got to finish with them. If we don't, they will plan their revenge.
One former Knesset member who spoke under condition of anonymity testified:
"Surely a few Gazans aided and abetted Hamas, and a few Gazans committed crimes against the Israeli nation. It is incumbent upon a government to pursue the guilty ones. Unfortunately, our wartime leaders imbued with a spirit of brigandage carried out the law of deportation in a manner that could surpass the proclivities of the most bloodthirsty bandits."
Survivors of the forced deportation testified Israeli soldiers often robbed the refugees they escorted, with one stating:
"They lined us up and had us empty our pockets. They took all the money and jewelry they could find. None of us made a sound. We just wanted to get it over with."
Some claimed that Israeli soldiers often singled out anybody they believed was associated with Hamas and executed them. A woman who was only a child during their deportation recalled:
"He said he recognized my brother. That he could see him from miles away. The soldier took him off the bus, and we never saw him again. I didn't know that was going to be the last time [I see him]."
Many historians remarked on the similarities between the Palestinian Genocide and the Armenian Genocide. Many noted that much of the dialogue and testimonies are incredibly similar and expressed disappointment that even after a century, little has changed in how mankind treated the victims of war.
Special Thanks to USC Shoah Foundation and their efforts to record and preserve the testimonies of history's survivors and witnesses. Many of the statements here are based on their collection of Armenian genocide survivors.
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