Last modified: 2024-08-31 by martin karner
Keywords: israel | be'eri |
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images located by William Garrison
(To read the caption click on the picture)
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A team of surviving residents of Kibbutz Be'eri, textile experts and a Bedouin embroidery maven have
rescued several hand-made school banners from under the rubble of kibbutz Be'eri. Each banner bears the name
and image of a fruit, plant, or bird, and has been lovingly embroidered, painted, or decorated with applique
for the kibbutz's traditional start-of-school-year ceremony; a tradition that has existed since 1952.
The kibbutz was one of the places worst hit by Hamas-led Palestinians on 7 October 2023. The storeroom of the flags was
destroyed, but luckily not burned. The team is supported by Dr. Nirit Shalev-Khalifa from Visual History Department
at Yad Ben-Zvi, the Jerusalem-based state research, culture, and education institution. She is collecting
items whose materials, form, or function have been altered by events such as fire, smoke, and bullets. She
only learned about the Be'eri flags in December 2023, thanks to a Be'eri resident, who runs the kibbutz
archive. Together they retrieve and repair the 71 banners in the best way possible (see pictures on this
page and in the Times of Israel article). Shalev-Khalifa said that after seeing so many burned-out
houses and murder sites, the flags were "the first thing we came across that could be repaired and
raised, that would return to life". Indeed these banners seem to say: Life is stronger than death. The
enemy may do us harm, unspeakable harm, but he will not overcome us. We live and will live.
Source: Flag rescue project lets evacuated Kibbutz Be'eri open school year in customary style (by Times of Israel, 25.8.2024 [PDF])
located by William Garrison, 25 August 2024