Story of Jafra

In Palestine in the 1930s and in a village called Kweikat near Acre, Ahmad Aziz was known to compose and sing colloquial poetry. Ahmad fell in love with Rafiqa, his cousin on his father’s side. He named her Jafra because she was plump like the daughter of the sheep, which is called Jafra in Arabic. Jafra was 16 and Ahmad was 20. Ahmad proposed to Jafra and she accepted to marry him. Within a week of their marriage, Jafra fled her home and ran to her mother and told her that she was not happy with Ahmad. The mother who cared so much for her only daughter, insisted that Ahmad divorces Jafra and her request was granted. Later on Jafra married her other cousin on her mother’s side. When Ahmad lost hope in regaining Jafra he became lovesick and spent his time composing more poetry and music about Jafra. By then, his songs had spread like wildfire in Palestine.

He sang:
Jafra, O people, may you bury me
then step on my grave and a river of water shall flow
Jafra, O people, she calls for her uncles
I won’t marry your son even if you broke my bones
If marriage were forcibly done in Islam
I shall throw myself in the sea to the fish in the water
Jafra, O people, she brings water from the well
She stares with her right eye and winks with the left
If I had a few hours to live, O uncle, I shall kidnap her
And run with her to the valleys to the east of Tiberias

Ahmad collected his songs in a book titled “Jafra” and gave himself the name “The Shepherd of Jafra.” In 1944, the Jafra Shepherd was asked by Al-Quds radio station to sing live at the station for 15 minutes every week.

During the Nakba of 1948, the Kweikat village fell under the attack of the Jewish terrorist gangs that bombed and destroyed the village and forced its villagers into fleeing in the direction of Lebanon. What those villagers thought would be 10 days until they return became 60 years. The villagers ended up in Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp on the main airport road in Beirut.

In the refugee camp, Jafra like her mother worked as a tailor and made Palestinian embroidery. When her eldest son graduated from college and got a job, he moved his mother Jafra and his family to Hreik neighborhood in Beirut. Her sons now live in Lebanon and North America.

Ahmad lived in Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp. When parts of the Lebanese South and Al-Biqa Valley fell under Zionist occupation and the Lebanese resistance was born, the Shepherd of Jafra wrote the following lines:

Our Jafra, O people, went to the city
She sang and said, long live the Palestinian
Long live O son of Lebanon, my right arm
My partner on the path of liberation against Zionism
Bring your weapon and follow me with your pistol and knife
Let’s go down to Palestine and wage an operation
We’ll carry bombs made in the land of China
And Attack Moshe Dayan in an Arab way

In 1982, the Palestinian poet, Izz Eddin Al-Manasrah met with the Shepherd of Jafra in Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp and interviewed him about the history of Jafra. Later on Al-Manasrah wrote his Jafra poem that was sung by the famous revolutionary Lebanese singer Marcel Khalife.

Jafra

For the poetry written on the pavements of martyrdom, I sing
For the loving trees, I sing
For the bullet in the chest of the fascist, I shall sing
For the woman keeping revolutionary secrets
For the burned green trees in my memory
For comrades of mine in prison, I sing
For comrades of mine in the grave, I sing
and for Jafra, I shall sing
Jafra is my mother when my mother is absent
Jafra is the imprisoned homeland
the flower, the bullet and the red storm
Jafra, if the one who does not know did not know
a forest of olives, a flock of pigeons and poems for the poor
Jafra
Whoever doesn’t love Jafra let him bury his head in the sand
I released my arrows and said, let the murderer die
Whoever doesn’t bury the face of the yellow ghoul
may he be swallowed by the desert
Jafra wailed in the palace of the feudal lord
Jafra carried her bullet on the frontline and revealed
the secret buried on the shore of Acre and she sang
and for your eyes, Jafra, I shall sing, I shall sing

Jafra lived in Lebanon for the rest of her life that sadly ended in 2007 and she was buried in the cemetery of Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp where her husband was buried in 2002. The Shepherd of Jafra died in 1987 during the camp wars in Lebanon. During his life, people called him “Abu Ali Jafra” while his wife whose name was Khadija Khaled was called “Umm Ali Jafra” though she was not the real Jafra.

The longing that the Shepherd of Jafra felt for his beloved came to symbolize the longing the Palestinian nation has for Palestine, the homeland and thus, Jafra came to symbolize the imprisoned homeland.


	In Palestine in the 1930s and in a village called Kweikat near Acre, Ahmad Aziz was known to compose and sing colloquial poetry. Ahmad fell in love with Rafiqa, his cousin on his father’s side. He named her Jafra because she was plump like the daughter of the sheep, which is called Jafra in Arabic. Jafra was 16 and Ahmad was 20. Ahmad proposed to Jafra and she accepted to marry him. Within a week of their marriage, Jafra fled her home and ran to her mother and told her that she was not happy with Ahmad. The mother who cared so much for her only daughter, insisted that Ahmad divorces Jafra and her request was granted. Later on Jafra married her other cousin on her mother’s side. When Ahmad lost hope in regaining Jafra he became lovesick and spent his time composing more poetry and music about Jafra. By then, his songs had spread like wildfire in Palestine.
He sang: Jafra, O people, may you bury me then step on my grave and a river of water shall flow Jafra, O people, she calls for her uncles I won’t marry your son even if you broke my bones If marriage were forcibly done in Islam I shall throw myself in the sea to the fish in the water Jafra, O people, she brings water from the well She stares with her right eye and winks with the left If I had a few hours to live, O uncle, I shall kidnap her And run with her to the valleys to the east of Tiberias Ahmad collected his songs in a book titled “Jafra” and gave himself the name “The Shepherd of Jafra.” In 1944, the Jafra Shepherd was asked by Al-Quds radio station to sing live at the station for 15 minutes every week. During the Nakba of 1948, the Kweikat village fell under the attack of the Jewish terrorist gangs that bombed and destroyed the village and forced its villagers into fleeing in the direction of Lebanon. What those villagers thought would be 10 days until they return became 60 years. The villagers ended up in Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp on the main airport road in Beirut.


		In the refugee camp, Jafra like her mother worked as a tailor and made Palestinian embroidery. When her eldest son graduated from college and got a job, he moved his mother Jafra and his family to Hreik neighborhood in Beirut. Her sons now live in Lebanon and North America. Ahmad lived in Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp. When parts of the Lebanese South and Al-Biqa Valley fell under Zionist occupation and the Lebanese resistance was born, the Shepherd of Jafra wrote the following lines: Our Jafra, O people, went to the city She sang and said, long live the Palestinian Long live O son of Lebanon, my right arm My partner on the path of liberation against Zionism Bring your weapon and follow me with your pistol and knife Let’s go down to Palestine and wage an operation We’ll carry bombs made in the land of China And Attack Moshe Dayan in an Arab way

In 1982, the Palestinian poet, Izz Eddin Al-Manasrah met with the Shepherd of Jafra in Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp and interviewed him about the history of Jafra. Later on Al-Manasrah wrote his Jafra poem that was sung by the famous revolutionary Lebanese singer Marcel Khalife.
Jafra For the poetry written on the pavements of martyrdom, I sing For the loving trees, I sing For the bullet in the chest of the fascist, I shall sing For the woman keeping revolutionary secrets For the burned green trees in my memory For comrades of mine in prison, I sing For comrades of mine in the grave, I sing and for Jafra, I shall sing Jafra is my mother when my mother is absent Jafra is the imprisoned homeland the flower, the bullet and the red storm Jafra, if the one who does not know did not know a forest of olives, a flock of pigeons and poems for the poor Jafra Whoever doesn’t love Jafra let him bury his head in the sand I released my arrows and said, let the murderer die Whoever doesn’t bury the face of the yellow ghoul may he be swallowed by the desert Jafra wailed in the palace of the feudal lord Jafra carried her bullet on the frontline and revealed the secret buried on the shore of Acre and she sang and for your eyes, Jafra, I shall sing, I shall sing

Jafra lived in Lebanon for the rest of her life that sadly ended in 2007 and she was buried in the cemetery of Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp where her husband was buried in 2002. The Shepherd of Jafra died in 1987 during the camp wars in Lebanon. During his life, people called him “Abu Ali Jafra” while his wife whose name was Khadija Khaled was called “Umm Ali Jafra” though she was not the real Jafra. The longing that the Shepherd of Jafra felt for his beloved came to symbolize the longing the Palestinian nation has for Palestine, the homeland and thus, Jafra came to symbolize the imprisoned homeland.