Amidar’s lawyer told the judge that our home falls under this law from 1948 [1950],92 the Absentee Property Law, which means that the three shares [declared as absentee property] are owned by the state. They wanted to sell the home; they wanted to make money from those three shares. The judge ruled that we could buy the three shares for half the price, which is one million shekels [around 275,000 USD]. We had to buy three shares of our own home, and they gave us 90 days to agree on everything with Amidar and buy the shares. This home has never been empty; I’ve been living in this home for 50 years and I’ve only ever lived in this home and my husband lived in it before 1948. This home can’t be an absentee property because it was never empty. Still, in all of these 50 years they never stopped harassing me, knocking on my door, and sending people to harass me. I remember one time a guy came to my home and started screaming and telling me: 'This isn’t your home; you think you’re going to take it? It’s not yours to take.' It was torture; we spent most of our lives in courts. We started feeling the pressure from these courts in the last ten years or so [since the first lawsuit with Amidar in 2007]. Everything became much more intense. We knew that there was no escape from this, and we’re also exhausted. If we don’t solve this case now it’s going to follow our children and their children after them. We only want to have peace of mind; we don’t want someone to keep coming to the home and I don’t want to receive any more papers. Even the solution they gave us a few months ago isn’t easy. It’s not easy to buy three shares of your own home at such an expensive price. Now there is that million shekels that they want us to pay. I’m really scared to die before I get to see my children living peacefully in our home; I just want them to be happy here. What should I do? My [eldest] son has four children to take care of, how can he afford to pay a million shekels? My daughters would tell me to sell the home and move to another place to find peace of mind. But I always told them that I became a widow and worked hard all of these years to keep this home, and to keep it for them, how can I sell it now? Why would I? It’s impossible. I would never sell this home and leave.” Sara Afteem, 77-year old female resident of Jaffa. Interview: Jaffa, 20 March 2017 92 The interviewee said 1948, but the law was officially passed in 1950. 37