For the first time in decades, displaced residents of the destroyed Galilee village of Ikrit yesterday held a Christmas mass as a united religious community in the church, the only physical remains of the village overlooking the northern border. Archbishop Elias Chacour of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, who announced he would appoint a priest to the displaced community, giving its members new hope, conducted the mass.

The displaced villagers usually do not celebrate the holidays on time because the community does not have a permanent priest. Some attend church services in the communities where they live, in Haifa and villages in the north.

Archbishop of the Galilee Chacour is himself a displaced resident of the neighboring village of Biram.

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The mass was attended by dozens of displaced villagers, their children and grandchildren. The houses in Ikrit were destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces in December, 1951, a few months after the High Court of Justice ordered the state to allow the villages who were driven from their homes to return. The displaced villagers are still prohibited from returning.

"The village was destroyed but its residents are still alive, and as long as they are alive we will continue our campaign to return," Chacour said. "We have not lost our hope that a courageous leader will emerge in Israel, who believes in people and in human rights more than in war and the force of arms."

Chacour said the return of the displaced villagers of Ikrit and Biram has been at the top of his agenda since he was appointed archbishop a few months ago, and he brings up the issue at every meeting with the country's leaders. He said that when politicians ask why the villagers don't forget, he answers, "Why didn't the Jews forget the Land of Israel during their 2,000 years of exile?"