Family Affairs / The Hamzis - Haaretz

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Thu., October 11, 2007 ,

Israel Time: 21:49 (EST+7)

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Family Affairs / The Hamzis

By Avner Avrahami and Reli Avrahami

Beit Jann

W The cast: Said (54), Laya (50), Haitham (30), Afifa (22), Ghazaleh (20) and Nayif (15).

W Not in the photo: Daughters Haya (32) and Samar (27), both married and mothers, who live in the village; and Salman (29), a medical student in Kishinev, Moldova.

W The home: Al-Sulam neighborhood, on a slope, 400 square meters, two stories, flat-roofed, well equipped and decorated, spic-and-span clean, dazzlingly glistening. In the front is a blue tractor parked next to a stack of firewood. We park on a slope and enter from the street-level to an upper floor, via a balcony with reddish pillars that is under construction.

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W Entry floor: Marble floor, carved bureaus, wood-paneled ceiling and two living rooms (as is the custom), one "official," one "family." The former contains white leather sofas ("Dutch - we bought them in Nablus before the intifada"), the second reddish sofas ("Beitili" - an Israeli home-furnishings chain). Both living rooms have heavy curtains, bold-colored walls and many decorations.

W Many decorations: Wooden statuettes from the East (one meter high), copper birds, iron storks, bronze women, clay musicians, crystal flowers ("from Prague"), owls made of camel bones ("from Jordan"). On the dining-room table is a huge glass goblet adorned with an artificial wreath, and on the bureau are photographs of the family's seven children. Also on this floor are a large kitchen (representational) and a small kitchen (for washing), Said's study (with a computer and a volume of the work of Hebrew poet Rachel) and three of the bedrooms (parents, Nayif and the girls). Haitham's room is on the ground floor, which is reached via a marble staircase. We descend. It's actually a suite, which contains, in addition to a wide bed, a sofa for guests, a computer, an aquarium, a guitar, a treadmill, a diploma (from Haifa University) and a charcoal drawing of Haitham's fiancee, Shurouk. Also on this level is a pantry filled with food ("two months' worth") and Laya's day-care facility (five children), which has its own kitchen. Said: "The difference between us and you is that we are always building."

W Said's livelihood and occupations: Said, an Israel Defense Forces retiree (served in the Civil Administration in the West Bank, reaching the rank of major), owns a company that supplies nursing personnel for the elderly in the North from the non-Jewish sector. He employs hundreds of caregivers ("with soul") and works seven days a week ("sometimes 20 hours a day"). He is also responsible for organizing and running three clubs for "children at risk" (in Beit Jann, Mas'ada and Ein Kiniya). He gets around in a Citroen C5, and has a feeling of satisfaction ("beyond the economic aspect").

W First break: Coffee (in small cups) and ma'amulim (date cookies) are served.

W Laya's occupations: Housewife and owner of a day-care center for five children aged 3 months to 3 years ("I give warmth, love and food"). Her rates (for unsubsidized children) range from NIS 800 to NIS 1,100 a month. In addition, she bears the burden of the house's upkeep.

W The burden: Food, cleaning, shopping. The girls help out, washing the floors once a week (using the "flooding" method). The boys are responsible for their rooms.

W Haitham: Works in his father's company as a regional director, recruiting caregivers. He is also studying social work at Tel Hai Academic College and hopes to go on to a graduate degree ("which will also help the business"). He drives a 1998 Peugeot 205, is engaged (as we saw) and will be married at the end of his studies (two more years). In the meantime he is building.

W Working with dad: "On the one hand, it is problematic, and we try to separate business from family; on the other hand, you can take a month-long vacation."

W Afifa: Third-year student at Tel Hai College, majoring in learning disabilities, lives in the dorms and comes home every two weeks. She will go on to a teaching certificate and will not work in the family business ("I don't go near it"). She is engaged to a software engineer named Rabia and thinks life is terrific.

W Ghazaleh: Studying tax consultancy at the College of Management in Haifa (she has another six months to go), which she gets to by bus (line 361). She, too, will not join the family business ("But I will help out"). She, too, is engaged to a young man named Rabia (who has just completed his army service), but is concerned about how things will turn out.

W Nayif: Tenth-grade student in Beit Jann comprehensive high school, gets to school with dad or by bus. He played soccer for the Maccabi Haifa youth team ("They had a branch here") but quit recently ("I was fed up with it").

W Said's bio: Born 1953, Beit Jann; has three brothers and five sisters. His father guarded the fields of Kibbutz Parod, in central Galilee, and became an affluent vegetable merchant; his mother is a housewife. After elementary school in Beit Jann, he attended an agricultural school in Rama, an Arab village ("because I could take the bus there"). He did his army service in the Druze 300th Brigade and in the Golani infantry brigade, was sent to prison twice in the army ("I did a lot of stupid things"), and when all his buddies went on discharge leave he stayed for another 14 days because of the "bloody standing army" - as an officer he had signed up for extra service - and then came an offer to join the career army on a formal basis.

W Standing army: He signed up for three years ("They gave a year's salary as a bonus"), married, built the house, served in the Druze commando unit and was commander of the R&R base in Acre, completed his service, and rested at home, when along came Fuad - Brigadier General Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (now a Labor MK and cabinet minister, then the commander of the Judea and Samaria Region) with an offer.

W Fuad: "Come serve in the career army with me." Said took the offer, and beginning at the end of 1978, spent 14 years as an officer in the Civil Administration, where he was responsible for "welfare." During his period in the West Bank, the Jewish underground terror organization was uncovered ("That did not come as a surprise to me"). After leaving the army he started his business, "and barukh Hashem, everyone lives off it."

W Second break: Breakfast. We are joined at the table by sambusak turnovers (with spinach and za'atar), tabouleh, "cigars," koubeh, small eggplants stuffed with garlic, peppers and nuts, a bowl of olive oil ("from our yard"), pitas, caran (a homemade cherry jam) and labaneh (from Tnuva, the giant food company).

W Laya's bio: From the Salalhad family in the village. Her education stopped after elementary school ("There was no high school here"). After a match was made for her, she then sat at home, waiting for the wedding.

W The match: Her parents and Said's parents had known one another for years. The engagement ceremony was held in October 1969, at the home of Said's parents. He was 16, she was 13. "I don't remember being happy," she says. "I was a girl and didn't understand anything." They both agree that they had great good fortune. Many couples, they say, "suffer but do not get divorced."

W The wedding: In 1974, at the Hamzi home, 2,000 guests, 10 days, in stages. The ceremony was conducted by "the family's imam," the artistic program was provided by the Abu-Leil duo from Kara village. By this time the house was ready. Said: "I invested 86,000 Israel pounds, and we haven't finished it to this day." Laya: "In another two years, it will be too big for us."

W Today's weddings: Shurouk, to whom Haitham has been engaged for two months, works in a store in Carmiel. Until the engagement the parents were not in the picture. Said: "Today they get the parents involved only when it's serious." Afifa and her future husband will live in his village, Ein al-Assad. They plan to have one child, no more. Ghazaleh will have three children and intends to call the first "Adam" ("a modern name").

W Modern names: Rinan, Tamir, Tiran (sons). Sarah, Lona, Sohl (girls). Old names: Ghazaleh, Afifa, Muhammad.

W Daily routine: Said and Laya get up at around 7, and Said makes coffee (roasted and ground at home). They each have a cup and read the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Laya wakes Nayif, opens the day care center and welcomes the children. Said is in his office at 9:02. At about 11 he comes back for breakfast (omelette, pita, labaneh) with Laya. Haitham doesn't get up before 10, drinks a glass of milk and sets out. They will eat lunch (chicken and potatoes) between 3 and 4 at home ("Whoever is here"). In the evening, "whoever is hungry makes himself something."

W Television: Said: Channel 2 news; Laya abstains, preferring to talk to the girls. Haitham likes the Channel 1 news ("higher quality"). Afifa is into "Baywatch," Ghazaleh goes for LBC (a Lebanese station) and a music channel, and Nayif likes Sports 5 Plus.

W Music: Afifa digs Hebrew singers Eyal Golan and Shlomo Artzi (her ring tone comes from one of his songs). Haitha prefers Fairouz and the Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum.

W Dreams: Said: "To grow old under the fig tree"; Laya: "To marry off Nayif"; Haitham: "To establish an old-age home in Beit Jann"; Afifa: "A graduate degree in didactic diagnosis and a yellow Mini Cooper"; Ghazaleh: "To pass the tax consultancy exam"; Nayif: "A collection of cars."

W The future: Said: "One day there will be an agreement"; Haitham: "The situation will just get worse for both sides - us and the Arabs"; Afifa: "There will be wars and in the end Israel will lose, but we Druze will stay where we are"; Ghazaleh: "There will be a war and the world will come to an end."

W The Druze gamble: "We bet on the right horse," says Haitham, "and I recommend doing army service." Said: "We had no choice, but today I would not choose to serve." Those who do service, he says, get screwed. "Look at Umm al-Fahm and look at us, what a difference in the standard of living." Nayif: "I am going to do army service."

W Happiness quotient (scale of 1-10): Haitham: 8 ("It will be 9 after construction and 10 with the wedding"; Afifa: 9; Ghazaleh: 6; Nayif: 7; Laya: 9; Said: 8.

The place

Beit Jann - Druze village in the Upper Galilee, west of Mount Meron, 940 meters above sea level, dates from the early 18th century, 11,000 residents.

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