My friend Ziyad Awaisie still calls himself a Saffuriyan, although he was born in Nazareth. He is standing in what was once Saffuriya’s main cemetery, now overgrown with weeds. The photograph in his hand is of the hillside behind him, from a time when it was covered by Saffuriya’s homes. After the village was destroyed, the Jewish National Fund planted an evergreen forest to cover the rubble. The building on the top is an old fortress, next to the impressive Roman ruins of Sephoris. The village is also believed to be the birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus. (April 2005)