The Lid of the Bomb

Name of speaker: 
Avraham Ben-Eliyahu
Gender of speaker: 
Male
Occupation of speaker: 
Merchant
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
80
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Judeo Arabic
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Dr. Assaf Bar-Moshe
Year of recording: 
1999

Translation: 

 A: so I…. during that time… The lawyer ˀAnwar Šaˀūl, (who was) a poet and writer, you know… I was always in contact with him, Yes. He told me: Abraham, would you do me a favor? I told him: What's going on? he said: when I got married, the first (Iraqi) pilot, Nāği…

.B: Nāği, the pilot

A: Nāği, the pilot. When I got married, what did he give me as a present? He gave me the lid of a bomb, the one that hits an airplane. Its lid. and he wrote on it: "A gift for my marriage" and that. And there was another piece with it. Another piece of which I managed to get rid. But this lid, I am afraid to put it at home. It was the first Friday after the (Six Day's War), I told him: Wait! I will come. I went to their house. And I took it and put it in the (shopping) basket.

?...B: So he was afraid that they will catch him and

A: He was afraid… they (the Iraqi authorities) were searching the houses, they (the Jews) were afraid. Yes. Because it was (easy) to say what it is if you… it's clear what it is. I put it in the… (I put) it in the basket. And I put an eggplant on top of it. (laughs) Eggplant and tomatoes and I don't know what (else). As if it (was used for) vegetables. Yes. I put it in my car and I brought someone with me, a friend of mine from our relatives, I told him: Come with me. He (this friend) was a coward. B: And he knew, Or didn't he (know)?

A: No, He didn't know. Yes. I told him: Come with me. I took him and we drove the car through Bǝġdād ᵊğ-Ğadīda road, It was a new road they made from… the Tigris River till Dyāla. And it cuts Bǝġdād ᵊğ-Ğadīda from its edge and it became a place of parks and gardens and that. But in the mornings there was not a lot of traffic there (literally: there is no one driving in it so much). I took him with me and I sat down in the car. I told him: I am looking in the mirror, if I don't see a car behind me, people coming from behind, you, wherever it is, throw it from the door. Throw it and we will get rid of it. Indeed I came, I saw there isn't… we saw a piece of land with water and plantation that grows in it, I told him: Go ahead! Throw it! Indeed he threw it into the water and we came back. We came back to my house, suddenly I see that ˀAnwar Šaˀūl and another friend of mine were sitting there…

?B: Wait a minute! It means that (you didn't throw it) into the water of the river

...A: no, not in the river

B: But his name is written on it... A: No, no! We threw it just like this on the ground… It didn't have the name of ˀAnwar Šaˀūl on it. "My gift on the occasion of…" Yes. Indeed we threw it and got rid of it. 

Translation is provided by courtesy of Dr. Assaf Bar-Moshe