menachem daum is an american jew from brooklyn.aveled to lifta recently to hear all sides of the story. >> i may have a family link to lifta. my uncle, meyer yosef, a member of the betar zionist youth, left poland for palestine in 1937. he joined the lehi militia, also known as the stern gang. he was my hero. while the rest of my family were victims during the holocaust, he was a fighter for the jewish people. >> he was convinced that israel was home. that's what he told his mother when she was crying at the train station when he left poland. she was crying so much. he said, "don't cry, i'm going home." the arabs, we didn't think about them at all. >> in 1947, my uncle's stern gang and other jewish militias were fighting arab forces near lifta. on december 28, jewish fighters entered lifta's coffeehouse and killed at least five villagers, allegedly in retaliation for an attack on a passing jewish bus. fearing for their lives, most of lifta's arab residents fled. none have ever been permitted to return. on a visit to lifta's spring,