Ryuichi Hirokawa: Witness from the East

While working on a kibbutz in 1967, a Japanese journalist discovers the hidden remains of a Palestinian village.

When Japanese journalist Ryuichi Hirokawa went to Israel in 1967 to work on a kibbutz, he was fascinated by the idea of a farming community based on socialist principles. He wanted to work there and study Hebrew.

But two weeks after his arrival, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war erupted.

"I thought Israel was right in this war because the Palestinians and Arabs wanted to destroy Israel," says Hirokawa.

But one day, he stumbled across rubble covered with cacti and scattered rocks that later proved to be the remains of the village of Daliyat al-Rawha - a village that had disappeared from the map.