Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 18)
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- Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 18)
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us. Those carrying out the military operations were people
from among us, who in the day time went about their normal
life. This friend used to come sleep at our house. He began to
ask me for small favors - to expect him at night, to have tea
prepared, etc. After a time, he was arrested, and we lost con-
tact.
My friend and I used to sit in front of the school canteen and
talk about the fedayeen. At that time, the Zionist authorities
began issuing permits for people from the Gaza Strip to go and
work in the part of Palestine occupied in 1948. At night my
friends and I went out acting as fedayeen and collecting these
permits to keep people from working in the Zionist state. We
were enthusiastic even though such activities could expose us to
death.
In that period, a friend said he wanted to introduce me to
one of his relatives. We set a date at the canteen and told
Ibrahim. When we met, my friend’s relative had two hand
grenades and a pistol with him. He asked us if we wanted to
become fedayeen and we replied that this was our hope and
dream. He explained that he had to test our courage. He gave
us the two grenades, told us to attack a selected target and then
bring back the grenades’ safety pins to show they had been us-
ed. We went to an area called Sanafor which is near a railway
track. The cars crossing the tracks had to slow down. We
decided to throw the grenades when the cars slowed down, to
be sure to hit our target. We returned and delivered the pins.
We were told that from then on, we were members of the
organization (PFLP).
My father’s death had provided a strong incentive to join the
organization, in addition to my hatred for the enemy. I had
been brought up on the idea that one day Palestine would be
liberated and we would return home. | could never accept see-
ing the Zionist soldiers walking freely about on the streets,
without our doing something against them.
Until a certain incident, my family knew nothing of my ac-
tivities. I was very cautious, and afraid of being kicked out of
the organization had I told anybody. Then it happened that the
comrade who had recruited us encountered some people from
the PLF at night; each was carrying a gun. They suspected him
and shot. He was wounded in the chest. This happened in the
quarter where my comrade, Ibrahim, lived. Hearing the
shooting, Ibrahim ran out of his nouse and saw our comrade
lying wounded. He moved him to a nearby garden. Ibrahim
came to my house and asked mez to come with him. My family
was suspicious about my leaving the house so late at night in
such a hurry. I didn’t come oack home until a few days later.
That incident revealed to ny family my participation in the
struggle.
We moved the injured comrade to a house and called a doc-
tor who treated him. In those days, people prided themselves
on helping the fedayeen. The family to whose house we had
moved our comrade was very hospitable. Then we moved him
to Shatti camp, near his family. He stayed there until his
recovery and then returned to our camp (Jabalia). When |
returned home, none of my family discussed the issue of my
having joined the resistance. Nobody even asked me where I
had been or what I had done.
OPEN STRUGGLE
After that, we started to know some of the comrades who
were pursued and had their houses constantly stormed by the
Zionists. We got to know their life style. Older comrades saw
us as young and inexperienced, while we respected their age
18
and experience. I was always hoping to accompany one of the
older comrades on a mission. I used to watch every move they
made. In particular I noticed their nice treatment of people,
despite the fact that they were considered the local authorities.
They could do anything without elicting fear or questions,
because the people thought that these men could never do
anything wrong. All houses were open to them and to us. When
we had to enter a house in the course of our work, the people
treated us really well. They fed us, hid us and then left us to
sleep. Sometimes members of the family would stand guard
while we slept. At first, we acted very secretly. Through our
close contact with the masses, they realized that the fedayeen
did not come from outside, but were residents of the occupied
homeland. They realized that the fedayeen were their own
sons, fathers, brothers and sisters who lived among them and
shared their life.
Then, the Zionist authorities began instating new, tougher
security measures and making wide-scale arrests. They started
to recruit collaborators, tempting them with money.
Sometimes they got information through confessions extracted
from imprisoned, tortured militants. The enemy forces began
pursuing the fedayeen, and large numbers of the fighters started
to live the life of fugitives. They didn’t sleep in their own
houses, or in the same place twice, etc. The number of those
pursued increased immensely, and the fedayeen decided that
since they were anyway wanted and hunted, they would go
public and confront the occupation forces openly. Fedayeen
started to appear in military uniform with their weapons. More
men and women asked the fedayeen to take them into the
resistance. People even claimed to be a member of the PFLP
just to do anything which would earn them the title of fedayee.
Every single patrol that entered the camp, whether on foot or
in vehicles, was subject to attack. For this reason, the Zionists
changed the direction of the seats in their vehicles, so that the
soldiers sat facing the back in order to survey the area and not
be surprised.
One time Zionist soldiers occupied a house we used to visit a
lot. I was coming from Shatti camp, carrying my klashnikov. |
arrived at the house at about 5 a.m. From our experience we
had learned to distinguish between the footprints of an Arab
and those of an Israeli. I noticed soldiers’ footprints in front of
the house. I decided to act as if I were an Israeli when the com-
rade’s mother opened the door. I knocked and pointed my gun
at the door, with my finger on the trigger. When the door
opened, it was an Israeli soldier and I pulled the trigger. I
started running, asking the people who came out of their
houses to tell the comrades that there was an ambush at the
house. Stunned by surprise and fear, I decided to retaliate and
give the occupiers some of their own medicine. I ordered all the
fighters in the camp to be on alert, ready to clash with any
coming patrol. A military vehicle full of soldiers stopped at the
rations distribution center. I threw a bomb at them and ran. As
I was running, I saw a man we had always suspected of being a
collaborator. He performed harmful acts while pretending to
be one of the fedayeen. When he saw me, he drew his pistol
and started shooting in the air, leading the Zionists to where I
was. I just kept running.
WHO RULES THE STRIP?
Operations were going on daily. This had extremely positive
effects on the morale of the masses. The people realized who
the enemy was. They saw the enemy troops being attacked
every day and suffering casualties. The operations even had an - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 24
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