Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 20)
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- Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 20)
- المحتوى
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she moved to another house, she once again built a hideout that
we used from time to time.
GUEVARA OF GAZA
One of the most beloved, respected and effective figures at
that time was comrade Mohammad Al Aswad, rightfully
known as Guevara of Gaza. His most outstanding
characteristic was his cheerfulness. When we visited a family,
he always attracted the hosts with his special style. We used to
joke with him, saying: «Your presence makes us nothing...
everybody talks to you and forgets us.» He used to answer:
«It’s not your fault, it’s something in my face that makes peo-
ple like me.»
Guevara always made himself our equal. He had guard duty
just like everybody else. I remember one time I was on guard
from midnight until 2 a.m. I had a watch which was then a rare
commodity among us. At 1:30 I set the watch forward to 2,
then went and woke Guevara up. He knew that it was not yet 2,
but he just smiled and went on guard. He treated us in a truly
comradely manner. I remember we had a comrade who was a
former army officer. His manner was just like that in the army
- shouting, cursing, ordering, etc. This made us dislike him,
especially compared with Guevara.
Comrade Guevara was decisive in any nationalist or
organizational issue. He paid attention to even the smallest
matter, the things we used to neglect. He always asked us to
pay for the food we ate when we entered a house. He stressed
the importance of good conduct with the masses, citing ex-
amples from Vietnam and other revolutions. He was constant-
ly reminding us that if we passed through a garden and ate
from the fruits, to leave money in place of what we picked.
Once we arrested a collaborator and were taking him for in-
vestigation. He managed to run. We shot and injured him.
Comrade Guevara was nearby. When he heard the shooting, he
Came running and saw the collaborator on the ground wound-
ed. Though we had conclusive evidence that this man was a
traitor, comrade Guevara insisted that we conduct intensive
investigations to make the indictment more concrete. He
ordered us never to shoot any person unless a decision had
been taken by our military court, approved by the commander
and unanimously agreed upon. In combat, comrade Guevara
stressed the necessity of shooting first. He said: «Don’t let the
enemy start the battle.» This tactic later proved to be effective.
PURSUED
One rainy day when mud covered the roads, I was sitting
with Ibrahim, and a young man from the PLA, named Abu
Difaa, in a house located in an area full of trees which gave it
special protection. Suddenly a man came in; we later found out
he was from the PLF. He called Abu Difaa and said he wanted
to tell him about a disturbing dream. I told Ibrahim I wanted
to go out and hear what they were talking about. I left my
klashnikov with Ibrahim. As I was listening, I heard someone
saying in Arabic, but with an accent: «Come here!» I im-
mediately headed for the house. Before reaching it, I heard
shots, so I retreated in the opposite direction. On my way, |
met Abu Difaa and asked him to give me his klashnikov. He
refused and I asked for his grenades which he gave me. He then
told me to withdraw from the area entirely, so as not to be
caught. I refused. Due to my insistance, he agreed to accom-
pany me to a nearby house which had two gates, one opening
onto the main road and the other onto the garden. When we
20
entered the house, I asked the daughter to run to where
Ibrahim was to bring back news. As soon as she left, the dogs
started howling, signalling that strangers were coming. The
woman of the house went out to look. As she opened the door,
she screamed: «Escape, escape!» A soldier stormed into the
house. I was in the yard. When I saw the soldier coming, I
threw a bomb at him. At the same time, Abu Difaa aimed his
rifle and started shooting, as he ran in the opposite direction.
As we ran, we met a girl I knew. She said: «Ibrahim was here a
minute ago.» I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to kiss her I was so
happy. We asked her where he had gone and headed in the
same direction. On our way, other people reaffirmed what the
girl had said. I asked one man how many klashnikovs Ibrahim
was carrying, and he said only one. Thus I realized that my gun
was gone. When we met Ibrahim, we embraced. He handed me
his gun. I refused at first, but on his insistance I accepted. He
then told us everything that had happened.
We could not stay in any one place long, sometimes not
more than an hour. The Zionists had intensified their pursuit
of the fedayeen, employing new methods. The special forces
were brought in large numbers, greatly increasing the Zionist
military presence in the area. Large numbers of checkpoints
were erected, aS were concentration centers for emergency
needs. They began employing a method whereby troops were
positioned in a U-formation. This way, when a resistance
group attempted to retreat, it would be surrounded on all sides.
We therefore decided not to withdraw from such traps, but to
clash with the enemy troops. The Zionist authorities also used
Arab Jews to pose as resistance fighters, claiming they had ar-
rived from Lebanon. They would ask people about the location
of the fedayeen, even naming the fighters they wanted to con-
tact. We informed people about this trick, asking them not to
answer anybody who asked about our whereabouts.
Once I was with a group of comrades, many of them new
members, in a house in the middle of a garden. Suddenly a man
showed up, looked at us and then just ran away. A few minutes
later a woman came and said there were some Zionists claim-
ing to be fedayeen. We left the house, looking for them in the
direction she pointed. I asked my comrades to shout at them
first. If they didn’t stop, we would shoot. When we saw them,
we shouted, and they started shooting at us. We shot back.
We were in a hilly area and we started to retreat, first
crawling and then running. After less than 300 meters, we
heard the buzzing of helicopters over our heads. Luckily the
area was full of trees, so the helicopters could not locate us. As
we were running, we met two PLF fighters who ran with us. I
asked where their weapons were. They said they had gotten
stuck in a fence, and they could not get them out. We later
found out that the Zionists had executed a civilian from Al
Jaradat family in shear revenge. They claimed that the guns
they found in the fence were his.
LEAVING GAZA
I left the occupied territories as a result of the increasingly
tight situation. The idea started as a joke based on two factors:
my bad health, since my wounds had never healed completely,
and Ibrahim’s wound; and the difficult situation which meant
we could never rest. After a while we started to take the idea of
leaving more seriously. We knew a man who collected old
clothes from door to door, and passed them through a mill
which shredded them into lumps. We suspected the driver who
transported this material of being a collaborator. We told him - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 24
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