These People Who Taught Us How To Love

Nayef Hawatmeh      Al-Hayat     2003/08/18

Each time a political delegation comes to visit us in the West Bank, Gaza, in Jordan Lebanon or Syria, we suggest taking them to visit the Palestinian camps. We have become experts in the reactions they have when they visit them: every time they see a camp like Jermana or Danoun in Syria, Shatila or Mar Elias in Beirut, the Wahdat or Boqaa in Jordan, Rafah or Jabalia in Gaza, Blata or Jenin in the West Bank, we see confusion and surprise in their eyes. We read in their eyes a saying that became familiar to us: is possible that martyrs and the right-holders of the most sacred cause come from these old tin houses? Did they walk in these alleys that are smaller than the coffins of their martyrs toward the freedom space in order to remove from the face of humanity the crimes of Zionist racism and their perpetrator Israel the occupier. But very quickly this surprise vanishes and they forget the time limit of their visit to launch rich, warm and hot political discussions, with three generations gathered by the sufferings of exile and obstinacy to return home through struggle and pure blood baptism. Their eyes are once again full of confusion for the discussion reaches the children of Gaza, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem, which remove the faint geographic borders that never hindered them. They were banned from living in their own country, but their country lives on in them. The sparkle in their eyes opens before the startled visitor endless horizons. A child pointing out one of the camp's walls is enough to remove the confusion once again. The pictures of martyrs that decorate proudly the wall tell the story of the Palestinian dream that flourishes every morning on the windows of the camp like dew, a secret thread linking the Palestinian children to the struggles and sacrifices of their fathers and transmitting them to the new generation.

An old militant asks you how can a child, of the age of Fares Odeh, stand before a tank?! The answer is simple: because the camp is a Palestinian one. An answer that charms the militant to accept it. Why was Mohamad Durra killed in cold blood?! The chest of his father was unable to protect him, the father deployed his hands like the sea gull to defend Mohamad, but the bullet of a terrorist occupier did not miss the target. It knew what it wants. It wanted to snatch the soul of the child, to kill the communication soul between the Palestinian generations. The generation of Mohamad Durra and Fares Odeh is the generation that will come back to live and build in Palestine. The beginning of the rise of the Palestinian Phoenix is bad news for the occupier for it heralds its departure. This is how, for once, the lie of the Zionist killers falls, for Palestine is not a territory without a people, and the people who came from it and are deeply attached to it ever since the dawn of history deserve this land. The fear from Mohamad Durra and Fares Odeh, the grandsons of the Palestinian Canaan, are enough reason to kill, in the eyes of the terrorist Ariel Sharon.

The majority of the Zionist movement's elderly started off their lives as invaders and settlers. Western technology granted them weapons of death. They killed what they killed of our people's sons; they violated what they violated of our territory. However, they are standing on the threshold of the autumn of their lives, due to the bloody aspect of the wars and occupation country and the Palestinian resistance that made them cry: the Palestinian blood rivers did not give us the security we sought for. They are warning the leaders of their entity of the terrible crimes of the Zionist Israeli killer and its bloody end now that the Palestinian blood is waving in the horizon its victory on the Israeli occupation.

Why does the killer fear the killed? Why does the Zionist fear for the destiny of his occupation state, which boasts the latest technology in killer weapons? Why are the Palestinians, despite the massacres, deaths and destruction, never defeated? Why do they talk about the upcoming Palestinian dawn? It is the strength that only right-holders have, and the Zionists were never right. Any reader has the right to wonder why Nayef Hawatmeh wrote an article where feelings are ever more present than politics? I am writing it because I am one of those who believe that any politics that dismisses people's feelings is isolated from reality, and its only impact will lie in the minds of those who planned and called for it.

One person wrote: "some of the factions of the main OLP have turned into simple commentators. They have set themselves apart from the ongoing political track, repeating the same mistake they made in Oslo." Even if the person who said this has only good intentions, what he said is nonsense and has nothing to do with historical facts. This person, and his likes, didn't hear about the Intifada of an entire people with all its generations and the resistance to defend the nation and cling to the right of return. In the recent past, the Oslo process collapsed, and now the Roadmap is becoming an impasse. The Israelis know only the road to escape and grab more concessions. They have stolen the constant decision of our people by escaping the American, Israeli and regional pressures with more concessions to reach a state of vacuum that has nothing to offer.

People of Oslo, if you do not have the power to continue anymore, if you are confused, if you lost the way, come back and visit your people's camps. For in the alleys, there are thousands of Fares Odeh and Mohamad Durra. In their eyes you can see faith. The pictures of the martyrs on the walls remove the sins from the hearts.

A child in one of Jermana's alleys is running to me, shaking hands in one hand and in the other making the victory sign and crying Palestine as if it was a joyful word. I wish I could hear it millions of times. I no longer remember your name, you little boy, but you will remain in my memory as one of the Knights of the Palestinian independence generation. You are a miniature sample of the secret thread that links our people's generations in the course of struggle. You are the conscience of our people that taught us how and who to love.

No fighter has ever lost his way when he committed to the right of his people. The cameras will never put someone in the heart of an event and history making. The future of Palestine will be decided by the sons of the camps, cities and villages of Palestine. Their hearts are there. One would only loose if he accepts the settlement of unfair policies, the policy of concessions or adventures, the policy of selfish faction conflicts where there is nothing but chaos and loss of rights. The land will remain, but the people will leave. With the occupational Zionism standing in the autumn of its life, the Palestinian spring is rejuvenated. The martyrs will resurrect, and the long nights of suffering will end. The time has come for the sun of Palestine's independence to shine.

*Mr. Hawatmeh is the Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.