International Solidarity Movement - Page 536 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

“Like the Wild West:” Ex-prisoner lives with bounty on his head

by Alistair George

13 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement West Bank

“I see my situation as a cowboy film, like the wild west” says Hani Jaber, showing ISM a poster, written in Arabic saying: ‘Wanted: if anyone has any information about the whereabouts of the killer Hani Jaber, please call us on this number and you will receive a reward.’

The number goes through to an answer machine where the message instructs callers to leave a phone number, promising to guarantee confidentiality and to pay good money. Other leaflets have been handed out showing pictures of Jaber and other recently released prisoners, offering rewards for information and leaflets for soldiers so that they can alert settlers if Hani passes through a checkpoint. Reports in the Israeli media suggest that the reward is $100,000 for information on Hani’s whereabouts.

After serving eighteen years of a life sentence, Hani was released from prison on 18 December 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal which saw 477 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.

In 1993, Hani, 18 years old at the time, took a kitchen knife and stabbed to death the settler Erez Shmuel, who Hani claims had attacked his nine year old sister as she came come from school. Hani’s rage had built as he and his family experienced frequent attacks by settlers over many years. Hani had his jaw broken during an attack by four settlers, on another occasion his leg was fractured. His cousin, Aziza Jaber, was shot and killed by a settler as she was in labour and on her way to hospital – she was 30 at the time.

Hani was sentenced to life imprisonment and was kept in isolation for a total of five years. He spent two years without seeing his family – the only person who could visit relatively regularly was his mother; his father only got permission around once a year to visit and he has a brother which he didn’t see for 18 years.

Despite his prison term, Hani looks strong and healthy, his beard neatly trimmed and hair carefully side-parted. He seems calm and relaxed as we talk in a quiet corner in a nondescript café in Hebron. However, Hani and his father, Rasami, are careful to sit with their backs to the wall where they can see the layout of the shop. Rasami has rarely left his son’s side since his release from prison. “It’s a very difficult time, I’m afraid to leave him in case something happens – I stay with him or his brother stays with him to protect him.”

“I take the situation seriously” says Hani – “I don’t give any opportunities to anybody. I believe that I won’t lose my happiness with my freedom but I should be afraid sometimes…I don’t have any weapons or anything to protect myself, I only feel safe when I am with my family”.

When he was released from prison, Hani was given clearance to travel anywhere in the West Bank. However, a few days after his release, the police gave him a verbal order that he had to remain in Hebron for his own safety and that he had to sign in with the DCO (District Coordinators Office) every two months. But Hani says that his confinement to Hebron makes him feel like he is living under huge pressure in a “big jail” and is more vulnerable from attacks.

He says that his primary fear is from Palestinian collaborators rather than from settlers or soldiers. He is also fearful for his family, who have been attacked by settlers many times since his release.

Hani Jaber lives in secret location in Hebron for his own safety, it is too dangerous for him to return to his family’s home in Wadi Al-Hussain, a valley situated on the edge of Hebron’s old city. Their house faces Kiryat Arba, an illegal Israeli settlement of around 7,000 people, a few hundred metres away on the opposite side of the valley.

The Jaber family’s house has always been a focus of attacks by settlers, due to its proximity to the settlement. However, the attacks have escalated since it was announced that Hani would be released from prison. The house was attacked on the day of his release and Ibtisam Jaber, 33, Hani’s sister-in-law, was beaten and suffered a miscarriage three days later.

“The settlers came and attacked the house. Ibtisam lost her baby, nobody else was here because we were celebrating [Hani’s release]” said Moutasem Jaber, 21 – Hani’s brother.

On 19 November 2011 thousands of Israeli settlers and Zionists crowded into Hebron for Shabbat Chaye Sarah – celebrating Abraham’s biblical purchase of land on the site of the Ibrahimi Mosque. The family experienced a surge in attacks; they were attacked around 10 times – at one point there was over 100 settlers outside the house. They threw stones, urinated in the family’s well, and chanted “We will kill you” outside the house. The soldiers responded by entering the house and forcing the family to stay in one room for seven hours.

According to Hani, the family’s shop has been attacked and the house has been attacked at least seven times since his release. The Jaber family have reported the attacks and the threats to kill Hani to the police but they don’t expect any action to be taken.

“The government does not do anything against the settlers,” said Hani. They also say that the Palestinian Authority is unable to offer any kind of protection to Hani and his family.

“My case is not the only one” says Hani – “Many people have the same pressure. There are much harassment to all Palestinians – even if you’re not resisting and no settlers have been arrested after they harassed my family. They have evidence against them but the Israeli government will not do anything.”

Now that he has been released, does Hani think he can ever have a normal life with the death threats hanging over him and a bounty on his head?

“I’m not a terrorist, I didn’t do anything wrong and I think that I deserve to live a normal life, to get an education, to get married and to live like normal people” he replied “but now after all this harassment from the settlers I’m afraid to get married because I will destroy someone else’s life.” Hani says that if he was to study or work it would be a huge risk to take at the present time.

Even considering the brutal attacks that his family has faced from settlers, does he not think in hindsight that his actions were wrong? Does he have any regrets?

“I believe that I haven’t done anything wrong, and I have the right to live a normal life, and I have the right to be a fighter if there is an occupation in Palestine. With all the attacks from settlers it makes people react and to fight and resist – this is the normal thing, it’s not normal to sit and do nothing.”

But does he still believe that this is the most effective way to resist?

“At that time I was 18 years old, it was impossible to take all this darkness from the Israelis except in this way. Even after 18 years in the prison I see that the settlements are larger, the occupation is stronger and everything is getting worse. I believe that I did the right thing at the time but now I want to live as a normal person. I believe that I have to stay in one place, and that is the only resistance I can do because I think the fighting time is over.”

Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Khan Al-Ahmar: Forced expulsion of Bedouins from Area C

by Alistair George

13 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“From the 1970’s until today, the Israelis used to demolish our tents and houses but not to deport us” says Abu Hamis, a member of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe . “We used to rebuild our places but the new policy which they are adopting is that they want to not only demolish the houses, but to deport us from the area.”

Abu Hamis lives in the tinyvillageof Khan Al-Ahmar, located in the arid, rocky East Jerusalem periphery where steep mountain slopes plummet to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. The Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, considered illegal under international law, is visible on the hill above the village. The settlement is currently home to around 35,000 people; however,Israel has plans to expand it to create a city of 100,000.

This massive expansion will require the transfer of Arab Bedouin communities living in the area and is part of a wider plan – outlined to the UN by the Israeli authorities – to forcibly transfer all Bedouin communities from Area C, the 62% of land in the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control. The plan would involve transferring around 27,000 people and it could begin as soon as January 2012.

“This is a huge story” says Eyal Hareuveni, a researcher at Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. “Evacuating Area C for all the Bedouin communities actually means taking 20% or more of all the Palestinians that live in Area C and transferring them without their consent to another area. Legally, forced eviction is considered a grave violation of human rights, and there are some NGOs that are already calling it a war crime.”

A mass forcible eviction, which seems the most likely outcome of the plans of the Israeli authorities, would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions – which is a war crime, for which there is personal criminal liability.

There are also grave environmental concerns with the proposed relocation site for many of the Jahalin Bedouin communities, which is located next to a potentially highly toxic rubbish dump east of Jerusalem.

Furthermore, B’Tselem and the Bedouin communities of Area C claim that the plan to expand Ma’ale Adumim will sever the connection between the southern and the northern part of theWest Bank for Palestinians – effectively ending the possibility of a two-state solution.

The forced transfer of the Jahalin community

The 22 Bedouin families (160 inhabitants) of Khan Al-Ahmar have homes that are mostly shacks made from corrugated iron and wood, with metal fences holding livestock – the primary source of income for the village. The village had 1500 goats for over 10 years, but now they have 150. They have a single camel, when they once had thirty. The inhabitants are no longer allowed to work in the Israeli settlements as they once did. Two electricity lines pass nearby, but the village is not allowed to connect to these networks, so they have to use small diesel-powered generators. Unlike many of the Bedouin communities in the area, who have to import water in highly expensive containers, the village does have some running water.

The village’s existence is in stark contrast to Ma’ale Adumim which has swimming pools, libraries, a transport system, health facilities, shopping malls and subsidized water and electricity.

Demolition orders have been issued by the Israeli authorities for all of Khan Al-Ahmar’s structures, including the village’s school which serves five Bedouin communities in the area with 85 students.

Abu Hamis said that, “The most basic need for any human being is to have an education…after we built the school I invited the council of Ma’ale Adumim to the school in order to create some kind of cooperation between us and they came here and they showed us they are very happy that we have a school now. Three days later we received a demolition order and the excuse was that it’s a ‘danger for the settlement’.”

Nicola Harrison, from UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency), says that the timeline of Israel’s Civil Administration’s plan is unclear, and they refuse to show the written plans to anyone outside of the Israeli authorities. “What’s very clear is that the civil administration has confirmed that they do plan to move the Area C population who do not have a building permit, and they are going to go ahead with identifying different locations throughout Area C,” she said. The plan would remove around 2,300 members of the Jahalin tribe in the area.

A previous expulsion of Bedouin communities by the Israeli authorities occurred in the 1990’s, after the Oslo Agreement was signed in 1993. However, Harrison said, “The 90’s was a compensation package after the forcible relocation, with bulldozers and multiple demolitions. This time they are very much trying to avoid the chaos of that, and they’re going to use much smaller drip-by-drip techniques to exhaust everyone into accepting the package so they don’t have to come with bulldozers. However, they have confirmed several times that, if the Bedouin refuse this ‘nice package,’ they will be demolished anyway and moved by force.”

According to Harrison, the relocation package is likely to include a plot of land, building permission, leaseholds and a certain amount of money, depending on the size of the family. Abu Hamis says that the plans would not leave them with enough land to graze their livestock and would endanger their traditional way of life. The area has been home to the Jahalin tribe since 1948, when they were forced to leave the Negev following the creation of Israel. There is no doubt that Khan Al-Ahmar badly needs development, but the school and the struggle to gain running water are examples of progress.

Environmental Issues

Israel’s Civil Administration have indicated that they will try to re-locate around 100 Bedouin families, comprising around 800 people, to a site next to Jerusalem’s primary rubbish dump, near Abu Dis and to the homes built for Jahalin people forcibly transferred by Israel in the 1990’s. The Jahalin communities, human rights organizations, and UNRWA are concerned that this site would endanger the health of the community.

According to Eyal Hareuveni, “The dumpsite was supposed to be closed in 2006, then 2007, 2010, 2011 and now it’s supposed to be closed down in 2012. 95% of the dumping is from Israel, the only reason they choose to dump here is that it is cheaper than dumping in Israel….This is the legal justification because the Palestinians are ‘enjoying it’ as well. According to the Israeli Ministry of the Environment, this is the worst dump that Israelis using.”

The site contains 7 million tonnes of waste and the Israeli authorities have failed to monitor the gases emitted from the site, so they have no way of knowing whether it is safe. The rubbish-choked valley is completely open for anyone to access; people from the nearby Bedouin community can be seen searching through the mounds of trash for valuable scrap metal.

The Israeli authorities plan to rehabilitate the rubbish site in order to forcibly re-locate Bedouins in Area C and house them there – however, the Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim municipalities and the Civil Administration have not yet agreed on a plan to rehabilitate the site.

Hareuveni says that relocating the Bedouins to the site of the rubbish dump is “typical of any plans that the civil administration has all over Area C…the main purpose of the civil administration is to limit the possibility of expansion for any Palestinian community. The plan for the dump site is another example of how they don’t care about the livelihoods of the Palestinians.”

He claims that the plans to remove Bedouins in other parts of Area C will inevitably produce more environmental problems.

In the Jordan Valley most of the areas were closed down for Palestinians because there were settlements or fire zones or nature reserves or even landmine fields. So there aren’t any places were the Bedouin communities can keep their traditional way of life or livelihood in the Jordan Valley and the issue of water is much more crucial there than it is here. Water has been taken by the settlements in theJordanValleyfor many years and there are established [Bedouin] communities in theJordanValleythat are losing their livelihood because of the lack of water or diminishing water resources.

Expansion of Ma’ale Adumim and the end of the two-state solution

“This is the most strategically important expansion of settlements in the West Bank. If this compound will be built, it’s most likely that the two state solution won’t be viable anymore” says Hureuveni.

The so-called E1 compound is the proposed site for the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim. Around 10 Bedouin communities reside within the compound and will be forced to make way for the planned expansion, including the village of Khan Al-Ahmar.

The E1 compound was annexed to Jerusalem municipality after the Oslo agreement in the beginning of the 1990’s. The Israelis plan to build 4000 houses here to expand Ma’ale Adumim; according to Hareuveni, the master plan for the expansion in E1 has already been passed by Israel’s Civil Administration. It only needs the approval of the Ministry of Defense.

The only road connecting the south of the West Bank to the north, that Palestinians are permitted to use, passes through the municipality of Ma’ale Adumim– it is also the only road Palestinians are allowed to use which passes through a settlement, as the road does not pass through a built-up part of the settlement.

According to Hareuveni, if the Bedouins are transferred from the area, and the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim is enacted, “it will seal East Jerusalem from the east and East Jerusalem will be disconnected from the West Bank because there will be no territorial contiguity between the north of the West Bank and the south part of the West bank. Any future Palestinian entity will be divided by a northern canton and a southern canton.”

It will also facilitate the breaking up of the Ramallah – East Jerusalem -Bethlehem economic link which comprises 35-40% of the Palestinian economy

There are currently no credible plans for an alternative road for Palestinians to use. Israel had begun to build part of a road that could eventually pass near Jerusalem but the project stalled in 2007. Hareuveni adds that there is another alternative, “but this seems like a fantasy – it is called ‘Road 80’ that is supposed to encircle all of Ma’ale Adumim block and connect them [Palestinians] back to Ramallah – but this is a huge engineering project that will cost billions of dollars, and there is no approval.”

Hareuveni says that when articles are published in the press, they usually only cover one part of the story, focusing on either the house demolitions, or the plan to move Bedouin communities to the rubbish site, or the plans to expand the E1 compound – with all issues covered in isolation. However, he insists that “all these [issues] are interrelated. They wouldn’t do anything with the Bedouin communities unless there was some wish to expand Ma’ale Adumim to E1, and they wouldn’t speak about transferring the Bedouin communities unless there was the option of expanding the Jahalin village near the dump site.”

As UNWRA and many human rights organizations claim, the forcible transfer of people under occupation is a grave breach of the Geneva Convention and a war crime with personal criminal liability for those in power. Furthermore, the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim will, in all likelihood, carve up the West Bank into unconnected northern and southern cantons, destroying any possibility of a future two-state solution.

It is under this threat that Abu Hamis of the Bedouin Khan Al-Ahmar village makes an appeal to mobilize forces.

“[We need to] put pressure on the Israelis to stop their plans,” said Abu Hamis. “We want to live in freedom, we want to live in dignity in our land here and we want our children to live in the best conditions without any problems or deportation…Next month, there is a real danger that we will be pushed from this area – we need all of you to be beside us.”

Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

New report documents children under fire in Gaza

13 December 2011 | AlertNet

Twenty-eight cases of children being shot at by the border fence between Israel and the Gaza strip whilst gathering building materials like gravel, or working by the fence, have been documented by Defence for Children International in their latest report ‘Children of Gravel’.

The shootings reportedly took place between March 26 2010 and October 3, 2011, according to Defence for Children International (DCI)-Palestine Section . According to DCI, the Israeli soldiers often fire warning shots to scare off workers by the border. Their report also states that ‘these soldiers sometimes shoot and kill the donkeys used by the workers, and also target the workers, usually, but not always, shooting at their legs.’

‘That children are in a situation where they need to work to help their parents meet basic family needs is an infringement of their rights. That children are in the line of fire to meet these needs is appalling,’ says World Vision Programme Director for Gaza, Siobhan Kimmerle.

Forty percent of Gaza’s population is unemployed and 80% of the population is completely reliant on foreign assistance. In addition, Israeli restrictions limit the amount of construction material entering the Gaza borders for reconstruction and development. As a result, many workers collect gravel and sell it to builders to use for concrete. The children among the gravel collectors earn about US$8-$14 per day to help support their families.

The North Gaza governorate is one of the most impoverished governorates in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and the neediest in the Gaza Strip. In comparison to the other governorates in the Gaza Strip, North Gaza’s food insecurity rate is the highest at 60% and the unemployment rate the second highest at 39%. World Vision works with communities in North Gaza to help improve family livelihoods and help ensure their children are cared for and protected.

Currently there are 2,411 registered children in World Vision’s North Gaza Area Development Programme, with 7,061 beneficiaries and as many as 22,594 indirect beneficiaries. World Vision’s programming in North Gaza includes rural development, job creation, and child empowerment projects.

The blockade of the Gaza Strip, including Israeli restrictions on items entering the borders, continue to harm Gaza’s deteriorating economy. The Israeli military continues to restrict Palestinians’ access to the land on the Gaza side of the Israeli-Gaza border, maintaining that anyone that comes within 300 metres of the borders puts his/her life at risk, which has had a negative impact on the physical security and livelihoods of Palestinians living in that area. DCI’s documentation indicates that children have been shot at while being between 30 to 800 metres within the Israeli border fence.

To read the DCI’s Urgent Appeal-Children of the Gravel, please visit http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/urgent-appeal-ua-410-children-gravel.

World Vision continues to work for the well-being of children and advocate for an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. World Vision believes that this conflict threatens the lives of all Palestinian and Israeli children, and one of the greatest obstacles to achieving fullness of life for each and every child is the ongoing conflict and the perpetuation of violence.

Sources:
1) Defence for Children International-Palestine Section, Urgent Appeal-Children of the Gravel, available at
http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/urgent-appeal-ua-410-children-gravel, Last accessed on November 25, 2011.
2) Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Gaza Strip, available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html. Last accessed on November 25, 2011.
3) Oxfam International, Crisis in Gaza, available at http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/gaza. Last accessed on December 9, 2011.

The death of a stone-thrower

by Jonathan Pollak

13 December 2011 | Haaretz

Mustafa Tamimi threw stones. Unapologetically and sometimes fearlessly. Not on that day alone, but nearly every Friday. He also concealed his face. Not for fear of the prison cell, which he had already come to know intimately, but in order to preserve his freedom, so he could continue to throw stones and resist the theft of his land. He continued to do this until the moment of his death.

According to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, in response to the reports about the shooting of Tamimi, the spokesman of the GOC Southern Command wondered on his Twitter account: “What was Mustafa thinking running after a moving jeep while throwing stones #fail.” Thus, simply and mockingly, the spokesman explained why Tamimi was to blame for his own death.

Mustafa Tamimi, from the village of Nabi Saleh – son to Ikhlas and Abd al-Razak, brother to Saddam and Ziad, to the twins Oudai and Louai and sister Ola – was shot in the head at close range on Friday. Hours later, at 9:21 on Saturday morning, he died of his wounds. A gas grenade was fired at him from an armored military Jeep at a distance of only a few meters. It was not out of fear that the person who did fired the shot hit him. He poked the barrel of the rifle through the door of the armored vehicle and fired with clear intent. The shooter is a soldier. His identity remains unknown and perhaps it will always remain unknown. Maybe this is for the best. Identifying him and punishing him would only serve to whitewash the crimes of the entire system. As if the indifferent Israeli civilian, the sergeant, the company commander, the battalion commander, the brigade commander, the division commander, the defense minister and the prime minister had no part in the shooting.

The army spokesman was right. Mustafa died because he threw stones; he died because he dared to speak a truth, with his hands, in a place where the truth is forbidden. Any discussion of the manner of the shooting, its legality and the orders on opening fire, infers that the landlord is forbidden to expel the trespasser. Indeed, the trespasser is allowed to shoot the landlord.

Mustafa’s body is lying lifeless because he had the courage to throw stones on the 24th anniversary of the first intifada, which begot the Palestinian children of the stones. His brother Oudai is imprisoned at Ofer Prison and was not allowed to attend the funeral, because he too dared to throw stones. And his sister was not allowed to be at his bedside in his final moments, even though she is not suspected of having thrown stones, but because she is a Palestinian.

Mustafa was a brave man killed because he threw stones and refused to be afraid of a soldier bearing arms, sitting safely in the military jeep covered in armor. On the day Mustafa died, the frozen silence roaming the valley was only slightly less chilling than the shrilling sound of his mother’s laments which fell upon it occasionally.

Thousands of stone-throwers followed him at his funeral. He was lowered into his grave and stones covered his body. Soldiers stood at the entrance to his village. Even the anguish and solitude of separation was intolerable for the army, who set their soldiers and arms to shower mourners with teargas as they went down to village lands following the funeral. While the soldier who shot Mustafa is at large, six of the demonstrators were put behind bars.

Mustafa, we walk behind your body with our heads bowed and eyes full of tears. We cherish you, because you died for throwing stones and we did not.

Palestine mourns another real legend, a symbol of motherhood

by Shahd Abusalama

11 December 2011 | Palestine from My Eyes

The mother of Anees and Akram (Photo: Shahd Abusalama, Palestine from My Eyes)

My voice is muted but every feature of my face speaks sorrow and anger. There is no need to wonder why. It’s Palestine, the rich land where smiles can turn to tears and laughs can turn to sighs in a second. It’s Palestine, where series of sad stories mixed with strength, will, and glory never end.

Anees and Akram Al-Namoura are brothers who were released in the first stage of the prisoner exchange on October 18 after spending ten years, originally supposed to be two life sentences, in prison. They joined the resistance by the beginning of the second Intifada, answering the call of their occupied lands and oppressed people to defend them, ready to pay any price that their precious homeland, Palestine, would require. While Israel was aggressively and continuously attacking, killing, wounding, and detaining Palestinian citizens, the brothers took to arms against the occupying army hoping for a better future for their family, their neighbors and their community. They planted a bomb beneath an Israeli tank, killing two Israeli soldiers.

I coincidentally met Anees, the elder brother, in his hotel while I was interviewing some other former detainees. After having a short chat, I learned that he was somehow related to my mother’s family. Then he told me that his imprisonment started five months before his brother’s. I commented innocently, “I can’t imagine how hard it is for your mother to have two sons in prison at the same time. But it is a little fortunate that you and Akram met each other there.” He shook his head, smiling at my naïveté, and corrected me. “No. We were in prison at the same time, but separated by the Israeli Prison Administration for the first five years. We tried legal remedies, but no lawyers and no courts could bring us together. So we started an open hunger strike to pressure them, and we were clear that our hunger strike would end only after they had met our demands. We could eventually meet and live as brothers in Armon Prison, in the same cell, for the last five years of our imprisonment.”

Anees and Akram’s father is holding their picture (Photo: Shahd Abusalama, Palestine from My Eyes)

Anees and Akram couldn’t enjoy the blessing of kissing and hugging their elderly parents even after they gained their freedom. Israel imposed a separation of a different kind on them as they were exiled from Hebron to the Gaza Strip. But this was only additional pain from a wound that was already existed, as their 80-year-old father, a cancer patient in a wheelchair, and 65-year-old sick mother weren’t allowed to visit their detained sons for more than three years.

When I Googled Anees and Akram’s names, I encountered a video of their parents from a year ago. They were interviewed about how it felt having sons in the Israeli tyrants’ prisons. “How can an old man like me, sick with cancer, threaten Israeli security?” their father wondered with a shaking voice full of sadness. “I collected all papers that explain my health situation, which is getting worse, and tried every possible way to meet my sons again before I die.” After watching the video, I smiled despite my sadness, thinking of how merciful God is: Anees and Akram’s father is still alive and has witnessed his sons attaining freedom.

In the same video, their mother, with expressive wrinkles that evoked long years of suffering, said, “I only wish I could sit on their beds, as I used to when they were young, and play with their hair while their heads lie on my knees.” The father challenged his disability by joining his sick wife and one of his daughters in a trip to the Gaza Strip to meet their sons only six days ago. This trip couldn’t happen earlier, as their permission to leave through Jordan was denied by Israel, and they obviously couldn’t come here through the Erez border for “security reasons.” However, if there is a will, there is a way. They eventually overcame all obstacles and made it here.

Six days ago, I heard Mum speaking cheerfully to Dad about the arrival of Anees and Akram’s parents and sister safely. Today, I saw Mum’s tears for the death of their mother, who had waited long to hug her sons and celebrate their freedom. “Oh Allah, her destiny was to live and not die before she enjoyed seeing and hugging her sons between her arms once again,” Mum said with tearful eyes as she entered our home after the funeral. After ten long years of waiting, with worry, sadness, suffering, and humiliation between checkpoints as she tried to visit her imprisoned sons, she lived six days with them before passing away, leaving us a real legend, a symbol of patience, challenge, and motherhood.