MAKKAH, 21 December 2007 — Palestinians for many years have suffered under the hands of the Israeli government. Not only have many of them had their homes and farms taken away as Israelis settle in their lands, but many of these families have seen their children caught in the crossfire of the geopolitics that has given Israel the upper hand in military might against an overpowered community.
Inside the walls of the Palestinian camp at Mina there were many mothers yesterday talking about how they lost their sons and daughters under the hands of the Israeli army. Arab News visited their campsite in Mina to listen to their stories of pain and suffering in the Occupied Territories.
The news about their coming to Makkah to perform Haj was a story by itself. Inside their walls there was a mixture of sadness and joy; sadness for the political situation and suffering and, joy because they managed to make it to Makkah after it was almost impossible for them to make it at all.
Saleh Al-Raqb, head of the Palestinian Haj delegation in Mina, said that every person in the delegation has at least a martyr in their family.
As for the Palestinian prisoners, Al-Raqb said, “All Palestinian people are virtual prisoners under the Israeli occupation. There are people who are physically prisoners, in Israeli jails, but most of us are prisoners under the Israeli government. I myself spent time in Israeli prisons for many years. Despite my long term inside Israeli prison, I was happy that I was giving something to my people and my country. My son Abdullah lost both of his legs in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.”
Muhammad Abu Askar, a pilgrim from the Palestinian Haj group, said that the sadness and suffering he endured under the Israeli occupation couldn’t be described.
“I’ve lost two of my children,” he said. He added, “I am happy that they died serving the Palestinian cause to liberate the country from Israeli occupation. My sons were not like any other sons in any other country, searching for a beautiful car or a beautiful job. They told me that they would not rest until they saw every area of Palestinian soil liberated from the Israeli occupation. One of my sons, Ahmad, 22 years old, was getting ready for marriage when Israeli soldiers shot him. The other one, Muhammad, 18 years old, was killed during an army raid.”
Inside the camp, Arab News met with the mother of Muhammad Al-Sharami; the Israeli army killed her son. She started to cry as she was talking about him. She said that he was like any other Palestinian youth who was suffering under the hands of the Zionists. Like any other young man, he wanted to see Palestine liberated.
“I still remember it like yesterday,” she said. “He came to me and greeted me, kissed me on the head. I looked in his eyes and I felt that there was something wrong. A few hours after he left I received the news of his death; he was shot in the head.”
She said that she was not angry at his death; in fact she said she was happy that he died defending his country and she was proud of him. She said that she came for Haj to pray for him.
Emad Ghanem, cameraman at Al-Aqsa Satellite TV Channel, said that he lost both his legs when he was covering an Israeli raid in Gaza.
“The Israeli tanks were demolishing everything and did not leave a house or a tree standing,” he said. “Even children were not spared from Israeli brutality. The only weapon I had was my camera, which was stronger than the tank and the weapons. But one of the Israeli tanks fired a missile at me and I lost my legs as a result.”
