Black Friday:
Zum Tod von Faisal
al-Husseini
Uri Avnery, 02.06.2001
Faisal al-Husseini was a very
special person. A great Palestinian patriot, an undaunted fighter
against the occupation, and at the same time an untiring activist for
peace and conciliation between the two peoples of this country.
Faisal was the personification of
the best qualities of the Palestinian people, a nobleman in the best sense
of the word. His family has been prominent for centuries in the annals of
Jerusalem. At any given time one of the Husseini clan was either the mayor,
the Mufti or the official in charge of the holy shrines. Several of them
were hanged by the Turks for their pro-Arab activities. His father,
Abd-el-Kader, was a national hero, the commander of the Palestinian forces
in the Jerusalem region, a living legend (even on our side). He fell during
the Nahschon operation battles (in which I took part, too.)
Like every true nobleman, he was
very modest, with not a trace of arrogance. He talked eye to eye even with
the simplest person, radiating genuine human sensitivity. Yet this gentle
man was a tough fighter, when the need arose. I saw him more than once
standing upright in the face of bullets and tear gas or marching at the head
of a demonstration towards armed soldiers, their guns at the ready.
But, some years ago, this person
joined a Gush Shalom demonstration near the old city wall of Jerusalem. We
were there to demonstrate for "Jerusalem - Capital of Two States". In his
typical style, a mixture of logic and emotion, he declared: "I dream of a
day, when a Palestinian speaking about 'our Jerusalem' will mean
Palestinians and Israelis, and an Israeli speaking about 'our Jerusalem'
will mean Israelis and Palestinians."
Under the influence of his moving
speech I drafted the "Our Jerusalem" manifesto, setting out this beautiful
idea. After 850 outstanding Israeli intellectuals and peace activists had
signed it within a few weeks, Faisal signed it at a public ceremony in front
of the cameras. (Yasser Arafat, too, gave his assent to the text at a public
meeting with us.)
When the al-Aksa intifada broke
out and many Palestinians withdrew from open contacts with Israelis, Faisal did
not retreat one step. We met several times at the Orient House and we held a big
public meeting there. A week before his death he suddenly appeared, without
prior notice, at an Israel-Palestinian press conference for the international
press, in which we expressed our unshakable belief in peace between the two
peoples.
This spirit was prevalent at
yesterday's funeral, too. The few Israelis who came to tender their
condolences were received with open arms in the courtyard where thousands
were crammed, hundred came to shake our hands. One of the Israelis was
invited to speak.
In my heart I treated Faisal as
a brother. For me, the frontline does not pass between Israelis and
Palestinians, but between the Israeli and Palestinian peace lovers on one
side and the war-mongers of both peoples on the other.
Less than six hours after the
Palestinian people united around Faisal's coffin, the war camp hit back.
The suicide bomber who blew
himself up among the boys and girls at the Dophinarium discotheque on the
sea-shore of Tel-Aviv did a great service to the settlers, who are trying to
convince the Israeli public that it is not because of them that the rivers
of blood are flowing and that there is no difference between the settlements
and Tel-Aviv. The collaboration between the Islamic fanatics and the extreme
right-wing in Israel is a fact of life, as is the cooperation between the
likes of Faisal and the Israeli peace activists.
The Israeli government does not
belong - to put it mildly - to the peace front. If not stopped by international
forces, it will chose escalation. In the ping-pong game between Rehavam Ze'evi
and Sheikh Yassin, Hizbullah and the settlers, the ball is a human skull.
The heart of Faisal Husseini
stopped beating when we need him more than ever.
haGalil onLine
03-06-2001
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