Dura, Occupied West Financial institution – Ziad Abu Helaiel – political activist and social reformer – was greatest identified for his defiant phrase “Bihimmish!” (“doesn’t matter”, in Arabic).
The phrase was delivered overtly, dismissively even, to Israeli troopers who have been making an attempt to scare him as he stood of their means, typically utilizing simply his physique to stop them from taking pictures solidarity demonstrators within the West Financial institution through the 2014 warfare on Gaza.
To say Abu Helaiel, who was overwhelmed to loss of life at his residence close to Hebron by Israeli troopers on October 7 this yr, was well-known can be an understatement. He was well-known within the West Financial institution for the peaceable protests he led in opposition to the Israeli occupation, by no means armed and sometimes standing as a human barrier between protesters and Israeli troopers.
Hundreds of individuals attended his funeral within the West Financial institution. A number of thousand extra tried to attend however have been stopped at roadblocks manned by Israeli forces.
Amongst his many acts of resistance, he led an indication of greater than 10,000 folks in entrance of the Israeli checkpoints in Hebron to demand the return of the our bodies of Palestinians who have been killed by Israel in 2016. The demonstration resulted within the return of 17 our bodies.
On one other event, says Muhammad Kamel Nassar, 69, a vendor, Abu Helaiel intervened when Israeli troopers tried to arrest a younger man throughout one of many latest incursions into Dura, south of Hebron.
Abu Helaiel chased after the troopers and “throughout his pursuit, the sheikh confronted them and was severely overwhelmed, handcuffed and arrested for hours after he helped the younger man escape from the fingers of the troopers”.
Nassar recollects the occasion from the seat near the Grand Mosque in Dura the place the pair would sit collectively for hours and focus on points such because the struggling of the folks in Gaza and social reconciliation.
Tending to his kids and his flowers
Within the courtyard of their residence, Abu Helaiel’s spouse of 43 years, Basma, is sitting alone in one of many two chairs she and her husband used to sit down in. Beside her are the flowers and timber that Abu Helaiel, who was 66 when he was killed, lovingly tended to.
He most well-liked the scent of pure basil flowers, she explains as she wraps his previous keffiyeh round her shoulders. That is the place they used to drink their espresso after daybreak prayers daily and wait collectively for the dawn. Then their kids would go off to work and their grandchildren to check.
He tended to his household as nicely. Lengthy after they turned adults, to him they remained his kids after they have been in his residence.
Abu Helaiel misplaced two of his sons to Israeli bombardments. One was Jihad, simply 7 months previous, who was killed through the first Intifada in 1989 close to their residence. The household was prevented from travelling to hospital and the infant didn’t stand an opportunity.
One other son, Ahmed, was killed on the age of 17 in 2017 when he was run over by an Israeli car in Ramallah. A brother, Bader, was shot within the chest with stay bullets earlier than being arrested, injured, and imprisoned for 3 years.
Basma, 64, has given beginning to eight sons and 6 daughters. These nonetheless alive are twins Musa and Maysaa, 42 years previous; Muhammad, 41; Murad, 39; Issa, 37; Sanaa, 36; Iyad – the dual of Jihad – 34; Mahmoud, 33; Bader, 32; twins Nidaa and Fidaa, 31; Muayad, 30; and Yasmine, 29.
‘They beat him mercilessly’
Within the early hours of October 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel which ended with 1,139 folks useless and 251 captured, and triggered the onset of the Israeli warfare on Gaza, occupation troopers stormed the courtyard of Abu Helaiel’s home.
“It was about three within the morning once we heard the voice of the troopers whereas they have been besieging the home and ordering us to open the door,” says Basma.
Her son, Muayad, went to open the door and was instantly attacked. The troopers demanded that he take them to his uncle’s home subsequent door.
At that second, different troopers stormed into the home to seek out Ziad and started to beat him mercilessly. He saved repeating that he had a coronary heart situation, however one of many troopers intentionally hit the center space. As Abu Helaiel tried to observe them from the home, one of many troopers slammed the heavy iron entrance door into his chest, inflicting him to break down.
Abu Helaiel had beforehand undergone quite a lot of coronary heart procedures together with a catheterisation of the artery. He misplaced consciousness for greater than half an hour however the home was surrounded by troopers. “They have been stopping the ambulance from reaching us,” Basma says.
When he regained consciousness, “he pronounced the Shahada in my arms whereas I used to be making an attempt to assist him keep alive after which his soul left his physique. I felt that my physique had grow to be soulless, too,” Basma says.
‘Quite a lot of honey and slightly onion’
Basma fondly remembers her husband’s generosity, humility, braveness and fixed prayer within the mosque. “He taught me endurance, and he suggested me to maintain his sick, paralyzed mom and to proceed his journey with out concern,” she says.
Everybody beloved him, she says. When he returned residence, quite a lot of cats would at all times be ready for him, and he would feed them daily. They saved coming – even after he was killed.
His grandchildren would even be ready – able to take no matter treats he had introduced residence for them, crisps or biscuits. “I keep in mind him feeding them from his spoon regardless that they’d already eaten their lunch,” Basma recollects.
Basma met Abu Helaiel in Jordan, the place she was born and her household lived. Abu Helaiel went to work for a Saudi financial institution however returned to Jordan throughout their engagement and wedding ceremony interval.
The couple remained there for 3 years earlier than Abu Helaiel took them again to Palestine the place they settled within the metropolis of Dura, south of Hebron and he labored in farming. Basma says their marriage was stuffed with “loads of honey and slightly onion” – loads of happiness and slightly disappointment.
Most of all, she says, her husband was dedicated to defending his countrymen. “He by no means used weapons or sharp instruments, however moderately stood along with his naked chest and clear palm in entrance of the occupation’s weapons,” she explains. “He wished to stop Israeli troopers from firing bullets and bombs at Palestinian youth, particularly through the occupation’s suppression of demonstrations in solidarity with the folks of Gaza all through the previous wars.
“He beloved the folks of Gaza very a lot and was enormously affected by the scenes of massacres in Gaza and talked loads about what he noticed, particularly younger kids and ladies. His tears didn’t dry for lengthy intervals because of his disappointment and ache.”
Now, she says, the pillar of the home has gone. “He has left an enormous void.”
At his funeral, Basma says she centered on his braveness. She mentioned: “Congratulations in your martyrdom, and should God make you cheerful in it. This loss of life raises my head and the pinnacle of his complete household, and it’s a badge of honour for us and a tribute to his biography. His will in his departure was that we should always not cry, however moderately rejoice, and ululate, and never obtain mourners, however moderately obtain congratulations.”
Settling disputes in the dark
“We by no means actually grew up in our father’s eyes,” says Murad Abu Helaiel, 39, who works as a pc programmer.
“My eldest brother is 42 years previous and our youngest is 27 however he handled us all as kids below the age of 5 due to the nice care he gave us.”
He was seen as a caregiver within the wider neighborhood as nicely and would typically be known as upon to assist settle disputes. “Many instances, he acquired calls requesting his help through the evening. He would depart his mattress to offer it,” Murad recollects.
On one event, Abu Helaiel was stabbed within the hand whereas making an attempt to intervene in a dispute between two native males. “He refused to depart for remedy regardless of his bleeding till there was a reconciliation between the 2 events,” his son says.
On one other event, he intervened in a dispute between two neighbours over considered one of them uprooting the opposite’s tree. The injured celebration was demanding 6,000 dinars ($8,464) for the tree.
Abu Helaiel took off his agal (the pinnacle wrap over the keffiyeh) and put it on the sufferer, asking, “Is that this sufficient as an alternative of 6,000 dinars?” The person replied: “No, that is value 10,000, and I can’t owe you 4,000 dinars.”
“And the dispute was resolved,” says Murad.
His father’s loss of life has left an amazing void not simply within the household, however in his neighborhood and Palestinian society as a complete, he says. “The Palestinian folks wanted somebody who would confront the occupation and injustice in all places and concern nothing.”
In his final days, his son says, he continued to offer help and care to the neighborhood regardless of his coronary heart points. “I maintain his garments – his head agal, keffiyeh, abaya and dishdasha. They’ve grow to be a priceless treasure for me and my household.”
