Jenin, occupied West Bank, Palestine – Muhammad Arrabi’s family, what remains of it, lives in the heart of the old city of Jenin, in a house that the family has passed down for 185 years.
The Arrabi family consisted of 10 people – a mother, a father, four daughters and four sons – until the Israeli army killed three of their sons, culminating in the shooting of Muhammad, the third brother to be killed.
Jenin, old city and new
A visitor to the old town of Jenin will notice the beautiful houses, passed down from generation to generation and still inhabited today. The Arrabi family house is one of them.
But almost every house in Jenin has been damaged in one way or another, whether to the stones that make up the walls or the people who live there.
Known for its history of resistance, Jenin has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The town and its refugee camp have been frequently attacked by the Israeli army, resulting in deaths, injuries, significant damage to infrastructure and fighting.
Despite the beauty of the Arrabi house, a deep sorrow lingers within its walls.
The loss of the brothers left lasting wounds for their mother, Umm Fouad, 78, and five other siblings: her daughters – Ruba, 52; Souhad 51; Nour, 42 years old; and Reem, 38 years old, and Fouad, 35 years old.
Mohammed was the youngest brother. After Ruba, Suhad, Nour and Fouad married, he lived with Reem and their mother for about six years.
Umm Fouad relied on Muhammad for everything.
Muhammad used to give his mother medicine, run errands and take care of her, but now she has lost “her hand and her foot”, according to Fouad, who used a Palestinian expression to express the extent of her dependence. one person towards another.
Umm Fouad has not yet come to terms with Muhammad’s death on August 29, living as she still does with the constant pain of loss.
However, his first loss was his firstborn, also named Fouad. He was a child during an Israeli attack on Jenin during the First Intifada, known as the Stone Intifada.
The boys threw stones at armored vehicles and Israeli soldiers.
Soldiers responded by shooting the youths, and in 1988 Fouad was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper.
A year later, Umm Fouad gave birth to a baby boy and named him Fouad in honor of her murdered older brother.
In 2003, during the second Intifada, his son Rashad, 29, a Palestinian resistance fighter, was killed in a clash with the Israeli army near their home, where he was trying to attack an Israeli tank.
Rashad was seriously injured and the army prevented medical teams from reaching him until he died.
Three young men attempted to recover Rashad’s body, but the Israeli army opened fire at each attempt. Nidal Al-Kastouni, Yousef Al-Amer and Muhammad Fuqaha were killed trying.
Last month, tragedy struck again when Muhammad was killed in the same spot where Rashad had fallen. He was shot by a sniper while holding his phone to document what the Israeli army was doing in his neighborhood.
The prisoner who became a “martyr”
Muhammad shared a deep bond with his father, Bassam, whom he also cared for.
His father, on the other hand, relied on Mohammad for everything and was always by his side.
Muhammad completed high school but was unable to attend college.
Arrested twice by Israeli forces, Muhammad spent a total of three years in prison.
His first arrest took place in 2016, when he was 24 years old. He was charged with “incitement” and sentenced to a year and a half. He was arrested again in 2019, after spending another year and a half on charges of “planning to carry out an act of resistance”.
While in prison, his father’s health deteriorated and he died in 2020 before Muhammad could say goodbye.
This loss deeply affected Muhammad. He often spoke to his friends about the emotional trauma of not being able to bury his father, recounting how much he missed his father and his brothers, Fouad and Rashad.
After his first release from prison in 2017, he found a job at Vamos, a local burger restaurant owned by his sister Noor and her husband, Mamoun Al-Yabdawi. He loved his job and dreamed of having his own restaurant.
Abu Hazim, who worked with him at Vamos, said he missed the joy Muhammad brought to his workplace.
Al-Yabdawi remembers Muhammad’s kindness and how he would add a little extra food to people’s orders.
His neighbor Khaled Abu Ali, who also worked at Vamos, said evenings with neighborhood youth seemed incomplete without Mohammed.
“Two weeks before Mahomet died, he invited more than 30 young men from the neighborhood to a barbecue to celebrate some high school graduates.
“Knowing that their financial situation did not allow for a celebration, he wanted to bring them joy. It was his ‘Last Supper,’” Abu Ali said.
The news of Muhammad’s death was not a surprise. It is not uncommon for a family in Jenin to receive such news.
The Arrabi family, in particular, having lost two sons in the same manner, live in constant fear with each raid on the city.
Abu Ali said the family, or what’s left of it, has been changed forever.
“Fouad is no longer the person he was. Before, he was happy and full of life, but now he no longer smiles. Sadness clings to him. As for his sister Reem, she is heartbroken. She was incredibly close to Muhammad.
Perhaps the real burden Fouad feels now, he says, is trying to stay safe to avoid causing more suffering to his mother and sisters.
Commenting on the loss of his third brother, Fouad reflected: “For 36 years, we have sacrificed ourselves for the homeland. We sacrifice what is most precious to us: the blood of our children.
“No burial without ceremony, no mourning without burial”
Muhammad was killed on August 29, during the capture of Jenin and its refugee camp after a 10-day military operation that Israel said was aimed at dismantling Palestinian fighter cells.
Israeli forces killed 22 Palestinians and injured more than 30 during these raids.
They besieged local institutions, including the Jenin municipality, the Civil Defense and the electricity company; ordered the evacuation of buildings; and blew up a house near the Ansar mosque in the camp.
Military bulldozers destroyed roads, water and sewer systems, utility poles, homes and vehicles.
All the while, Mohammed’s body lay in a morgue in the nearby town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, with Fouad insisting that “Mohammed will not be buried without a proper ceremony, and there will be no mourn until he rests.”
In Palestine, it is customary for people to gather around the bereaved family to offer support, but Israeli snipers and bulldozers blocked the way, isolating Mohammed’s family in their grief.
Once the raid was over, Mohammed was finally buried near his brothers Fouad and Rashad and their father Bassam.
Twenty-one other people killed in the raid were also buried, while thousands of people from Jenin governorate attended the funeral.
In the aftermath of Mohammed’s murder, Fouad said, the house built by four young men collapsed, with three of its pillars falling in the space of 36 years.
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