Tel Aviv Tribune Net correspondents
Gaza- Seventy-year-old refugee Abd Rabbo Abu Jabal sits in a dilapidated tent in the Al-Mawasi area adjacent to the sea, west of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, after he was forced to flee his home in the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt, following Israeli warnings to residents to evacuate, signaling a ground military operation.
Despite the depth of the tragedy that befell approximately 2.3 million Palestinians living in the small coastal strip, as a result of the Israeli war, which displaced more than 85% of them into tents and shelter centers, the refugee Abu Jabal did not lose what he describes as “a feeling of pride,” and the “euphoria of victory” has been with him ever since. The Al-Aqsa flood attack on the seventh of last October is considered one of the most prominent stations of the Palestinian struggle since the Nakba in 1948, and the establishment of the Israeli entity on the ruins of historical Palestine.
Tel Aviv Tribune Net visited the refugee Abu Jabal in his tent, where he sits facing the western facade and wearing a traditional costume, and conducted a conversation with him that began with a smile that adorned his face with his white beard. He began his speech by saying, “I am older than Israel, and I, my children, and my grandchildren have more right to this land, and we will return not to our home in Rafah but to Brier.”
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So, you are a refugee from Brier, Hajj?
Yes, I was born in Brier in 1947, a village affiliated with the Gaza District since before the Nakba occurred in 1948, and all administrative and official transactions for Brier and the surrounding villages were carried out in Gaza, whether during the era of the Ottoman Empire or the British Mandate.
When the Nakba occurred, and to escape the horrific crimes committed by Zionist gangs, as Israel is doing now in Gaza, the family immigrated to Gaza City first, and after about two years they moved to the Rafah refugee camp. The family has multiplied and expanded and still resides in Rafah. We believe that our great exodus will be a return. Towards Brier soon, God willing.
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Are you talking about the right of return while you are displaced in a tent?
We will certainly return to Brier, and to all our cities and villages in historic Palestine, and Israel is committing crimes to try to prolong its life. It realizes that it has no future on this land, and just as it abandoned us with terrorism in 1948, it has been practicing the same policy for 8 months in Gaza, but there is a big difference. Between the Nakba generation and the current generation, the fathers and grandfathers were poor and simple and did not have anything with which to confront the Zionist gangs.
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Do you think that the current generation is capable of this confrontation?
When the Nakba occurred, the Palestinians were simple, poor, and uneducated. The colonial countries succeeded in passing the ill-fated Balfour Declaration, and the Palestinian tragedy occurred, which has been going on these days for 76 years. It is unfair to hold our fathers and grandfathers responsible for the sin and loss of Palestine, as the fighter among them sold his animal or his wife’s gold. To buy primitive gunpowder with which to combat planes, tanks, and cannons that Britain had given to the Zionist gangs.
Today, although Israel is superior in everything, and for the same reasons, with unlimited support from America and Western countries in the face of a defenseless people, the current generation, the generation of the Al-Aqsa flood, has fangs and nails and is able to “scratch” the occupation. It is an educated and believing generation, and is able to employ Teach him how to develop his tools and weapons.
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Is this enough for liberation and victory?
Of course, it is not enough, but it makes Israel lose its security and stability, and we instill in our children and grandchildren the love of Palestine and the belief in the right of return, and we make every effort to give them the best education so that they will be able to build a better future.
I personally have children, 5 males and 5 females. I was keen on educating them, and some of them hold a doctorate degree, even though I did not complete my education after the first year of secondary school, due to a difficult situation, and I was forced to leave school in order to help my father support the family. However, I believe in the value of… Science, and I was keen to teach boys and girls, and I married them and they bore me 22 grandchildren, and I still – despite my advanced age – make sure to gather them and tell the stories of Brier and Palestine to their ears so that they remain engraved in their memories.
All of this is important in order to preoccupy the occupation and make its occupation costly. However, complete liberation and achieving victory require Arab and Islamic unity, and you can imagine if the Arab fronts surrounding Palestine had joined forces with the resistance on October 7, Israel would not have remained on the map.
The liberation of Palestine needs revolutionary Arab regimes that uphold the interests of their people and Arab national security, consider Israel to be the first enemy, and force the world to implement the laws and standards of democracy and human rights that it sings about, but we do not see them in Gaza, and the world watches as we slaughter and destroy.
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Do you talk a lot about the importance of science and knowledge in the liberation battle?
Yes, had we not reached this level of science, knowledge and faith, the resistance would not have succeeded with simple equipment in attacking the Al-Aqsa flood and confronting the aggression, nor would we have succeeded as a people in being patient and steadfast despite the ferocity of the war, during which the occupation forces committed all kinds of crimes, which exceed the crimes of the Zionist gangs during the Nakba. 1948.
This war has no morals, and Israel has killed thousands of children and women, destroyed homes over the heads of their residents, in addition to the comprehensive destruction of infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and all necessities of life.
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Is displacement the goal of Israel behind these crimes?
Without a doubt, Gaza has become a chronic headache for Israel, which is why this crazy war was in order to push people to emigrate abroad, tighten its control over Gaza and liquidate the Palestinian cause, but the Palestinian in Gaza stopped these plans with his patience, steadfastness and awareness.
Personally, I would die here and not emigrate, and I believe that my dignity lies in staying here in Gaza, and this is what I have instilled in my children over the past many years. I have secured a life for them here, educated them, married them, and established a home for each of them, so that they would never think about emigrating.
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There are those who are carrying out the Al-Aqsa flood attack and have been affected by the repercussions of the war, including killing, destruction and displacement. Do you have a message for them?
I say that what was taken by force can only be recovered with more force, and the Al-Aqsa Flood operation is a prominent milestone in the history of the Palestinian struggle, and we must be proud of it, and like the Al-Aqsa Flood generation, we will return to our homes and countries, and watch how the whole world has begun to talk about Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people, after decades of Blind bias towards Israel and distorting the awareness of the masses and peoples.