Martyrdom in the Context of the Palestinian National Struggle

posted on: Feb 7, 2015

Martyrdom in the Context of the Palestinian National Struggle

In January 1965, Ahmad Musa, a Fedayeen fighter with the Fatah faction, retreated back into Jordan after a sabotage raid on an Israeli water tunnel near the Palestinian village of Eilaboun in the occupied Galilee. Israeli forces seized Eilaboun in October 1948, expelled its residents (eventually allowed to return after the intervention of the Archbishop of Acre), and rounded up 14 of its young men and shot them three by three in a massacre still commemorated by the village. [1] Musa met his own fate at the hands of Jordanian troops as he crossed the border. The country’s monarch, King Hussein, had initiated a policy of clamping down on Palestinian guerrillas in effort to reduce tension with Israel. Thus was born the first martyr of the Palestinian resistance. [2]

In the Palestinian national and diasporic commemoration of martyrs, Musa became the first symbol of sacrifice. He was soon joined by many more.

Source: www.palestine-studies.org