Prisoner Abdullah Barghouti (Al Jazeera)
Once again with the Palestinian prisoner, engineer Abdullah Barghouthi, who has the longest life sentences in the history of the Israeli occupation: (67 life terms and five thousand two hundred years), of which he has so far spent the first twenty years in solitary confinement.
We stand with him in a new novel, which he dedicated to the lawyers, and which he wrote about Palestine, the lawyers, and the resistance, as if he considers that the key to victory in this case is in the alliance between these three elements: “Palestine,” which represents the people, memory, heritage, and religion, and the lawyers who believe in the justice of the cause, and defend it with the word. And the law, and the resistance fighters who decided to sacrifice their lives for the cause.
At the beginning of his novel “Palestine the Lover and the Beloved,” Barghouti writes a dedication to a list of lawyers, concluding it with a female lawyer created by his imagination that he chose to be the heroine of his novel, and he called her “Palestine.”
Why are lawyers so important to a Palestinian prisoner?!
Let us imagine a man like Barghouti, who has been in solitary confinement since 2003. He sees only two types of people in his life: They are: his enemies who count his breath at the door of his dark cell, and the honorable Palestinian lawyers who represent his lungs that provide him with the air of Palestine, convey to him the stories of his family, and convey his voice to them, and they are the ones who provide him with the books and papers he needs, and they are the ones who seek to make the cruelty of imprisonment less cruel.
When a resistance fighter is captured, his weapon stops speaking, and his voice is cut off except for what is transmitted by leaked papers, or transmitted by a lawyer who believes in his cause. Abdullah Barghouti said in the beginning of his book that he is not a professional writer, but a resistance fighter who loved shooting bullets into the chests of his enemies, “And when the bullets became strong In my gun, I found nothing but bullets in my pen.” This pencil and papers were also given to him by a lawyer, and for them he feels grateful. Rather, this story can be considered a call to Palestinian lawyers to realize the importance of their work, and to make it a message and a weapon of resistance in the battle to liberate the homeland.
The heroine of the story - as we said - is called “Palestine”, and she lived a journey that began with boredom with the issue and a desire to disengage from its pain, but she found herself indebted to the issue, indebted to the resistance, and even indebted to the resistor with whom she behaved badly, then she discovered that he was the same one who saved her from aggression. The occupation years ago, and without it, she might not have been here.
Palestine felt deep remorse for insulting Al-Ghazanfar, and for not letting him complete his message, which his mother, who lost her sight, was waiting for out of grief for him. He was a son who was righteous to his mother and to Palestine, sanctifying it and its most remote areas.
"Palestine"... the lover and the beloved
“Palestine,” the lawyer in Barghouti’s novel, is a beautiful and delicate girl like a piece of “ice cream.” She grew up in a wealthy Jerusalemite family, and enjoyed all the pampering that that upbringing afforded.. Although she has intelligence; However, she neglected her studies; She did not obtain the grade that would qualify her to enter the medical school she dreamed of, so she was forced to enter the law school, which she hated, and yet she graduated with distinction.
She worked as a lawyer at Abdeen Law Firm; Although she hates the courts, criminals, and judges, and hates her name, “Palestine,” and does not know why her father called her that name, she believes that the Palestine issue will never be resolved.
She hates going to the areas ruled by the Oslo Authority to attend court sessions there. These civil authoritarian courts are no less corrupt than the Oslo Authority. Bribery, nepotism, and nepotism are widespread, so these corrupt authoritarian courts were left to plead before the unjust courts of the Zionist enemy.
Events escalate when lawyer Abdeen asks her to go visit prisoner Abdul Quddus, known as Al-Ghazanfar, in Beersheba prison. Because she was the only lawyer whom the Israeli occupation authorities accepted to grant her permission to visit him.
In the meeting, the prisoner asked to dictate a letter to his mother, but after a few lines, she refused to continue writing the letter, in a manner that constituted an insult to him. She was not concerned with the issue of liberating Palestine, for which these prisoners were sacrificing their lives, so Abdul Quddus sent a message to lawyer Abdeen meaning that he did not want to see this lawyer again.
Memory and regret
"Palestine" then discovers what shocked her and shook her feelings. She learned from her classmate Sajida that this prisoner, Al-Ghazanfar, was the one who saved her from under the hooves of the horses of the occupation army when she was a nine-year-old child, and she went out with her schoolmates to cheer for Palestine. The Israeli soldier hit her on the nose with his baton, causing her blood to flow and tearing her dress. Abdul Quddous, who was eighteen years old, saved her and covered her with his blue jacket, which she still keeps until now. Abdul Quddous returned after putting her in the ambulance and attacked the soldier who had beaten her. He dropped him to the ground and fled on his horse until he was far away from the place, but the occupation army was able to arrest him, and he was sentenced to two years in prison. Because of that, and that he was the knight of her dreams that she lived to dream of.
Palestine felt deep remorse for insulting Al-Ghazanfar, and for not letting him complete his message, which his mother, who lost her sight, was waiting for out of grief for him. He was a son who was virtuous to his mother and to Palestine, sanctifying it and exalting it.
In a conversation with herself, she started blaming herself; Because it deprived the prisoner of sending a message to reassure his mother and father, and to reassure Palestine and its children who loved him and appreciated his struggle against the enemies of freedom and liberation.
In its dialogue with itself, Palestine said: Abdul Quddus loved Jerusalem and sacrificed his freedom for it. How tall and high-headed he is among those dwarf jailers... and how stubborn a Palestinian he is who sacrificed his life for a cause he believed in and worked for for a long time.
Therefore, Palestine decided to return to its roots; To Palestine, the child who used to demonstrate and participate in public events... Palestine, the child who loved a brave prince, and still loves him, and he is still as brave and daring as he was.
Palestine felt love for Al-Ghazanfar Abdul Quddus. He was the prince she dreamed of, and her life had no meaning without him.
This novel - as we said - is a tribute to every Palestinian lawyer who believes in the cause of the resistance and the cause of his country, for these are soldiers in a battle that cannot be sustained without them, and they are partners of every resistor.