Occupied Jerusalem -

Despite the passage of a quarter of a century since the martyrdom of its son Jawad, the Al-Bazlamit family's wound in Jerusalem is still deep and refuses to heal. With the advent of the anniversary of the popular "gift of the tunnel", the pain is renewed and eyes are filled with tears over the separation of the young man who was preparing for his wedding days before his martyrdom by Israeli bullets.

To the "Al-Thawri" neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Al-Jazeera.net went to meet the family, and there the father, mother and 3 of the martyr's brothers gathered.

There are many stories that crowded their memory of him, this one mentions his eagerness to help with the repair and construction work of his brothers’ homes, and this speaks of Jawad’s piety and high morals that made him an exceptional place with his parents.

Abdel Halim Al-Bazlamit (Jawad's father) seemed cohesive and smiling, but he deliberately did not stay seated for a long time while talking about the details of Jawad's life and the day of his martyrdom.

The holy martyr Jawad Al-Bazlamit is one of the dozens of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation in the tunnel gift (Al-Jazeera)

ominous call

Two days after the outbreak of what was known as “the gift of the tunnel” (September 25, 1996), Jawad and his father went to Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers on the 27th of the same month. An "ominous call" that Jawad was among those injured in the confrontations that erupted with the occupation at Al-Aqsa Mosque after the end of prayer.

The family rushed to Al-Makassed Hospital in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in order to check on their son, and there - says the father - "they told us that Jawad was injured, but he was actually martyred as soon as two bullets were fired at him, one of which was a dumdum (explosive bullet) in the head, and the other In the heart".

“We belong to God and to Him we shall return,” the grieving father responded to the medical staff’s announcement of Jawad’s martyrdom. “I recognized the body, and in a state of chaos, everyone around me began urging me to bury him within minutes before the occupation kidnapped his body, detained it, or dissected it.”

His wife, Aziza Al-Bazlamit, listens carefully to what he tells about one of the most difficult days for the family, and every time he omitted a small detail, she intervened and corrected him, saying, “Yes, but such and such.”

The mother began her speech by describing “it was difficult to taste the heartbreak of her son’s death,” and that the news of his martyrdom “fallen on her like a thunderbolt.”

She said, "I ran to Al-Makassed Hospital, and there they took Jawad out of the recovery room and said that he was martyred. I did not see or hear anything around me. I put his head on my leg and began to pray for him. Suddenly they pulled the body and rushed to bury it."

The father, mother and brothers of the martyr Jawad Al-Bazlamit flip his photo archive at the family home (Al-Jazeera)

marriage not consummated

The mother was anxiously waiting for Jawad to marry his bride exactly two weeks after the date of his martyrdom, but she said, "He got married to Al-Hoor Al-Ain, and his bride was married to his brother later."

She added, "I bought him sheets for his bed from Jordan as a gift for his marriage, and I keep them in my house until now."

The mother is silent, then looks at her listening children carefully and then says to them, "May God bless him with Heaven."

Wajih (Jawad's older brother) seemed most affected by the details, especially since they were working together in a car repair garage, and he said that on that day he was on the job while Jawad came home early to wash and go to Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers, but a phone call was said during which "Your son Jawad Tasawb" changed the course of the entire family's life forever.

Wajih mentions the details of his brother's burial, saying, "We initially went to bury him in the town of Al-Sawahra, but we got news that the occupation forces surrounded the cemetery. One of the attendees said that a ready-made grave was recently dug next to the old mosque in Al-Thawri. Indeed, we went to the place and Jawad was buried there within moments."

Wajih could not contain himself and shed his tears. "We are now 6 brothers. The seventh passed away a quarter of a century ago, but we always remember him, and in the family there are several sons who bear his name."

Jawad and two other young men were martyred in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the tunnel explosion (Al-Jazeera)

tunnel giveaway

On September 25, 1996, the Palestinians went out in a popular uprising after the Israeli occupation authorities opened the western tunnel at the bottom of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque - a tunnel within old buildings built in different eras and covered with rubble due to the destruction of the city several times throughout history - during the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu who commissioned the mayor of the occupation at the time, Ehud Olmert, to open it.

The confrontations began with the opening of the tunnel, which threatened the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its historical landmarks, and extended from northern Palestine to its south, and the Israeli occupation - during that wave that lasted for days and was called the "tunnel gift" - killed 63 Palestinians, including 32 in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and 31 in the Gaza Strip. While 1,600 others were injured to varying degrees.