Occupied Jerusalem -

"Their shoes are on the enemy's heels," this is what the Palestinian cartoonist Mahmoud Abbasi quoted from the Palestinian poet Tamim Al-Barghouti, to simulate a popular image circulated by hundreds of thousands on social media, showing a man in his fifties dressed in white, sitting on a chair inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, placing One foot on top of the other, looking down with contempt at an armed soldier who passed by.

The photographer for the circulated photos is the Jerusalemite photographer Moaz al-Khatib, who took them during the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the occupation forces and settlers last Sunday, April 17, corresponding to Ramadan 16, and were published for the first time on the website of the Palestinian Wafa Agency, and then spread widely on social media.

Al Jazeera Net met the owner of the photo, a Jerusalemite named Arif Tanji "Abu Saddam" (57 years old), and he lives in a small one-room house near Bab al-Silsilah, one of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, next to a house in Al-Isawiya village in Jerusalem that he took to accommodate his 11 children and 36 grandchildren, he insisted. The man should meet with us in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, because he does not leave him except for a few.

A cartoon adapted from the image of Al-Tatanji by the Palestinian painter Mahmoud Abbasi, in the words of the poet Tamim Al-Barghouti (Al-Jazeera Net)

body language

We met him sitting in the same position and in the same form, dressed in white from head to toe, with the exception of blackness in his headband and shoes, even his beard ignited a white gray to complete the painting “prestige” as described by some of the tweeters, it was identical to the popular image except for the position of his feet, justifying this by saying: I was putting one foot on the other at that time to express my indignation and resentment, and arrogance towards the soldiers who gathered around me, but between Muslims now and my people, I lower my feet out of respect and humility, (the bow) only on the occupier, but in Al-Aqsa I am ready to carry a broom and cleaner.

And he continues, "It is my right to place one man above the other, to reflect that we are stable and exist, we have consideration and roots. This is my place where I was created and raised, and I will die or be martyred there, God willing."


Picture story

Tanji brings us back to the day of the picture, saying, "I am always present in Al-Aqsa during Ramadan and other times, and on that day I prayed in the morning and sat reading the Qur'an and glorifying my Lord in the outer squares coinciding with the settlers' incursions, and suddenly the forces began to expel the worshipers. They tried to get me off the chair."

The man explained his firmness on the chair at that time, until we thought it was a seat of position or authority, but his words and actions showed that he is equal to the world to him, and he continued, “Despite their terror, arming and surrounding me, I was not afraid, I only fear God, the servant does not fear me, fear is not I have it, because my destiny is written with my Lord.”

Aref Al-Tatanji says that Al-Aqsa Mosque has a cure for all diseases (Al-Jazeera Net)

Jerusalem life routine

On such days in the month of Ramadan 6 years ago, he was survived without a shelter after the demolition of his house in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood near Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 16, 2016 under the pretext of not having a license, after many years of financial irregularities and tiring tours in the occupation courts to redeem The house and the annulment of the decision to demolish it. He added that 3 of his sons were arrested in the occupation prisons at different times. He comments, "This is a routine life in Jerusalem."


The ultimate is medicine

"Life is full of worries. Wasn't man created in a liver? But I advise every debtor, distressed, or sick slave to go down to Al-Aqsa and open his heart to God, and he will be amazed at the comfort that he will find." He lists for us the diseases that afflicted him from pressure and diabetes, and does not end with the catheterization operations that were performed on his heart, and adds, "Everyone in this spirit (goes) when I am at Al-Aqsa and my health becomes (becoming) iron."

Many pictures of the elderly in Al-Aqsa Mosque were very popular, because of their strong, spontaneous expressions loaded with messages, and one of them was a picture.

And he concludes his speech by saying, "I invite all the elderly to pray at Al-Aqsa and to stay there at all times. How beautiful it is to end your life with good deeds in the holiest places on earth."