One of us: الشهداء منا وفينا

الشهيد القسامي مصعب علي
The martyred resistance fighter Mus'ab Ali

الشهيد القسّامي مصعب علي (24)

مصعب من هؤلاء الذين أُدرِجوا تحت بند "مجهول" في قائمة الشهداء، لا لشيءٍ إلا لخوفنا الدائم خلال الحرب وبعدها من العملاء قاتلهم الله، ومن قصف منزله بعد استشهاده كما يحدث كل حرب مع كثير من المقاومين. اليوم تنتشر صوره وأراها على صفحات أناس لا أعرفهم، مرتديًا زيّه العسكريّ، حاملًا سلاحه، وأفضّل هذه الصورة لسببٍ أجهله. مصعب درس في كليّة صناعية "تبريد وتكييف". قدِم إلى بيتنا قبل بدء الحرب بأسبوع وقام بتصليح غسّالتنا. لم أرَ شخصًا في أدبه وأخلاقه. مصعب كان أحد المقاومين الذين اشتبكوا مع قوات الاحتلال في الشجاعيّة وقتلوا 8 جنود صهاينة، ثم اشتبكوا معهم مجددًا في حيّ السلام شرق جباليا. حاصرهم العدو جوًا وقُصفت العمارة التي كان فيها هو واثنان من رفاقِه بانتظار "قوة خاصة" إسرائيلية لمهاجمتها. استشهد ثلاثتهم معًا. تم إخلاء جثث الشهيدين في اليوم التالي، ولم يتم العثور على جثة مصعب لأن الركام كان كثيرًا وكانت المنطقة لا تزال خطرة. في هدنة الخمس أيام، وبعد مرور 8 أيام على استشهاد مصعب، تمكّن أهله من إيجاد جثته تحت الأنقاض. حفر أبوه وأخوته بأيديهم، وساعدهم جيران المنطقة. 8 أيام، وخرجت جثته صحيحة سليمة (طبعًا تحلّل جثث الكثير من الشهداء لا يعيبهم؛ هذه كرامات يختصّ بها الله من يشاء). بقي تحت الركام 8 أيّام، لا يعرف أهله عنه شيئًا سوى أنه استشهد ورفيقاه. 8 أيام! هؤلاء أحقّ الشهداء بالذكر والتبجيل. هؤلاء، من نتجنّب ذكرهم أمام الإعلام لأنهم ليسوا "مدنيّين"، عاشوا وماتوا ليحيا المدنيّون بكرامة. هؤلاء أطهرنا وأنقانا وأكثرنا فهمًا للحبّ. هؤلاء، الذين يغادرون بصمت ويتركون صورًا فوتوغرافية تُعدّ على أصابع اليد الواحدة، لا يأبهون للتسميات التي يطلقها عليهم العالم الظالم. في بيوت عزائهم، يرعبنا صمود أمهاتهم وجلدهنّ، يرعبنا يقينهن الذي سرعان ما أن نتركهم يتحوّل إلى شلّال من الدموع لا يهدأ. صبرٌ وبكاء، يمتزجان ويفترقان. هؤلاء من في جنائزهم يبكي الأغراب ويردّد الأب "الحمدلله، إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون. الحمدلله." هؤلاء من استشهدوا لنحيا نحن. هؤلاء من صدقوا الله فصدقهم الله.

(كتبت هذا النص سارة علي من غزة)

The martyred Qassam fighter Mus'ab Ali, 24 years old

Mus'ab was one of those who were classified as "unknown" on the list of people killed in Gaza. It was done out of our constant fear from the collaborators (may God strike them down) during the Israeli aggression and after, and out of the possible demolishment of his house that happens during every war to a lot of the resistance fighters.

Today Mus'ab's pictures were circulated on social media and I see them on the pages of people I don't know. In those pictures he's wearing his military uniform and carrying his weapon. I prefer this picture [posted above] for reasons I can't quite explain. 

Mus'ab studied "refrigeration and air conditioning" at an industrial college.  He came to our house a week before the Israeli aggression started to fix our washing machine. I've never met a person with such impeccable manners. Mus'ab was one of the unit of fighters that confronted the Israeli occupation army in Shuja'iyeh and killed eight Zionist soldiers. His unit faced the Israeli army again in the Salam neighborhood east of Jabalya. The enemy besieged them from the air and fired air strikes at a building he was in with two of his comrades as they were waiting to attack a "special unit" from the Israeli occupation army. The three of them were martyred together. The next day, the bodies of the other two fighters were pulled out from the building, but Mus'ab's body was hard to find due to the immense rubble, not to mention that the area was still very much under danger. During the 5 day ceasefire, that is eight days after Mus'ab was killed, his family were able to find his body under the debris. His father and brothers dug through the rubble with their bare hands, and were helped by their neighbors. His body did not carry any markings of decay. He remained eight days under the rubble, and his family knew nothing except that he and his friends was killed. Eight days!

These martyrs are the ones that deserve to be mentioned and revered. These martyrs, who are avoided being mentioned candidly to the media because they are not "civilians"...these are the ones who lived and died so that the rest of the civilians could live with dignity. They are the purest and and the finest and compared to us, have the better understanding of what love is. They who choose to leave us quietly and leave us a few photographs of themselves that can be counted on the fingers of one hand. They do not care about the names that the cruel world calls and defines them by. At their funeral wakes, we are in awe of the steadfastness of their mothers. They shock us with their certainty that as soon as we leave, turns into waterfalls of tears. Patience and tears! They blend in together and are inseparable.

At their funerals,  strangers mourn them and cry over them. And Mus'ab's father contains himself by repeating the verse, "Thank God, I am to God and to Him we return. Praise be to Allah." 

They are the ones who died, who chose the path of martyrdom in order for us to live. They believed in God and God in turn believed in them.

As written by Sarah Ali, translated by myself