Muhannad Halabi: A terrorist to Israel, a hero

to his family
Muhannad Halabi

Budour Youssef Hassan-20 January 2016

When Muhannad Halabi stabbed two Israeli men to death and injured a woman and a
baby in Jerusalems Old City, he started what many Palestinians have called the
intifada of the knives.
Halabi was shot and killed by Israeli police during the attack in early October last year
and the 19-year-old law student was branded a terrorist by the media. His parents,
however, have a sharply different view: they regard Muhannad as a hero.
I will always be proud that my son sacrificed his life for the liberation of his
homeland, said his mother Suhair.
In his final posting on Facebook, Muhannad expressed deepanger about the incursions

of Israeli settlers into the compound around al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islams holiest
sites. He had just watched a video of a Palestinian woman being arrested by Israeli
police at al-Aqsa.
Urging a revolution, Muhannad compared Palestine to a battered and tormented
orphan who had been forsaken by fellow Arabs.
Muhannad showed his message to his parents before putting it on the Internet. I was
surprised to read it and felt that he meant every word, said Suhair. The post was
written one day before Muhannad carried out his attack.

Wake-up call
His father, Shafiq, said: Muhannad has led the way and I feel that all those young
people rising up are joining him. His attack was the wake-up call that Palestinians
needed to act and break the current deadlock.
Even Israeli military officials have acknowledged that the spate of attacks is spurred by
a desire among some young Palestinians to strike at symbols of the occupation and hit
back for the killings of Palestinians.
Muhannad was acutely aware of the injustices inflicted on his people.
He grew up in Surda, a village north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Yet
whenever Muhannad was asked where he came from, he replied that he was a native of
the Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa.
His family was driven from Jaffa by Zionist forces during the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic
cleansing of Palestine.

Shuhair Halabi stands on the ruins of her familys home on 9 January, one day after it was destroyed by
Israeli forces.Shadi HatemAPA images

Muhannad always felt a sense of belonging to Jaffa without ever visiting it, said
Suhair. He was conscious of his roots. And no power can take that consciousness
away.
One of the main targets of Muhannads anger was the Palestinian Authority. He felt
that the PA had betrayed Palestinians by cooperating with the Israeli occupation.
The PAs betrayal was illustrated just after Muhannad was killed. According to his
father, members of the PAs intelligence services could be seen in Surda as Israeli
forces raided the village.
The PAs agents were not here to protect us or prevent the demolition, said Shafiq.
They came to collect information about Muhannad and about the family.

Similarly, the Halabis received no help from the PA when Israeli forces demolished
their home earlier this month. Rather, local youths rallied to the familys defense.
The villagers were determined to try to resist the demolition. But in the end, their
rocks and burning tires proved no match to the militarized bulldozers and other
weapons in Israels arsenal.

PA reinforces occupation
We do not expect the PA to protect us, said Suhair Halabi a few days before the
demolition. This authority reinforces the occupation.
Once they learned that Muhannad had been slain, Suhair and Shafiq suspected it
would only be a matter of time before their elegant two-story home in Surda would be
destroyed. The Israeli government has been eager to see many revenge demolitions
carried out in recent months.
The Halabis tried to prevent the demolition by going to the Israeli high court, also
known as the supreme court. But all three judges handling their case ruled against
them towards the end of December.
They were given 10 days to evacuate their home in Surda. Its demolition took place on
8 January.
Revenge or punitive demolitions were introduced by Britain, when it ruled Palestine
under a League of Nations mandate between 1923 and 1948. Constituting collective
punishment, the practice violates international law.
Yet Israel still makes use of these British regulations, with the rubber-stamp approval
of its highest court. This is despite acknowledgement that these demolitions do not
deter Palestinians from resisting the occupation.

At the end of the day, the supreme court is an arm of the Israeli occupation,
said Labib Habib, a Palestinian attorney who represents the Halabis. The legal lexicon
it uses is nothing but a cloak to rationalize and legitimize the arbitrary practices of this
occupation.
Israel carries out revenge demolitions on Palestinian homes only. The relatives of
Israeli Jews suspected of violent attacks on Palestinians or others need never fear
being made homeless by Israels bulldozers.

Defiant
The Halabis struck a defiant note after the demolition. They demolished our home but
did not destroy our morale, said Suhair. In fact, our morale could not be higher.
Activists in Ramallah have launched a fundraising campaign to help the Halabi family
rebuild their home.
The Halabis very much appreciate such acts of solidarity. But Shafiq said that all the
money in the world could not compensate them for the loss of Muhannad.
A similar message was conveyed to the Halabis by Muhammad Alayan, whose own
son Bahaa was slain by Israel in October during an alleged stabbing attack in
occupied East Jerusalem. The Alayan home has also been demolished in recent
months.
You and I will remain strong like Muhannad and Bahaa, Muhammad Alayan stated.
Be well, for the stone [of our houses] is not more precious than their lives.
I put my blood and sweat into building this home, said Shafiq, standing amid its
rubble. It is where we have lived for the last 10 years. But what stings more than the
physical destruction of the home is the destruction of the memories. Every corner of
this house reminded us of Muhannad.
Surda is located in Area A of the West Bank. As part of a zoning scheme brought in by
the 1993 Oslo accords, Area A is supposed to be under full control of the Palestinian

Authority for both administrative and security purposes.

Palestinian youth set up barricades to try to repel invading Israeli forces in Surda on 6 October.
Muhannad SaleemActiveStills

However, by invoking the 1945 emergency regulations dating from the British
Mandate era, Israel can circumvent these accords.
When the military commander decides to implement them [the regulations], this
whole distinction between Areas A, B and C is erased, Habib added.
Muhannad Halabi knew how the Oslo agreements helped prolong the occupation.
Just like me, he was outspoken against the Palestinian Authority and the peace
process, his father said. We both believed that for the last 20 years, this process has
only resulted in increasing colonization and home demolitions. The status quo cannot
be maintained.

Muhannad was a law student at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem.

He knew the ins and outs of the Oslo accords by heart, his mother said. He often
said to me, do you want me to read to you the agreement and show you how it has
stripped us of our rights and facilitated the theft of our land?

Political family
The Halabis are a political family. Shafiq was once involved with the Democratic Front
for the Liberation of Palestine but he is no longer affiliated to the group. He was
imprisoned briefly during the first intifada in the 1980s.
Muhannad, meanwhile, was a member of Islamic Jihads student chapter and was
well-known to Palestinians as an activist.
Like Shafiq, Muhannad believed that the PAs negotiations with Israel are futile and
that armed resistance is necessary. Muhannad had outlined his arguments in a letter
addressed to Mahmoud Abbas, the PAs leader, and posted on Facebook shortly before
the attack.
He was extremely passionate yet always polite in criticism, which made his critique
even more trenchant, Suhair said.
Shafiq, a plumber, had promised to help Muhannad open a joint office with his
younger sister and fellow law student Fatimah after they graduated.
In the end, Muhannad was buried wrapped in a lawyers robe. The Palestinian Bar
Association posthumously awarded him with an honorary permit to practice as an
attorney. A placard on his grave reads: The martyred lawyer Muhannad Halabi,
igniter of the Jerusalem uprising.
Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer and law graduate based in occupied

Jerusalem. Blog:budourhassan.wordpress.com. Twitter: @Budour48

Posted by Thavam