<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr" lang="en-GB">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221025-is-uday-al-tamimi-the-icon-of-the-third-intifada/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Is Uday Al-Tamimi the icon of the third intifada?</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh - October 25, 2022<br></div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-post-content">
<img src="cid:ii_l9pv03ca0" alt="image.png" width="393" height="262"><br><p>The last will of the young martyr Uday Al-Tamimi, written by hand
after he had managed to outfox the security system of a country that
claims to be a great state with an invincible army, was remarkably
mature. "My [resistance] operation at Shuafat Checkpoint was a drop in
the stormy sea of the struggle. I know that I will be martyred sooner or
later, and I know that I did not liberate Palestine through this
operation, but I carried it out with a goal in mind; for the operation
to mobilise hundreds of young men to carry arms after me."</p>
<p>This hero's exploits will pass into legend. He managed to break
through a checkpoint in Shuafat, north of Jerusalem, bypass the Israeli
guards who torture the Palestinians by making them stand for hours in
queues to get through, and give them a dose of humiliation and shame.
His dignity did not allow him to live under the humiliation of a brutal
military occupation any longer, so he aimed his gun at the soldiers,
killing one and wounding three others. Amazingly, he was able to get
away.</p>
<p>The occupation authorities went crazy, spending 12 days searching for
a young man with a shaved head who attacked a sizeable group of Israeli
soldiers on his own. A tight siege was imposed on the Shuafat refugee
camp and surrounding areas. Young Palestinian men shaved their own heads
in solidarity, for which the barbers refused to take payment. They also
burned down the surveillance cameras and used Al-Tamimi's name in
messages and phone calls in an effort to mislead Israeli intelligence
agents.</p>
<p>Uday Al-Tamimi did not lie low; he chased after the Israelis,
attacking them again near the illegal Ma'ale Adumim settlement, east of
Jerusalem. He wounded an Israeli security guard before he clashed with
heavily armed soldiers and fought with rare valour until his last bullet
and his last breath.</p>
<p><strong><a title="'We will stay here until Palestine is free,' says farmer beaten by Jewish settlers" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221024-we-will-stay-here-until-palestine-is-free-says-farmer-beaten-by-jewish-settlers/">OPINION: 'We will stay here until Palestine is free,' says farmer beaten by Jewish settlers</a></strong></p>
<p>Videos online after his martyrdom showed him shooting even while
bullets rained down on him from every direction. When his gun was empty,
he reloaded, which is when he was shot in the face. With his last
breath he joined the ranks of heroic Palestinian martyrs who refused to
accept any more humiliation by the occupiers who seized their land. The
ranks grow every day, a human record of the great history of struggle, a
totally legitimate struggle for freedom. The world forgets this
legitimacy, and views events through the hateful Zionist lens that turns
the oppressors into victims, and the real victims into villains. This
is a hypocritical world with no conscience or moral compass.</p>
<p>Thousands of Palestinians flocked to Al-Tamimi's family home to pay
their respects; pride was mixed with sadness. They renewed their
intention to resist the occupation in the footsteps of Uday and the
other martyrs before him, until Palestine is liberated.</p>
<p>Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said that the old
[Palestinians] will die and the young will forget. She was wrong.
Neither Uday nor the other fine young people standing up for their
rights today knew pre-Nakba Palestine; they are all too young to have
lived through the talks that led to the disastrous Oslo Accords,
although they have had to live with the even more disastrous
consequences. The old kept the keys to the homes from which they were
driven by the nascent Zionist state, and have handed them down to the
young people, along with their memories so that the young will never
forget. The process will continue until Palestine is free from the river
to the sea. The Zionists are deluded if they believe that they will be
safe in the land stolen from the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Uday Al-Tamimi was not affiliated with any Palestinian resistance
faction; nor were the five guerrillas who, a few months ago, carried out
their operations in the major cities of Israel, including the capital,
Tel Aviv. The guerrillas killed 14 Israelis and wounded at least 20
others. They infiltrated the occupation state, thwarting the
much-acclaimed Israeli security, precisely because they were not part of
any larger group or resistance movement. They were individual
initiatives reminiscent of the first Palestinian intifada, hitting
targets in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 that Israel
considers to be within its safe (yet never declared) state borders.</p>
<p>It is significant that these fighters used automatic weapons, not
explosive vests as in the past. These were not indiscriminate "suicide"
attacks. The targets were serving soldiers, police and border guards,
even though almost all Israelis have weapons and are in the reserves as
part of their compulsory military service.</p>
<p>In the darkness of the Arab world, there is light emanating from
Palestine, from Jerusalem and the West Bank, from Shuafat to Jenin and
Nablus, which</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_385590" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IMG_0253-1-scaled.jpg?fit=933%2C583&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1" alt="What does the future look like for Palestine? - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="393" height="246"></p><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text"><font size="1">What does the future look like for Palestine? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]</font></p></div><p>Israeli
forces are still besieging as they look for the Lion's Den whose
members are responsible for many operations. We are witnessing a new
kind of resistance faction without a declared leadership; whose youth
hang red ribbons on the barrels of their guns to symbolise unity within
the Palestinian ranks. These young Palestinians have restored the
national liberation struggle; they are not interested in the lost cause
of political horse-trading in endless negotiations.</p>
<p>The Palestinian heart is still alive, beating with freedom; it has
not grown old, like the "leadership", and surrendered to the Zionist
enemy. Instead, the young people are determined to fight to liberate
their land; theirs is a different path. They are shaming the likes of
Fatah and the Popular and Democratic Fronts, which have faded into the
background after the signing of political and security agreements which
see Palestinian security forces employed solely to defend Israel and its
occupation interests.</p>
<p>It is apparent, therefore, that young Palestinians are ready to carry
out the wishes of Uday Al-Tamimi's last will; and that the struggle
will continue. He seems to have become, unwittingly perhaps, the icon of
what may well be the third intifada.</p>
<p>The Zionists in Israel and beyond fear this; they know what it means.
The soldiers and police deployed across the occupied West Bank will not
protect them. Senior military officers have admitted as much, with 55
per cent of Israeli ground forces sent to the occupied territory to
confront young Palestinians in anticipation of a new intifada.</p>
<p><strong><a title="Palestinians shave heads to confuse Israeli soldiers" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221017-palestinians-shave-heads-to-confuse-israeli-soldiers/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=588848&relatedposts_position=1">WATCH: Palestinians shave heads to confuse Israeli soldiers</a></strong></p>
<p>Moreover, the collaborators in Ramallah will not protect them,
because what we are seeing is a spontaneous youth intifada with no clear
leadership that could bend under the pressure of military and financial
brokers inside and outside occupied Palestine. They are continuing in
the footsteps of the explosive resistance factions and embody the
honourable national unity that focuses on the legacy of the resistance,
not on the legacy of the accursed Oslo Accords, which have left a mark
of disgrace in the history of the determined Palestinian people.</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>