IN STEREO

There are a lot of paintings on the camp’s walls. It’s us who drew these ones, me and a group of guys. We were an association. The one in front of you, it’s about Wadi’ Haddad; he’s one of the founders of the National Front. It’s him and the famous leaders. We consider them national figures. I’ll make a round now. The first one [on the right] there is Wadi’ Haddad. He adopted work that was international. Why? In order to transmit the Palestinian cause to all people. One time, Israeli airplanes were hijacked by the National Front. Their purpose wasn’t money; they wanted a prisoner exchange. [But] their goal from all these steps was to transmit the Palestinian cause to the world. The one next to [Haddad], she was with him. Her name is Laila Khalid. She’s alive, she’s in Jordan. She’s not allowed to come here. She’s old now. It’d be beautiful to meet and interview her because she knows lots of old things. The last one here is Ghassan Kanafani. They assassinated him. The occupation found that his writings were inciting [people to fight] occupation. His writings gave the young Palestinian men a motive to attack. ‘Incitement’.

So they assassinated him, and his little niece was in the car. They killed him in cold blood. [But] “bodies fall, not ideas.” It’s not me who said this; [it was] Ghassan Kanafani. They were the honest view, let me tell you. They didn’t negotiate with the occupation. Their slogan was: ‘What was taken by force can only be restored by force’. They didn’t believe in negotiations; they believed in armed resistance. These personalities, we’re so proud of them. Some people are defeatist. They’re different because they carried thoughts and principles, and they didn’t renounce their principles. They didn’t negotiate over blood. They didn’t make conce… I mean, the blood that drains down from us is not wasted. They exploit the blood draining down to regain Palestine. The people [in power] today are those who negotiate [over] blood. It’s clear that they forgot the cause, and personal interests are put above the [public] interest. They’ve started to fill their own bellies. And they forgot the people. – Ahmed