A mourning tent was set up in Gaza City on Wednesday, February 9, to express feelings of anger and sorrow following the assassination of three Palestinian young men by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
Ashraf Muhammad Abdalfattah Mbaslat, 21, Muhammad Raed Hussein Dakheel, 22, and Adham Mabrouk al-Shishani, 21, all from Nablus’ Old City, were shot in broad daylight on Tuesday by Israeli forces, in what has been described as an unlawful, extrajudicial killing.
Attended by many Palestinians, including academics, civil society representatives, political figures, along with resistance leaders, the mourning tent was set up less than 24 hours after the tragic news, which deeply struck the Palestinian people.
“Israel will one day be held accountable for its murderous acts against the Palestinian people and their anti-apartheid struggle that has been in place for over seven decades,” an attendant told The Palestine Chronicle.
“We are here not only to mourn the killing of our beloved ones,” the man said, “but also to clearly state to the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank that we will not let the occupier tear apart our land and kill our people.”
“Enough is enough,” he said.
People of different ages, social status, and political backgrounds gathered at the mourning tent to deliver a message of unity to Israel and its supporters worldwide that, whether in Nablus, the West Bank, or Gaza, Palestinians are one single body that stands united against oppression, deprivation and occupation.
“We are all Palestinians, living under the same oppressive Israeli regime, and we will keep resisting in all parts of our occupied homeland until we gain our freedom,” another activist told The Palestine Chronicle.
The death of the Palestinian young men sparked widespread condemnation in the occupied territories. A general strike was also observed in the major West Bank cities, including Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin, and Tulkarm.
(All Photos: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
– Mohammed Rafik Mhawesh is a Gaza-based Palestinian journalist. He is a contributor to the book ‘A Land with People’ (Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism – Monthly Review Press Publication, 2021). He is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MohammRafik
