Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss / January 17, 2023
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians on Monday and Tuesday. Both Amer al-Khmour, 14, and Hamdi Abu Dayyeh, 40, were found holding wills purportedly written by them, detailing their final wishes in death.
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday. In the cases of both Palestinians who were killed, a will was found, purportedly written by each person, detailing their final wishes in death.
The two Palestinians were Amer al-Khmour, 14, and Hamdi Abu Dayyeh, 40. The killing of the two brought the total number of Palestinians killed in January to 15. In the last six days alone, Israeli forces have killed 11 Palestinians.
The martyr of Dheisheh: Amer al-Khmour
In the early hours of Monday morning, 14-year-old Amer al-Khmour was shot by Israeli forces during confrontations in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the city of Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank.
The confrontations erupted after Israeli forces raided the camp, during which they arrested at least one person, identified by locals as an Italian national who was visiting and staying in the camp. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, al-Khmour was shot in the head. He died of his injuries a few hours later.
Shortly after al-Khmour’s death was announced, photos began to circulate on social media of a crumpled up piece of paper titled: “The last will of the martyr of Dheisheh.” The letter, allegedly written by the teenager, was claimed on social media to have been found in his pocket after he was rushed to the hospital.
Sources from within Dheisheh refugee camp have since disputed the letter’s authenticity, which has continued to be circulated in local Arabic-language media.
The letter read:
“The heroic martyr Amr al-Khmour
The heroic martyr Udai al-Tamimi
This is my will to you
In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate
May god grant me resolve and victory, or martyrdom
I wanted to do so many things. I wanted to send a message to all the residents of our beloved camp, Dheisheh. Don’t leave my mother alone. I hope that everyone will forgive me.
[…]
God has granted me my dream, which is martyrdom in the name of God.
To my friends and loved ones: no one forget me, and don’t leave my mother alone, and every now and again, spread my memory.
I salute the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] and all of the homeland’s factions.
We have walked in the martyrs’ path, and I am, God Willing, walking the path of the heroic martyr, Udai al-Tamimi.
I salute our steadfast prisoners in the occupation’s jails. You will be free.
To Ibrahim Khmour: you are closer to freedom now.
[…]
I wish the people will start thinking, and wake up and realize that we are under a Zionist occupation
I wish that the coming generations will have freedom in their hands, and I hope that all my brothers and friends and loved ones will be well
If I come to you as a martyr, Mother, please don’t cry, but ululate in celebration [zaghretti, a traditional celebratory cry]
For every mistake I made in my life with you, mother, please forgive me
To my father: please, don’t be sad. I wished for martyrdom and I was granted it, and God gave me justice.
[…]
To my friends: my family is your family…and my mother, my mother, my mother above all else. Our meeting will be in paradise.”
Mondoweiss has been unable to independently verify the will’s authenticity.
Al-Khmour was the second Palestinian child from the Dheisheh refugee camp to be killed by Israeli forces this month. On January 3, 15-year-old Adam Ayyad was shot and killed during an army raid on the camp. After he was killed, his friends and family also found a “last will and testament” written by Ayyad, crumpled up in his pocket. In it, he wrote:
“There were a lot of things I wished I could do, but we live in a country where realizing your dreams is impossible, but I am very happy that God granted me one of my dreams, which is martyrdom.”
The will was laid out on top of Ayyad’s body before he was laid to rest.
If Khmour’s letter proves to be authentic, it would indicate, along with Ayyad’s will, a growing trend of Dheisheh youth who are writing letters in advance and putting them in their pockets before going out to confront invading Israeli forces.
‘For every name you kill, 40 more will appear’: Hamdi Abu Dayyeh
On Tuesday afternoon, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that 40-year-old Hamdi Abu Dayyeh had been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the Hebron area of the southern West Bank.
According to reports, Abu Dayyeh was shot near a permanent Israeli military checkpoint outside the town of Halhul. Israeli forces claimed that Abu Dayyeh fired at them using an improvised submachine gun, or ‘Carlo,’ as it’s known locally. Israeli forces fired at Abu Dayyeh, killing him. No Israeli injuries were reported.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces prevented Palestinian ambulances and medics from reaching Abu Dayyeh after he was shot.
Following his killing, a final will and testament and letter allegedly written by Abu Dayyeh was also circulated on social media and by Palestinian news outlets. Mondoweiss could not independently confirm the source of the letter.
The letter and will was composed of two pages, each with its own title, “The last will of a martyr,” and “A letter to the Zionist enemy.”
The first page was addressed to his fellow Palestinians and outlined his reasons for taking action:
[God in his power] has created all things in balance, and fighting [jihad] is the way of restoring the balance that has been disturbed by the occupation, in the land of the Israa and the Miraj [the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad].
I found myself heeding the call of justice for our dignity, for the sanctity of the holy sites and the dignity of Islam and Muslims, next to which my life is cheap.
I felt the affront to this dignity with every child killed, with every house that is destroyed, with every man who is humiliated at a checkpoint and for every piece of land that is desecrated by the [Zionist] entity…
I was bewildered by the state of silence that has taken hold over the hearts of the cowardly, who have even been unable to even live in dignity.
I made my decision to give my all to strengthen the resolve in drawing the blood of Zionists while evading death, with God’s will, in order to deal greater harm to the transgressors upon our souls and upon our dignity.
[…]
To the youth of Palestine,
Rise up!
Your religion and your land and all of humanity calls upon you. Heed the call and speak in place of the voice wrested from the throats of those contented to live life without dignity.
I give to you my final will, and I do not belong to any organization or party or movement, and have no affiliation with any of the factions that sold themselves as Palestinians.
[…]
The homeland and the field of battle are open, yet you [the political factions] have preferred to sit in your offices.
Finally, may God accept me as a martyr who remains devoted to God.
[…]
A son of Palestine,
Hamdi Abu Dayyeh
The second part of the letter, “A letter to the Zionist enemy,” is far more aggressive in tone, where Abu Dayyeh self-identifies as “a lone wolf” who will be replaced by thousands more like him after he is gone.
The letter reads:
In this war of ours, you were made to discover that your assault upon us revolves around extending your life on a land that is not yours, and that our defense [against this assault] is based in the word of God on this earth, and so you may expect the following result: that the current [reality] will triumph over what has always been.
By pulling the trigger [to kill Abu Dayyeh], you will enter through the gates of death that we have laid for you, but our triggers will take us to paradise, a heaven replete with that which is better than the oranges of Yaffa and the apples of the Galilee. Which of the two do you imagine will be quicker on the draw?
Palestine gives birth to fighters, and for every name you kill, forty more will appear.
[…]
Tomorrow, after you kill me, you will face a thousand other lone wolves who carry my name and the name of those who preceded me.
I know, my enemy, that your lives can be exchanged for the merest dirt dregs under the boots of revolutionaries. For every day that I continue to draw breath, you will be gripped by a fear that torments you and sends you to your fate. That fate will be the flowing of your blood as you lament my orphaned bullet’s fire.
In short, I will be your fate. Every day that another lone wolf emerges to ravage your flesh and gnaw on your bones, know that the future will offer you no reprieve, and all that awaits you will be death and humiliation, as long as you remain in my homeland unjustly.
We revel in your death, and every revolutionary you kill will bring a thousand revolutionaries to life.
You may choose to either refuse your fate and flaunt your refusal, or I will show you it myself.
[…]
No peace with the enemy on my land.
Homeland or death.
Palestine
Hamdi Abu Dayyeh
Yumna Patel is the Palestine News Director for Mondoweiss
