As the solemn funeral processions took place in Paris, Cairo and Ramallah, passions inflamed. Were it not for the coffin, it would still have been hard to believe that Abu Ammar passed away. Yet as we gradually begin to absorb the shock and his death begins to sink in, Abu Ammar will be remembered for being synonymous with the liberation of Palestine.
Abu Ammar was a self-made man. He was his own creation. He was inspired and inspirational. He was multi-dimensional yet unequivocally single minded as he lived for one thing alone—Palestine. Because Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital, was his sole concern, he did not waiver no matter how monumental the challenge and pressure. For this Abu Ammar is legendry.

Abu Ammar was one who could transcend and transform from revolutionary to politician to statesman. He was an icon, a symbol and a giant. He put in motion a chain of events that have set the stage for statehood and there is no turning back now. With his passing, the legacy lives on. He was larger than life but he was mortal, like all of us mortals, so he left us. But Abu Ammar lives in his spirit and the principles he could not compromise over.

In his own special way, he has touched every single one of us and embodied our dream. He lives in everyone of us because he sowed the seeds of our future. Abu Ammar is the forefather of Palestine and history will forever grant him that, no matter how much his detractors may attempt to deny him this or tarnish his record. Recent attempts by Israel and the United States to demonize him have failed. Political opponents have conveniently made him a scapegoat because they did not want to give us a viable Palestinian state. Rather, they wanted to dictate the parameters of a solution that gives us a crippled Palestine, something that he refused and which all of us Palestinians would not accept either.

Abu Ammar lived for the day to re-set foot in Jerusalem, the city where he grew up as a child after the death of his mother when he was only four. As a Jerusalemite who was born and raised in this holy city, I very well know and am able to identify with his passion for this city. I also know how he could not part with it. Once you experience the soul and spirit of this city, you cannot part with it and most certainly cannot compromise over it.

Abu Ammar is our forefather. Over forty years of his trials and courage led him to re-set foot in Palestine. For those who attempted to prosecute, blame and discredit him, he rose above them even in death, and the funerals in Paris, Cairo and Ramallah attest to that. The reason is simple: Abu Ammar was right. The Palestinian people are right because what they ask for is rightful and this cannot be denied and shall be delivered unto us because injustice will end one day and that day is coming soon. Abu Ammar often stated: “yarawnaha ba’eedah wa naraaha qareebah” (they see it quite far and we see it quite near).

His death has inflamed passions and stirred deep feelings and reopened wounds. We are a bereaved nation, but we are proud and dignified. We are proud to have Abu Ammar as our forefather who died fighting for Palestine. Rest assured that the tears we shed for you shall water the seeds that you have sown.

Today we mourn you with heavy hearts, but tomorrow we shall make the dream you lived and died for come true, because you have kept Palestine alive after attempts following 1948 to remove it from the consciousness of the world. You shall be buried in your beloved Jerusalem, as peace passes through Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv or Washington.
May you rest in peace.

Hiba Husseini
Attorney at Law,
email: hh@husseini1.com