Sacrifice without limits

Um Nidal Farhat: Sacrifice without limits

The Family of Farahat is known with its history of struggle against occupation; their son-in-law was martyr Emad Aqel, the famous Qassam leader who died in a battle with an Israeli battalion that encircled his hideout in Gaza city in 1993. The family offered two martyrs, Mohammed, the youngest, and Nidal, the eldest, while their son Wesam is still in the jail since 1992. And their fourth son, Momen was wounded while fighting an Israeli invasion to the Shajaeyyah area two years ago.

Mohammed was successfully able to infiltrate the fortified Israeli Atzmona settlement, which contained 131 settlement units in addition to 470 dunum (1 dunum = 1,000 sq. meter) of farm lands, in the year 2002targeting the military academy in it.

He stormed the academy and engaged soldiers in a one-hour-long fierce battle using his Kalashnikov rifle. He was able to use nine magazines of bullets and six hand grenades inside the academy killing 7 soldiers and wounding 22 others before he fell as a martyr and his blood mixed with the sand of his beloved land.

The Palestinian Information Center interviewed Um Nidal after she visited the site of the operation. She said, "The moment my feet stepped into the former settlement of Atzmona and saw the place where my son had fallen martyr, a strange feeling prevailed over me. I wept profusely, even more than the time when he died. This is a memorable day in my life. It is equivalent to half my life."

Tense hours:

The 55-year-old mother described the moments she lived after her son stormed the fortified settlement as difficult. "He who hears about storming a settlement is not like the one who sees it," she said.
"We used to hear about martyrdom operations inside settlements; but only the one who carries out the operation can exactly appreciate and understand what infiltrating a fortified settlement means. When I saw the hole my son made in the fence to infiltrate the settlement, I realized what attacking a settlement exactly means. It is something next to impossible," she said.

She noted that she will always feel that the former settlement means a great deal for her. She feels that it became part of her soul due to the presence of her son's blood in it.
"This is a great dream; I never expected the day will come when I enter Atzmona and see with my own eyes the sand that mixed with my son's blood. I felt sad while tracing my son's footsteps on his way to confront the occupation army. I really cried more than I cried on the day he fell as a martyr," she underlined.
She stressed that she still remembers the last words of her son said on the telephone. He said, "Farewell mom." She said, "It was 3:00 p.m. and Mohammed was preparing himself to storm the Israeli military academy in the settlement."

"I feel proud and exalted that I have a share in defeating the occupation in Gaza Strip, and forcing them out," she emphasized.

She affirmed her faith in that Almighty Allah will reward and help those who sacrifice their most precious possessions to defend their land, the women, the children and the weak amongst them; expressing her happiness that blood of the martyrs was not in vain.

"We, Palestinian women, do have emotional feelings like all mothers in the world if not more; but we employ our feelings and emotions in service of our faith. We are ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of Allah, including our lives and children," she asserted.

We want to live in peace & Freedom

She addressed mothers all over the world saying, "We neither have wished to die nor wished our children to die; but we are under the worst form of occupation the modern history has ever witnessed. And we had no choice but to sacrifice ourselves and children if it was the only way to get rid of occupation. We want to live in peace on our lands like other nations."