Hashem Azzeh: existence as resistance

by Michele Giorgio, Jerusalem, il manifesto, Oct. 23 2015

Anyone who wan­ted to under­stand what it means to live under occu­pa­tion in the West Bank city of Hebron, sur­roun­ded by mili­tary chec­k­points and deci­dedly unfriendly Israeli set­tlers, just had to visit the house of Dr. Hashem Azzeh in the nei­gh­bo­rhood of Tel Rumeida.

To under­stand that rea­lity, you only had to listen to the sto­ries of this cul­tu­red and mild-mannered Pale­sti­nian doc­tor, who oppo­sed vio­lence and became over the years the incar­na­tion of sumud — stea­d­fast resi­lience in the tou­ghest con­di­tions. “I’m not lea­ving,” he repea­ted. “No one can kick me from my home.”

His very existence was an act of resistance.

But Azzeh, 54, finally did leave his home, three days ago, while try­ing to reach the hospi­tal. He died before he got there, to the dismay of family and friends, Pale­sti­nians and foreigners.

On Wed­ne­sday, Azzeh suf­fe­red from sharp chest pains. He quic­kly rea­li­zed he nee­ded to rush to the nea­rest hospi­tal. His family cal­led an ambu­lance, but ambu­lan­ces are never able to reach the house because of army chec­k­points, which have been even more rigid since the start of the new Intifada.

The doc­tor had no other choice. He set out toward Bab al-Zawiyah, an indu­strial zone con­trol­led by the Israeli mili­tary, by foot. There he found sol­diers firing tear gas toward you­ths hur­ling sto­nes to pro­test the kil­ling of two Pale­sti­nian boys the night before.

“The air was satu­ra­ted with tear gas,” said Sun­dus, a nephew of Azzeh. “My uncle, already very weak, had a respi­ra­tory cri­sis. He col­lap­sed and lost consciousness.”

Azzeh arri­ved at the hospi­tal in a despe­rate con­di­tion. The doc­tors could do lit­tle to save him. It’s dif­fi­cult to esta­blish how the tear gas con­tri­bu­ted to Azzeh’s death, which was most likely cau­sed by a heart attack. Cer­tainly the road­blocks, which have sur­roun­ded his house for more than two deca­des, decrea­sed his chan­ces of sur­vi­val. If an ambu­lance had fer­ried him imme­dia­tely, Azzeh could have had a chance.

Mour­ners have strea­med into Tel Rumeida to remem­ber Azzeh. Peo­ple in tears, their faces mar­ked with pain, Pale­sti­nians and forei­gners, all cele­bra­ting his firm deci­sion not to aban­don his home.

If he did leave, it was only to buy milk at the shop near his house, where his family was (and still is) for­ced to pass through metal detec­tors and con­trols. Every sin­gle time. Their nei­gh­bors — set­tlers who would like to see this Pale­sti­nian family leave Tel Rumeida — do not undergo the same treatment.

“They had been offe­red money to go away,” said Jawad, a young acti­vist from Hebron. “But Hashem always refu­sed. He repea­ted that if every Pale­sti­nian agreed to sell land to the set­tlers, it would be the end for Hebron and for our people.”

Azzeh orga­ni­zed tours for jour­na­lists and acti­vists, during which he explai­ned what hap­pens in Hebron and around his home. He can­didly recoun­ted abu­ses suf­fe­red by his wife and chil­dren, to which the doc­tor had always reac­ted with words, not vio­lence, utte­ring the same phrase: “I’m not lea­ving.” Now it will be the man­tra of his wife and four chil­dren, aged bet­ween 5 and 17.

Mea­n­while, the blood­shed con­ti­nues. On Wed­ne­sday in Beit She­mesh, one Israeli was stab­bed and woun­ded by two Pale­sti­nians, one of whom was kil­led by police. A few hours before, a Jewish man mista­ken for a Pale­sti­nian was kil­led by a secu­rity guard at the Western Wall. Dozens of you­ths were arre­sted this week in East Jeru­sa­lem and the West Bank, and more than 800 have been detai­ned since the begin­ning of Octo­ber, accor­ding to Pale­sti­nian sources.

“This cri­sis would not have erup­ted if the Pale­sti­nians had hopes for their own state,” Jan Elias­son, the Uni­ted Nations deputy secre­tary gene­ral, said after this week’s spate of vio­lence. “They see, instead, the gro­wth of ille­gal set­tle­ments in the occu­pied West Bank, which under­mi­nes the very pos­si­bi­lity of a two-state solu­tion and poses gro­wing secu­rity risks to all.”

• Ori­gi­nally publi­shed in Ita­lian at il mani­fe­sto on Oct. 23 2015