Maysara Abu Hamdiya

Maysarah Ahmed Mohammed Abuhamdia (1948–2013) is an old fighter from the PLO. Joined the Palestinian Student Union and was arrested and sentenced for 10 months in 1969 for affiliation with the Union (All Palestinian unions were and are still banned under Israeli Laws). Later in 1970 he Joined The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fateh) and became one its fighters. He was with PLO in South Lebanon within Fateh forces fighting against the Israeli forces that invaded Lebanon. Then he moved to mobilized the resistance against the Israeli invasion and occupation of the West Bank. He was arrested at the end of 1975 until 1978 when he was deported to Jordan. In Jordan, he was assistant for Khalil Alwazeir (Abu Jehad) and was responsible for the Intifada Logistics. He returned back to the West Bank at the end of 1998 and Joined the Preventive Security Apparatus of the Palestinian Authority and was Colonel. After the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000, he was arrested and accused of responsibility for the Hamas cell in the West Bank, then he was sentenced for life sentence which is 99 years according to Israeli Military Law. (Israeli Jews who are convicted by killing charges face 25 years prison sentence at most. From Palestinian vision, Abuhamdia is considered a National Hero who fought the Israeli Colonization and its effort to build Jewish Colonies in the West Bank, and this was reflected through the clashes that spread inside the prisons and the Israel use of Force to subdue the Palestinian Prisoners after Abuhamdia's death. He was promoted to General and then to Major General by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 and formal Military funeral was serviced after his death, but most Western countries would consider him and all Palestinian fighters as terrorists. Eight months before his death, Abuhamdia complained from general weakness, hoarseness in voice and pain in Joints. He asked for Medical examinations and according to his family, he received flu shot instead. Later Israeli security sent him to vision Doctor who was not of any benefit to Abuhamdia! Abuhamdia asked again for proper examination to diagnose his illness, and the response of the Israeli prison authorities was very slow. They sent him to hospital in Tel-Aviv 4 months after that. According to his wife, who met him one month before his death, she said:" he said, they transferred me to the hospital in the prisoners bus. The bus seats are from steel, and fell on the bus floor many times during the trip that took 6 hours. I will not go again unless they bring an ambulance." When he went to the hospital, the doctors took samples from his throat for tissue diagnosis but they never told him the results of this test. He remained in jail with the other Palestinian prisoners after that while his health was severely deteriorating without any medication even pain killers! His voice disappeared, and his neck swelled with nodes and he became very weak. He could not change his clothes nor could he go to the toilet; however, the Israeli Prison Authority left him in the cell. The prisoners demanded officially from the Prison Authorities to transfer Abuhamdia to hospital, but the Prison Authority response said it was too late, and Abuhamdia had only days to live. After he fainted and before his death by one week, the Israeli Authorities transferred him to Beir-Shiva Hospital, They did another Biopsy test and declared for the first time that he had Throat Cancer. He received only two Chemotherapy sessions and died on Tuesday April the second at 6 am. Autopsy was performed to his body, and Israel declared that cancer was spread in all his body. Israel refused to release his medical records and the results of the medical tests. After his death, the Palestinians were extremely angry because they were following his case months before through the Palestinian Prisoners Club (Palestinian NGO) and the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners and expecting that he might be released or at least receive timely and appropriate medical treatment.¹