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Monday, September 23, 2002 - Web posted at 8:42:44 GMT Egyptian mother refuses to believe her son died in Gaza Strip AL-QARIN, Egypt, Sept 23 (AFP) - Sitting on the floor of her modest house in this town northeast of Cairo, Ferial Mohammed insists that her son, who was reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, is still alive. |
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"My son is not dead, he is living and working in France," Mohammed said. Some of her relatives identified Abdul Fattah Mohammed Ali Suleiman, 27 as the man shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip on September 16. Journalists had brought family members a picture of the dead man as they sought to confirm whether or not the death was the first inside the Palestinian territories of an Egyptian during the two-year-old intifada. Suleiman had entered the Gaza Strip with a friend in December 2000 through Rafah on the Egyptian border to lend support to the two-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israel, witnesses said. He had been living there with false identity papers, and his friend later returned to Egypt. His family learned of Suleiman's death through the pictures of the corpse, but with no official confirmation from Egyptian authorities, his mother refuses to accept the worst. "Abdul is my hope, he is my whole life. He is the eldest, who meets all of our needs," added Ferial, wearing the long black robe of rural women in Egypt. Israeli authorities identified Suleiman as Abdul Fatah Said Abdu, killed on September 16 at a roadblock between Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. An army spokesman said he had thrown a grenade at soldiers who had fired at him. However, witnesses said the Israelis shot him in cold blood -- making him the first Egyptian "martyr" of the Palestinian uprising. Suleiman's two brother's Osama, 21, and Ahmed 12, sit nearby listening to their mother. Osama is certain that the man in the pictures is not his brother. "It was the picture of a bearded man, Abdul never had a beard," said Osama, explaining his brother never had links with militant Islamist groups. The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that Suleiman had joined the armed-wing of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Whenever he called, he always said he was in France and "never mentioned the word Palestine," added Osama, who said the family had last spoken to him seven months ago and never had his contact address. At the time, Osama had told Suleiman he wanted to get married, and he had laughed: "Don't be impatient, come and join me here, I will introduce you to pretty girls." "He also told me he had gotten married, and asked if I wanted to speak to his wife, but I said I did not speak French," added the young Ahmed, who was very close to his brother. Ferial, for her part, remembers Suleiman telling her: "Mom, I'm doing very well, I am happy, pray for me." Osama also received from his brother "a mobile phone and 700 dollars delivered by an Egyptian, who, questioned recently by police, said he was simply an intermediary who did not know" him. The whole family recounts how Suleiman had left his second year at university to work as a barber, like his father Osman, and later decided to go to France to work. Since September 16, they have also received "strange" phone calls from Palestinians, telling them about Suleiman's funeral in Rafah. But "why a funeral, if there is no proof for his death?" asked Ferial. lr/ms/srj/np/pvh Nampa-AFP WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 230516) |
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