JENIN: In a video dating back over 20 years, Zakaria Zubeidi-now imprisoned by Israel-is seen holding his eldest son, Mohammed, by the hand, teaching him to walk.
Today, 21 years later, Mohammed has taken his final steps as a martyr, joining a family legacy that has already sacrificed eight martyrs from a total of fewer than 40 family members.
Mohammed Zubeidi’s life was cut short at the age of 21 after an Israeli airstrike targeted five young men in Tubas early this morning. His father, Zakaria Zubeidi, had hoped that the occupation would allow him to grow up and become a doctor or lawyer, wishing for him to have a life better than his own, which was marred by “hopelessness.”
Following the martyrdom of his brother Dawood on May 15, 2022, Zakaria Zubeidi said, “I never had the chance to bid farewell to those I lost or bury them. When my father was martyred, I was in Jenin prison and heard the news over the mosque’s loudspeaker.”
Back then, he added, “My mother was martyred in the Jenin Camp Battle and bur
ied by the Red Cross; we couldn’t reach her due to the intensity of the battle. She always said, ‘May my day come before yours.’ My brother Taha was buried while I was under the rubble of the camp and destroyed houses. Today, Dawood has joined them, and I was unable to say goodbye or perform the mourning rituals. I don’t know what it’s like; I’ve never experienced it personally.”
The Zubeidi family, consisting of only 40 members in the Jenin refugee camp, has not buried a single natural death since 1993, the year Mohammed Zubeidi (Zakaria and Dawood’s father) passed away. Instead, they have buried eight martyrs, including Mohammed, who fell this morning, preceded by his cousin Naeem Jamal on December 1, 2022.
The home of brothers Mohammed and Jamal Zubeidi, refugees from “Wadi al-Hawarith – Caesarea,” has sacrificed more than 90 years of their members’ lives in Israeli prisons. According to Jamal Zubeidi, known as Abu Anton, in a previous interview with WAFA, the family’s arrests began in the mid-1950s when
Mohamed Jahjah, Zakaria’s grandfather, was detained for about four years.
He later freed himself during a prison rebellion at Shata Prison on July 30, 1958, along with 68 other prisoners, 11 of whom were martyred and 13 injured. After his release, he moved in 1963 to lead armed struggle in the “Hassan” camp in Irbid before moving with the fighters to Syria and then Germany in the early 1970s.
He added: “Mohamed Zubeidi, Zakaria’s father, was arrested in 1969 for one year and later during the First Intifada for eight months under administrative detention. I, along with my brother Ibrahim, was arrested in 1979 for a year and a half, and we were released at the end of 1980.”
“Following our release, my brother Ibrahim was exiled to Jordan for five years, but the occupation did not allow him to return home after his exile ended, and he passed away there in 2012. I was arrested six times, mostly under administrative detention, with the last arrests occurring in 2011 and 2014, totaling four years,” Jamal added.
Zakaria was arrested twice during the First Intifada, sentenced to six months initially and then to five years, before being released after the Oslo Accords. He was recently arrested again in February 2019, bringing his total time in Israeli prisons to eight years. His brother “Abd” was sentenced to six months during the First Intifada and later to six years.
Jamal continued: “All of my brother Mohammed’s children were arrested, many of them repeatedly. ‘Jibril’ spent over 13 years in prison-12 years initially, then ten months, and six months in a third period. ‘Yahya’ spent 17 years in prison, and the martyr ‘Taha’ spent two years during four periods of administrative detention in the First Intifada. The martyr ‘Dawood’ spent 16 years in Israeli prisons. My children ‘Mohamed’ spent 3 years and 9 months, ‘Yusuf’ spent 3 years and a half, and ‘Naeem’ spent 5 years in Israeli prisons.”
Jamal, also known by his kunya, Abu Anton, repeatedly rejects the significant attention surrounding his family, considering t
heir actions to be their natural duty. He points out that there are other families in the camp who have made sacrifices just as great as his own.
Abu Anton added: “The martyrs of my family and relatives include: my brother Mohamed’s wife, Samira Zubeidi (March 4, 2002), and the martyr Taha Zubeidi, son of Samira, who was martyred during the April 2002 battle. My niece’s son, Ziad Amer (April 3, 2002), a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Fatah’s military wing in Jenin camp, had his house blown up in 1988 and was arrested at that time, later released in 1994 after being sentenced to life.”
He continued, “Another niece’s son, Nidal Abu Shadouf (from Barqin, whose body has been held by the occupation since July 2001), and Dawood Zubeidi (May 15, 2022). Added to them are: Naeem Jamal Zubeidi (December 1, 2022) and Mohamed Zakaria Zubeidi (September 5, 2024).”
“With my own hands, I transported most of the martyrs’ bodies from the camp in April 2002. The most painful scene was when I came across Taha’s b
ody, not recognizing him as it was burned from the bombing, with only his forehead visible, covered by a piece of resistance cloth,” Abu Anton remarked.
Abu Anton went on, “The family’s struggle against the Israeli occupation: Our father died in 1980 while I and my brother Ibrahim were in prison, and our third brother Mohamed ‘Abu al-Abed’ was in Jordan. Thus, our father was buried without any of us being able to attend his funeral or say goodbye.
“The occupation did not stop at targeting the family but also prevented us from bidding farewell to our relatives. In 1985, my brother Mohamed ‘Abu al-Abed,’ who was arrested twice during the First Intifada, fell ill. The occupation refused to allow him into hospitals within Israel, and he died on May 26, 1993. When he died, ‘Abd’ and Zakaria were in prison and could not attend his funeral. My brother Abu al-Abed’s house was first demolished in June 1988, during the explosion of my niece Ziad Amer’s house, which damaged 35 homes due to the blast,” he explained to
WAFA.
He continued, “On one of the days of the camp battle, we were 14 people taking shelter in a small bathroom, and three missiles fell on our house, destroying it. But we survived, moving to a neighbor’s house, which was then bombed. We survived once more. It was our fate to survive despite the intensity of the bombing.”
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA