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The one year memorial of the death of the commander and doctor, Dr. Ahmad Maslamani, comes under hard circumstances for the Palestinian people and their cause.
Dr. Maslamani departed on the 7th of January, 2008 leaving behind him a national, cultural, and resistance legacy. Throughout all the years of his life, Dr. Maslamani never tired of resistance and was known from his childhood as being an outspoken defender of the proletariat, poor and marginalized people, and the occupation jails knew him as a solid untouchable hero.
Dr. Maslamani, also known as Abu Wisam, was born on December 20th 1950, in the old city of occupied Jerusalem and was raised there on the belief of resistance. As a youth he was active in student demonstrations for defending national rights in Palestine and was heavily influenced by Jamal Abdel Naser and used Nasers’ slogans as a compass of extrapolation for events and developments. He was enrolled in al Omarriyrh School in the old city of Jerusalem, and after finishing primary school there he finished junior high school in the town of Abu Dis and then graduated from high school from the Dahyet al Bareed School.
After finishing high school, Maslamani went to Romania and got a degree in medicine. Upon his return home he was arrested by the occupation forces. As soon as he was released from the occupation jails Dr. Maslamani began working at the Makased Hospital in Jerusalem for the purpose of alleviating the pain and injuries of the Palestinians wounded by the occupation forces during the First Intifada. Soon afterwards, the occupation deprived Dr. Maslamani of working in the hospital under the pretext of not obtaining an Israeli license to practice medicine, a license that he rejected and refused to recognize.
During the mid eighties, Dr. Maslamani along with several of his comrades founded the Popular Committees for Health Services in Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from working do to the Zionist pretext that the name of the committees was provocative, so the Union of Health Work Committees was used instead. The Union of Health Work Committees soon expanded to include the West Bank and Gaza Strip to become one of the most important facilities to provide health services to Palestinian citizens.
Dr. Maslamani led the Union of health Work Committees as its director until the arrival of the Palestinian Authority, and due to the Authorities multiplicity of laws and regulations, Gaza split up from the West Bank and Dr. Maslamani stayed as the director of the West Bank branch of the organization, which became known as the Health Work Committees (HWC).
The occupation authorities did not leave Abu Wisam, who merged into national work and became a member of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and later became a member of the PFLP’s Central Committee during its sixth convention, alone. Abu Wisam was arrested by the occupation several times and spent 6 years of his life in the occupation’s jails.
Dr. Maslamani led the resistance in Jerusalem during both the First and Second Intifada and was always in the forefront of the popular movements, which is why he became known as Hakeem al Quds. Dr. Maslamani passed away a day before the American President, George W. Bush desecrated the land of Palestine by his presence. Abu Wisam departed this earth before seeing the despicable sight of Bush being welcomed to Palestine with flowers.
Dr. Maslamani’s departure was a hard blow to his family, his comrades, and to Jerusalem, but their national drive was renewed after Dr. Maslamani was buried in the soil of his beloved Jerusalem and after they had promised to walk down his glorious honorable path. |
