TEHRAN- Israel has been reeling in the aftermath of a surprise military operation carried out by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7.

The operation dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm caught Israel off-guard and proved that the regime can collapse like a house of cards in the face of growing Palestinian resistance. 

Israel launched genocidal war on Gaza soon after Hamas conducted the operation. About 320 days have passed since Israel began its brutal onslaught but it has failed to eliminate the resistance group.  

The army of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slaughtered more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians, many of them women and children. Nonetheless, support for resistance has significantly grown. 

In an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times, Dr. Fayez Abu Shamala, a veteran Palestinian activist, has thrown a spotlight on the significance of Al-Aqsa Storm. 

Abu Shamala who is a member of the Palestinian National Council and also a member of the General Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, said the Hamas operation shattered Israel’s dreams of having a “secure country” and encouraged Palestinians to put up resistance against the regime. 

Following is the text of the interview:

Dr. Fayez Abu Shamala, please tell us more about your upbringing and background and how has Nakba impacted your life. 

Answer: Since the Zionists entered Palestine under the support of British colonialism, the Nakba has engulfed the Palestinian land and nation. Since then, they have massacred and forcibly displaced Palestinians. Hatching plots and using coercion have also been part and parcel of the Zionist enemy’s vicious agenda against Palestinian people. 

Israeli courts sentenced me to 18 years in prisonMy father and my grandfather had to leave their ancestral land near the town of Bayt Daras in Ashkelon and take refuge in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. My father married my mother Amina al-Rentisi, who was a refugee from Yibna town in the camp. I was born in the same camp in 1950 and spent my childhood there until we were transferred to the Palestinian refugee camp in Khan Yunis in 1955.  I began to study at UNRWA schools affiliated to the United Nations there.  We were waiting for the Arab countries to beat Israel and return us to our lands that had been usurped by the Zionists. 

How did you get involved in politics and issues pertaining to resistance? 

In the above-mentioned camp the Palestinians developed a dynamic personality. They began to put up resistance against the enemy after Arab armies were defeated and their military failures came to light.

Palestinians believe that either Palestine will return to its people or they will be martyred without their nation.The Palestinian revolution and martyrdom operations were the best response to Israel's acts of aggression. As a Palestinian, who had completed his university education and worked as a teacher in Khan Younis, I considered it a duty to carry weapons and fight against the Zionist enemy. 

You have a long history of imprisonment. Why were you imprisoned and how long were you behind bars?

A: A few years after I began my activities against the Zionist regime, I was arrested along with a group of Palestinian fighters. Consequently, Israeli courts sentenced me to 18 years in prison. I turned the prison into a school for myself. I studied, learned and became stronger in prison. I also assumed the responsibility of enlightening the prisoners, educating them and institutionalizing the revolutionary culture in their minds.

You have gained considerable experience and witnessed different eras during the Palestinians’ struggle against the occupiers. How different is the situation of resistance today compared with decades ago? 

After the humiliating Oslo Accords were signed, we came out of prison with the hope that the Zionists will comply with their commitments and a Palestinian state will be established.  But we soon realized that the Israeli enemy does not adhere to any agreement. 

In a single criminal attack carried out by the Zionist regime in Khan Younis, 70 members of the Abu Shamala family were martyred.Hence, the al-Aqsa Intifada (uprising) was formed in 2000, and Palestinians underwent spiritual and psychological changes. The Palestinians woke up to the fact that the Zionist enemy is not a political enemy, but an ideological enemy, which usurps and occupies the Palestinian land by abusing the teachings of the Torah.

Therefore, the vigilant and knowledgeable Palestinian youth came to the conclusion that ideology and belief could only be countered through ideology and belief. As a result, they realized that they should take up arms to confront the armed Zionists. This awareness helped expand Islamic movements and Palestinians changed their approach by throwing their full support behind Islamic resistance movements such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have been able to institutionalize the concept of ideological conflict and move the conflict from the possibility of coexistence with the Israeli enemy to the stage of ending it. In other words, Palestinians believe that either Palestine will return to its people or they will be martyred without their nation. The passage of time has shown that the young believers of Palestine are determined, strong and resilient. They are also certain that victory can be achieved with patience and hard work. 

Let’s take a look at the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation and the Gaza war. How will this operation impact the future of Palestine? Most people in Gaza have gone through immense pain and suffering, but they still remain supportive of the Palestinian resistance. Why do you think they continue to support resistance?

The Al-Aqsa Storm was a heroic act which shattered the enemy’s dreams of having a secure country and also thwarted its ambitious plans for expanding the areas under their control. It kept alive the Palestinians’ hope and promoted their spirit to stand up to the invading emery. The military operation which took place on October 7, also encouraged young Palestinians to remain part of the resistance despite the hell-on-earth conditions that Zionists created in Gaza. Palestinians are now steadfast and confident that they will emerge victorious. They have understood that the enemy targets civilians because it has failed to beat resistance fighters.

Palestinians woke up to the fact that the Zionist enemy is not a political enemy, but an ideological enemyHow many members of your family and relatives have been martyred during this war? 

A: My family has a long history of resistance against the invaders. In the 2014 war, my son along dozens of others of my family members were martyred including martyr Muhammad Abu Shamala. But in Al-Aqsa Storm, members of our family were martyred in groups. The number of martyrs is so large that we transport and bury them with trucks. Presently, the number of martyrs of the Abu Shamala family is about 400 or maybe more.  In a single criminal attack carried out by the Zionist regime in Khan Younis, 70 members of the Abu Shamala family were martyred. 

As a Palestinian citizen, what are your expectations from Islamic countries? What is your idea about those Islamic countries that are still cooperating with the Israeli regime?

The Al-Aqsa Storm was not just the battle of Palestinians. It was the battle of the entire Arab and Islamic nations. This was acknowledged by President Joe Biden during his trip to the occupied territories. 
His acknowledgement indicates that this battle was the battle of truth against falsehood, the battle of freedom against slavery and also the battle of man against humanoid monsters.

Therefore, I say to the Arab and Muslim nations that the victory of Gaza is the victory of the entire Islamic and Arab nations.  Yemen (Ansarallah) realized this and stood by the Palestinian people in Gaza. The government of Lebanon realized it and Hezbollah started a continuous war of attrition against the Israeli enemy. The Islamic Republic of Iran also understood it and supported the Islamic resistance in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen in various ways.
The battle of Gaza is a battle for all nations, and the defeat of the Zionist enemy means the defeat of America's presence in the region and a new birth for a nation.

You knew martyr Ismail Haniyeh and were in touch with him. What can you tell us about the personality of this great resistance leader?

A: I have had a friendly relationship with martyr Ismail Haniyeh and many resistance leaders. Israeli prisons strengthened the love and kindness among the Palestinians and united them against the Zionist enemy, and made Haniyeh, who was kind and honest, a lovely and popular resistance leader inside and outside Gaza.