By Iqbal Jassat
“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” – Pablo Neruda
In a heart-wrenching tribute to Palestine’s heroic freedom fighter Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader Khalil Al Hayya announced his martyrdom.
“Our hearts are heavy but we are filled with determination and resolve.”
He pointed out that though the Zionist enemy fired 2 tank shells as well as a shoulder-fired missile at the iconic leader of the Resistance, Sinwar “stood defiant, resisting until his last breath”.
For millions of Muslims and millions more supporters across the world of Palestine’s freedom struggle, Sinwar’s martyrdom may mark the end of a legendary anti-colonial warrior, but not the end of the Resistance.
History of struggles against slavery, racism, fascism, imperialism and colonialism, including our own in South Africa against apartheid, teaches us about the colossal price paid by people desiring freedom and justice.
Our memories are filled with names of fallen heroes and heroines.
We recall David Webster who was assassinated nine months before Nelson Mandela’s release,
by the apartheid regime’s security branch.
They justified his murder in the same language used by Israel, that he deserved to die because he was involved in “terrorist activities”.
Or recall the unjust death by hanging of Solomon Mahlangu.
He joined the African National Congress (ANC) and was sent to Mozambique to be trained as part of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, which was founded after the Sharpeville massacre — a mass shooting on a peaceful demonstration that left 69 dead and 180 injured. He received his training in Angola and Mozambique, and returned to South Africa in 1977 to join the student protests, as recorded in various reports.
His last words that undoubtedly echoed across the Palestinian Occupied Territory were: “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight.”
Recall too the murder of Steve Biko following severe beatings and torture by apartheid forces in police custody.
He was an iconic anti-apartheid activist whose death sparked global outrage, worldwide protests and led to a UN arms embargo.
The list is endless: Ahmed Timol, Imam Abdullah Haroon,
Solwandle Looksmart Ngudle, Alfred Mabake Makaleng, Suliman Saloojee and Joseph Mdluli are some of the names of those who were brutally killed by the state while in police custody.
Charlotte Maxeke, Helen Joseph, Lillian Ngoyi, Fatima Meer and many more are among the heroines who faced apartheid’s unjust laws.
Similar and worse legislation exists in apartheid Israel today that allows the regime to detain Palestinian men, women and children without trial, subject to horrific torture without recourse to legal representation.
The monstrosity of Zionist murderers led by American proxy Netanyahu confirms their fascist plots to liquidate all Palestinians.
The Polish immigrant Mileikowsky known as Benjamin Netanyahu has a terrorist track record steeped in hatred and murders of Palestinians as has become evident in the relentless slaughter taking place in the horrific genocide in Gaza.
The cruelty associated with the bloody massacres perpetrated by his thugs across Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the wider region, has led people gasping in disbelief.
Yet it is a fact that the history of the colonial settler regime, since its illegal violent imposition on the land of Palestine, is littered with violence, terrorism and gruesome extermination of the indigenous Palestinian population.
He may enjoy the support of racists within the corridors of power in Western Europe, America and the puny Zionist lobby operations in South Africa, but not the rest of the world’s majority who resent his evil barbarism.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com
