'Ayn al- 'Asal

By Dr. Mohamed Haj Khalil

'Ayn al-'Asal

True, the elders die, but the youngsters do not forget, and issues of life do not distract them. The Palestinian people are like cactus, thorny but its fruit is sweet. If they cut a part of it and throw it somewhere else, it grows and becomes a new plant. Here is where the value of this unique novel lies. Because it explains the struggles of the youngsters who did not forget. It explains the struggles of the young generation in the interest of liberating Palestine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649524836

Book preview

§§§§§ 1 §§§§§

Have you heard that Salah is returning tomorrow?

Who is Salah that is returning tomorrow? And from where?

My friend, Salah Mahmoud Al-A’yed. Did you forget our friend Salah?

Ah, Salah who went to study in the United States of America.

Yes, that’s him.

Certainly. Who forgets Salah, friend of many youths?

Yes. We must inform Yousef Mar’ie and Samer Al-Shabty and some other friends, Eyad and Saif and Ziyad and Khalil and Jad and Yazen and A’adel and Karim and others.

Certainly, we will organize a reception group and meet him at the airport.

Yes, Salah was very kind to all of us. He has cared much for the refugee camp. It was true that he moved out of the camp, but he did not move away from us or broke up with the camp.

I remember that he was the one who convinced some of the charity organizations, mosques, and churches to send committees to assess the conditions of our camp, Burj Al-Barajneh, and other camps, camp Nahr Al-Bared in Tripoli, Camp Al-Burj Al-Shamali in Tyre (Soor) and Camp Al-Rashidieh, Camp Al-Beddawi, and camps of Al-Biqa’. In fact, these organizations assisted in improving the living conditions in our camps. They facilitated installation of electricity, water, and three water storage tanks, paving the camps’ narrow walking aisles, and improving drainage of the surface water. As such, we did not have to walk in mud during winter. No one in the camp would forget the efforts spent by the son of the camp, Salah, in caring for his people.

True. Above all that, Salah raised our heads and his family’s heads with pride living in the camp. He placed the name of Palestine on everybody’s lip and tongue for his accomplishments in the American University of Beirut.

Not only that. Some of the newspapers published his excellence and accomplishments in the United States of America. He graduated with master degree and doctorate degree in engineering. He became licensed in that field. He became well-known between Lebanese and Palestinians and most Arabs.

We pride and value our son in our country, and we will congratulate his family and ourselves for having this great man.

Let’s go and inform all friends and get ready to receive Salah and celebrate his return, like celebrating the heroes.

§§§§§ 2 §§§§§

Salah Mahmoud Al-A’yed used to live in Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp south of Beirut in Lebanon. The camp is located at your left-hand side when going to the airport. That is, after you pass the Shatilah’s roundabout where the martyr’s cemetery is located and where most of the martyrs were Palestinians.

It was called a camp although no tents existed any longer. It was inhabited by Palestinians, the refugees from Northern Palestine, from Al-Jalil region, specifically Western Al-Jalil, and other coastal towns and cities. Some of these cities included Acre (Akka), Haifa, Jaffa (Yafa) among other smaller towns. Some of the towns included Al-Zeeb, Al-Kabri, Al-Ghabisieh, Sheikh-Dawud, Tarshiha, Kuwaikat, Amqa, Sha’ab, Sa’sa’, Dir Al-Qassi, Suhmata, Mi’ar, Fassuta, Al-Sumayriyya, and Al-Bassa.

The camp was first built with tents. Salah’s family was one of those fortunate to have secured a tent.

Salah Mahmoud Al-A’yed was nine years old when he and his family were expelled by the Zionist movements out of Palestine. Salah’s village was Al-Kabri where its people lived in opulence and luxury, united and harmonious and happy with their village and its location on the western coast of the Al-Jalil mountains. It combined the natural beauty of the mountain, for its location at its foot and the natural beauty of the plain, for its location at its onset. Al-Kabri was not far from the sea. It was about five kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea and twelve kilometers from the popular city of Acre, center of Al-Jalil region, and conqueror of Napoleon, who failed to capture it during his last famous campaign against the Levant (Al-Sharq) and Palestine.

Salah did not recall whether he actually remembered the facts of life and some of the events that occurred in Al-Kabri before the exodus, or he merely became aware of after he heard of it over and over again from his father and mother, the elders who were neighbors, and some other youths who were older. So, emotions played a great role in his memory.

But he remembered 'Ayn al-'Asal, (literally Spring of Honey), the famous water spring of Al-Kabri. He had, once, climbed the steps of the water basin and saw the clear water as if it were the rooster’s eye underwater. The water filled about half the basin. It rarely increased or decreased in volume although it flowed from Bab Al-Nadir, as it used to be called, with a force that could toss a child or even a youngster if either was exposed to such force of flow from the water basin.

Salah remembered the older youths, how they were jumping into the water and swimming with no fear of injury or drowning. He remembered when his father used to ask him and his brother, Ali, to fill the pottery ewer with water from 'Ayn al-'Asal. Their house was very close to 'Ayn al-'Asal, no more than two hundred meters. He remembered that he was amazed by the warmth of the water in winter and its coldness in summer. That was other than what the people remember about the natural freshness of 'Ayn al-'Asal’s water.

The residents of the surrounding villages were envying the Al-Kabri for having the 'Ayn al-'Asal. Other villages, such as Al-Ghabisiyya, Al-Sheikh Dawud, Sheikh Danun, Tarshiha, Mi’ilia, Kwaikat, A’mqa, Al-Zeeb, and Al-Bassa, all wished they could have springs like 'Ayn al-'Asal in Al-Kabri.

More often, Salah used to hear the elders talk about how the Ottoman governor, Ahmed Basha Al-Jazzar, installed a canal, called Al-Basha Canal, that drew water from 'Ayn al-'Asal to his quarters in the city of Acre, passing through the villages of Al-Nahr, Umm Al-Faraj, Al-Humayyema, Al-Mazra’a, and Al-Sumayriyya and ending into Acre. Also, how Al-Jazzar had sought builders for building ducts in the low areas such that the water would continue flowing by gravity without the need to pump the water. Salah also remembered that he used to see such ducts in the area of Al-Mazra’a without knowing anything about them.

The population of Al-Kabri numbered about two thousand. They all knew each other. They lived off their agricultural crops. They farmed wheat, barley, and white and yellow corn. They also farmed tobacco. They also farmed variety of vegetables. As for fruits, they came from the orchards and groves that mostly produced oranges.

Salah’s father used to farm grains, vegetables, and tobacco. They did not have orange grove. But he remembered that they never saw one day when they ran out of oranges. The farmers of orange groves used to transport their produce of oranges to sell in the auction markets in the cities of Acre, Haifa, and Jaffa and return home with their needs of produce purchased in exchange for the price of oranges they sold. But the residents of the village used to take oranges from the farmers of orange groves for free. It used to be a shame for these farmers to demand money from their neighbors or residents of their towns for the price of a box of oranges. The money was never abundant in the hands of people. People rarely needed money. They used to have all they need.

Salah could not remember that money was abundantly exchanged between people. They used to live self-sufficiently off their farming and produce. When necessary, they used to exchange crops. Wheat for tobacco, corn for barley, eggs for kerosene. Meat was rare. At times, Al-Kabri would consume meat once a week including the Eids (Islamic holidays), whenever Noor Al-Din Marie and his brothers, Al-Sakha and Mustafa, used to slaughter one sheep or two or a young bull.

Salah remembered that the most important days of the residents of Al-Kabri and the neighboring villages were the days of Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha and the observance of Mawlid al-Nabawi (Birth of the Prophet) al-Sharif. During these occasions, people used to visit the cities. In the case of Al-Kabri and the neighboring villages as well as most of the villages of Al-Jalil region, residents used to go to the city of Acre, where celebrations and parades used to take place, most importantly the Scouts’ parade which may have been called Scouts of Al-Jarrah. Scouts used to parade the city with their flags, drums, and cymbals when playing their music. The parade used to end at the country sport field where celebrations start. The field, as he used to remember, was located across from his uncle Khaled’s furniture store.

Salah remembered that he accompanied some of his young friends to go to Acre for the observance celebration of Al-Mawlid al-Nabawi. That day, his father gave him some Eid money in the amount of three piasters. He paid half a piaster (Arabic: ta’areefa) for the bus fare from Al-Kabri to Acre, half a piaster for a falafel sandwich, half a piaster to ride the horse carriage, half a piaster for a piece of sweets (ka’akaban), and half a piaster for the bus fare to return. He saved half a piaster for the future.

Salah remembered, as someone remembers in their dreams, many events, which he would try to recall in the morning. These were events that occurred in the village of Al-Kabri. He recalled that his memory was supported by the events that his father and his father’s friends were discussing during their evening conversations in the camp. The village was attacked repeatedly by the Jewish paramilitary gangs. The people of the village, young and old, with their limited and simple arms used to challenge these attacks in defending their village. One night, the paramilitary gangs (known as Haganah and Irgun and others) attacked the village from the northeast direction, planted and detonated explosives at the home of one well-known head of the village named Abu Nayef Faris Sirhan. The side of the home was damaged.

Salah remembered that the explosives turned the sky and the vicinity into a ball of blue and red fire with black smoke all around. He remembered that his father did not own a gun at the time. So, he got himself an axe and rushed to the scene of the explosions to rescue women and children out of the damaged home. Other youths from the village also rushed to the scene to confront the attackers and force them to flee before they caused total destruction to the home and other structures in the village.

He remembered that the next morning, he was one of a group of young boys who rushed to the scene of the explosion to observe the site of the battle that took place at dawn of that day. That day, he knew that one of the residents of the village was martyred. His name was Abu Hussein Rashid Al-Nasser, who was the father of Mohammed Rashid, his friend. Until that day, killings and deaths seldom occurred. Consequently, the village and the surrounding villages rose in anger in response to the killing of Rashid Al-Nasser.

The paramilitary gangs continued with their attempts to attack the village. But they failed every time because the residents of the village improved their defense equipment and night security from all directions.

Salah remembered, as every other child in the village remembers, the names of some of the men who led the struggle and who urged the youths to rise, guard, and defend their village against the paramilitary gangs. He remembered Abu Rakad Mahmoud Salamah, Abu Mohammed Dalil Saeed, Ahmed Yassin Abu Fuad, Abu Hussein Ali Al-Abed, Abu Kheir Eid, Abu Nimr Mohammed Hammad, Abu Salem Fadiel Ya’aqoub, Abu Khaled Saleh Shaker Al-Jishi, Khaled Saleh Shaker, Tawfiq Ahmed Shaker, Mohammed Al-Dabajah, Mahmoud Al-Anas, Al-Sakha Mar’ie Abu-Yousef, Abu Mohammed Al-Haj Khalil, Ahmed Shaker Al-Sal’ous, Mustafa Mar’ie, Al-Abed Al-Biqa’ey, Abu Ahmed Al-Badawi Al-Shabti, Othman, Al-Wa’rieh, Sabri, Asa’ad Aker, Mohammed Arif, Deeb Sa’yyed, Hamid Jawher, Mustafa Balqis, Ahmed Khalifah, Abed Ismael Arkah, Rakad Ya’aqoub, Ahmed Ya’aqoub, Jamil Ya’aqoub, Yassin Al-Khabbas, Hussein Dugheim, Khaled Al-Za’azo’u, Sa’eed Akkar, Manhal, Omar Ahmed Shaker, Abed Saleh Al-Safadi, Hassan Al-Shabti, Abdullah Rakad, and many others. Salah could not forget what he knew about the battle of Al-Kabri (he knew, after, that it took place on March 27, 1948) in the area of Al-Rayyes, southwest of the village, exactly opposite the cemetery.

The village was calm and peaceful when one morning, an Arab police officer named Abed Al-Mu’uti came to visit. He worked for the English police during the British mandate of Palestine. The officer met with the dignitaries of the village and with some other elder men among whom was the mukhtar (mayor), Deeb Al-Safadi. The officer informed them that a Jewish convoy from Nahariya, a Jewish town on the coast, will take the main road adjacent to Al-Kabri, toward Tarshiha, arriving its destination in Jiddin Fort where a Jewish paramilitary gang takes fortification. The Fort is located south of the road before arriving Tarshiha. He also informed them that the convoy will not be carrying soldiers or weapons. The convoy will be carrying only food to the needy people besieged in the Fort. We Arabs were well-known of being humane and forgiving. For that, he requested that the convoy pass peacefully.

The dignitaries and elders of the village agreed for the convoy to pass without any objection as long as it was not carrying soldiers or weapons. That agreement did not go well with the youths who discussed the matter during the following arguments:

We are in war with the Zionist Jews. They attack our village and other villages as well.

How can we facilitate for them to fortify themselves in the Fort that becomes danger to us?

Yes, the Jews are not well-known to be truthful, and they cannot be trusted.

That is correct. The convoy must be carrying soldiers.

Most likely, will be transporting arms and ammunition.

Why should we allow a paramilitary Jewish gang to have strong, defensive capabilities in this fortified Fort?

It has previously occurred that Jiddin paramilitary gang ambushed buses carrying passengers in Tal Al-Waqqiah and wounded one of the drivers, his name was Al-Dall’ah.

I remember that. I heard the assistant of the bus driver, Abed Al-Razeq, describing how they were rained with bullets from their machine guns.

Then, why should we allow them to become more powerful?

I see that we prevent passage of the convoy.

Yes, regardless of its loads. They fight us, and they kill our families. They are our enemies, and we should not give them mercy.

One or two hours passed before the youths agreed unanimously that the convoy was equivalent to an enforcement to the gang fortified in Jiddin Fort. It has to be a shipment of ammunition and weapons. As for the police officer, Abed Al-Mu’uti, he was a man who carried orders from the occupying forces of the English mandate in delivering their message to the dignitaries of the village. The English were the protectors of the Jews; they train them and they arm them. So, how could they be trusted!

The village became aware of the news that were discussed between the youths. The youths began mobilizing and were determined to prevent the convoy from passing, regardless of the consequences.

At the time, there were eleven rifles in the village. One of them was Salah’s father, who had purchased in exchange of selling one of their cows, plus another machine gun of the kind, Sten gun, with few ammunitions as was the case for the other rifles. The youths also had a few pistols, which were used for celebrations, and some small grenades.

Salah did not know anything about the details nor he remembered anything about it. Youngsters did not know anything of the elders’ affairs. However, he remembered the sound of bullets in the morning, mixed with thunderous sounds he was not familiar with.

Before dawn next day, the youths were fortifying themselves at the village’s cemetery. They rendered the graves’ structures as barricades, fortifications, and ambushes.

In the morning, the convoy vanguards started appearing. The youths surprised the convoy with hail of bullets that were very effective. The first armored car started swinging left and right. It happened with Allah’s will that the canal of 'Ayn al-'Asal played a role in the battle of Al-Kabri. Its gushing waters, somehow, formed a deep stream like a canal across from the cemetery where the battle was taking place at the area of Al-Rayyes.

When the officer of the Jewish armored car closed the hatch, which he used to navigate his way through in order to avoid the hail of bullets, it swung with its front ditching into the canal and its rear blocking the narrow road. This disabled the convoy from advancing. Fighting became known to the villages of Al-Nahr, Umm Al-Faraj, and Al-Tal that were passed by the convoy before its arrival to Al-Rayyes. They reacted quickly and blocked the street with rocks to disable the convoy from returning and escaping the fight.

No sooner than the news of the battle became known, fighters rushed from the villages of Al-Ghabisiyya, Danun, Al-Sheikh Dawood, Al-Zeeb, Al-Bassa, Tarshiha, Mi’ilya, and others to join the fight. The fight intensified. It was clear that the convoy was equivalent to soldiers who were trained and loaded with advanced weapons and ammunition.

The battle lasted from dawn till before evening when six armored cars were destroyed or set on fire. None was left except the armored vehicle (bus) carrying the enemy’s soldiers who refused to surrender. That prompted Al Haj Darwish to go to the mill (olives press) that was recently constructed near the location of the fight. The mill was operating on diesel. He filled a bucket with diesel, approached the armored vehicle, sprayed it, and lit it on fire. Occupants of the vehicle were screaming, some of whom tried to escape but were hailed with bullets from the youths. Those who were able to escape through other routes were faced by fighters coming from Al-Zeeb and killed them.

In the evening, the English near the coast fired their heavy artillery in an attempt to save the soldiers of the convoy. But that was too late. The battle was ended, and the convoy was destroyed and the soldiers were killed.

The youths tried to salvage what they could from the fire in weapons and ammunition. That was the battle of Al-Kabri, one of the most successful battles of resistance against the usurper enemy in the year 1948.

It happened that one soldier escaped getting killed. It became clear later that he was an officer with high rank of Russian origin. He made his way by hiding and heading east toward the Jiddin Fort. He sneaked his way by hiding inside the old abandoned mill. One of the village men, Ahmed Hissin, was returning from the market in the village of Kafr Yasif where he sold one of his camels (he was a camel herder) in order to use some of the proceeds of sale to buy a rifle.

The man was unexpectedly faced with bullets from the battle. He turned back to the mill for protection. There, he was killed by the escaping officer. In the morning, he was spotted by some of the shepherds from the village of Al-Ghabisiyya. They alerted the men of the village who surrounded the officer and killed him.

It became known through our families in the occupied territory that the burned armored cars were still in their place. The enemy had constructed a monument at the site, with the names of those killed, numbered at forty-seven men and women soldiers, as was informed by those who visited the battle site in the area of Al-Rayyes.

The elders remember that some of the residents of the village returned from their refugee camps to bring back what they left in gold or money and documents. They always believed that after they