A week before Israeli forces assassinated Ashraf As Saadi in Jenin Refugee Camp this Wednesday, the West Bank's Saraya Al Quds leader carried his colleague's coffin in a funeral procession.Israeli forces assassinated Mahmoud Abu Ebeid, the Saraya Al Quds leader of Jenin, last Wednesday. After burying his friend and colleague, As Saadi spoke with PNN, not knowing that soon he himself would be dead.
The meeting began sadly. “We in the Al Quds Brigades will not bother with 'condemning' or 'deploring' the assassination of commander Mahmoud Abu Ebeid. Instead, our response will be practical. We will escalate the pace of resistance against the occupation which will pay dearly.”
As Saadi threatened a response, as is the case after most deaths at the hands of Israeli forces. “We in Saraya Al Quds and the Islamic Jihad movement, as we mourn the martyr, are filled with greater determination and will to carry the gun to avenge the blood of Mahmoud Abu Ebeid and all of our martyrs who did not go in vain."
He added, "We say that there has been enough talk about exercising 'calm.' The occupation has a ravenous appetite and knows only the language of crime. It takes advantage of all of the time we spend talking about 'calm' and having meetings by carrying out operations of killing and assassination.”
In his last meeting with PNN before his death, As Saadi said, “The occupation wages daily raids and incursions and inspections. It exercises all forms of pressure and terrorism against our families. But such practices do not intimidate us and will not impede our march forward. As long as there is an occupation and the settlers, and as long as they have us in their prisons, we will defend ourselves. They must realize that Palestinian blood is not cheap.”
Israeli forces attempted to arrest and assassinate Ashraf As Saadi on numerous occasions before finally killing him on Wednesday.
