Mouood Mouood English Edition
Q-6: What are Ashraqat’s favorite books?
Mr. Qatanani: Arabic literature books, national poetry, specifically Mothaffar Al-Nawab’s poem (Al-Quds the Bride of Your Arabism), history books, specifically the history of the Palestinian cause.
Q-7: What were her hobbies?
Mr. Qatanani: She was good at prosing, composition, and public speaking at school, by that I mean via the school radio. She was good at drawing, but unfortunately we did not keep any of her drawings. Up until the last night before her martyrdom she kept on drawing the veiled face of a resistance fighter.
Q-8: Did she bid farewell to you in anyway? How was your last meeting before she went out carrying the kitchen knife? Was she certain she was heading towards martyrdom?
Mr. Qatanani: To be honest, the last night before her martyrdom was a very weird night. She was joking around with her brother – Habib Al-Rahman – and telling him I want to practice stabbing on you, so she got up and headed to the kitchen from where she brought all the knives and asked me which one was the best. We thought all that was just joking around and harmonizing with the state of combativeness she was passing through. Next morning, on the day of her martyrdom, she prayed the morning prayer, turned on the TV, and prepared herself for school like every day. She gave me my medicine for I was very sick then. She fed her cat and put water for her canary bird, kissed my hands – something she didn’t usually do – and went out. Throughout that night she kept on asking me: Shall I bring you some water to drink?
Q-9: What did you tell her after she wrote words about the resistance on the wall of her room?
Mr. Qatanani: I was actually very harsh on her. I thought that she spoiled the paint and rebuked her a lot – may God forgive me -.
Q-10: What is the secret behind that smile on your face during Ashraqat’s funeral? What held your attention about the posture of her hand covering her face when you received her body from the occupation?
Mr. Qatanani: That smile during the funeral was because I was pushed away from her body during the procession while a group of young men walked away with her body and left us behind. We didn’t know what to do due to the large number of participants in the funeral – some on their foot and some in the cars -.
I felt that she was very happy walking among all these crowds.
About the hand posture, it was exactly how it used to be while she was asleep. I don’t know why the occupation left her hand over her face after they stole her body when she was martyred.
Q-11: How was the atmosphere of the consolation before Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called you? And how did the atmosphere become after the phone call?
Mr. Qatanani: The atmosphere was profound since the first day, and congratulators were flocking every day. Sayyed Nasrallah’s call was the peak for me… I did not wait for anyone to console me or congratulate me anymore… It was like the whole universe called me in the person of Sayyed Nasrallah… But I will not deny that fierce campaigns were waged against me after the call… and even against Sayyed Nasrallah.
However, all my eyes were seeing was Ashraqat and all my ears were hearing was the voice of Sayyed Nasrallah.
Q-12: What do you expect from this youth revolt in Palestine? In your opinion would it last or make any achievements? What in your opinion are the essentials for it to last?
Mr. Qatanani: To be honest, we might not be able to liberate any span of the hand from this land, but at least this revolt returned Palestine and Al-Quds to the front line, and revealed the hypocrisy of many imposters who destroyed their nations and the Arab nations under the name of Arabism and Islam.
I’m a realistic person. Until this moment, the revolt is an orphan… no one adopted it… and the factions are in a state of slackness or similar to a reserve player or an audience that wants to push the players to make a goal.
