Al-Far’a Camp, with choruses like “It is for God, not for power nor pride,” “Raise your voice, the camp will never die,” and “O martyr, do not frown, for your soldiers we don armor,” amid many others, thousands of protesters’ voices echoed loud as they laid to rest four martyrs from the Al-Far’a Camp near the city of Tubas in the northern West Bank, who fell on Monday.
The chants were not just noise; they conveyed messages of dedication, reviving resistance, honoring the spirits of the martyrs, glorying in their past achievements, following in their footsteps, and seeking revenge against their common enemy, the Israeli occupation.
The camp is now regularly mourning its children, who have become a target for the occupation and its intensifying raids. In less than two weeks, twelve individuals from the camp, mostly civilians and children, have been martyred, following another earlier this year. It appears that the occupation is determined to quell the emerging resistance that is spreading throughout the camp’s alleyways and unnerving it with its strikes.
An Uprising Unfolds
Al Jazeera Net witnessed the camp’s uprising during the funeral processions, where the inhabitants en masse carried the martyrs on their shoulders through the camp’s narrow streets. The procession was led by dozens of resistance fighters, who brandished their rifles and revealed their faces without firing into the air, saving their bullets for another time and target—the occupation without a doubt.
Young men, barely having lived life, chose the path of struggle and defense of their camp and people. They formed the “Al-Far’a Camp Battalion” in response to the swelling of resistance movements in other locations and refugee camps, particularly in the north of the West Bank.
The fighters resembled each other in appearance and organization, and even in their quiet entry and exit amid hundreds of mourners, becoming visible only during clashes or when accompanying their fallen comrades.
Asked about the reason behind the Israeli escalation and targeting of their camp, a fighter who identified himself as “Sabir” responded, “The occupation is hastily trying to end the resistance in the Al-Far’a Camp to prevent it from becoming an inspiration, as a natural and national widespread phenomenon in all camps across the West Bank.”
He sees the high number of martyrs in just a few days as an assault conducted by a brutal enemy unable to confront resistance fighters who have deeply wounded it. Instead, the enemy targets civilians and children by sniping from building rooftops and executing them at point-blank range, with no just cause. He claims, “They achieve nothing else.”
Each time the occupation invades the camp, it fails to achieve its goal, and the resistance thrives. “For every martyr they kill, believing the resistance dies, ten more rise in their place, ensuring that the resistance remains a thorn in the occupier’s side,” adds Sabir.
Unified National Resistance
Why hasn’t the occupation’s attempts to break the will of Al-Far’a’s fighters been successful? Sabir says, “Our nation’s resistance is united. With every martyr, it grows stronger. We do not follow a specific faction, we do not fight for a party, nor do we differ with another. We all defend the camp for our homeland’s sake.”
Omar Subh, a leader from the camp, sees other reasons that have highlighted and revitalized the resistance, despite its youth compared to the resistance in the West Bank over the past two years. One is the camp’s historic role at the forefront of resistance. Additionally, the occupation’s warfare is comprehensive and affects all Palestinians; the youth are enthusiastic and reject the occupation’s daily invasions, Subh tells Al Jazeera Net.
A Generation Thirsty for Confrontation
Zaid Sarhan, one of the Islamic leaders in the camp, agrees with Subh, adding that the camp’s circumstances escalated further during the Gaza war, fueling the local inspiration, especially given its geographic distance from other resistance hotspots in the West Bank cities. Sarhan adds, “Therefore, they always thirst to confront the occupation, which made martyr Baraa Al-Amir, one of the resistance leaders in Al-Far’a Camp, participate in multiple sites in camps like Jenin and Nablus and Tulkarem”.
Moreover, Sarhan notes that the camp battalion is not aligned with any specific faction, which makes the occupation list more than 20 resistance fighters by name and target some for assassination.
Basil Mansour, a member of the Factions Coordination Committee in Tubas and Al-Far’a Camp, echoes that the national sentiment in the camp is very high and unbreakable, only growing with each act of resistance. “Camps have historically been and remain hubs of revolution, inspiring it, living through historical injustices and oppression because of their displacement by the occupation in 1948,” Mansour tells Al Jazeera Net.
As for the camp’s resistance, “It is a free, honorable, sincere, and trustworthy national action, united in the field regardless of party affiliation,” Mansour adds. The occupation is troubled by how quickly the status of resistance transferred to the camp, influencing many young people prepared to sacrifice everything, especially within a revolutionary and patriotic environment.
This generation, which Basil Mansour and others spoke of, manifested as it lined up, eager to get close to the martyrs and participate in their funeral processions, emulating the militants appearing with bandanas and the signature face coverings of the fighters.
