Jabbar

Herein lies the heroism; doing what is necessary in secrecy, even if no one wants to do it. He does it not for personal gain like fame, praise, or position, but because this is what is necessary, and as a Palestinian, he will take it upon himself. He is compelled to do what is right, simply because it is right.

Revolutionary actions are usually local, simple in their logic, humane, which gives them a wide resonance allowing everyone, despite theirdifferences, to understand and adopt them. For example, the idea that i don't want to be evicted from my home and for someone else settle in it, or not wanting my children to live under constant bombardment, and if there isn’t an army to defend me, then I will defend myself, even against the mightiest of armies.

The Palestinian fighter is exactly that; the local revolutionary. He doesnot seek heroism; it is imposed on him. He does not seek globalrecognition; it seeks him. So, his glorification - in his own judgment,and under his veil- is for the good deed, not for the doer of good. The veil, then, is the local revolutionary action that we were compelled to undertake until circumstances improve, we remove the veil, and return to being ordinary people, concerned with what concerns all nations and moved by what moves them. This is the goal of every Palestinian act of resistance, no matter how small.

Throughout its occupation, Palestine and its resistance has exported contemporary icons of popular resistance; icons in resisting the occupier and confronting it with the least resources. Every nation has its army, except Palestine; its people are its army. This work is a modest attempt to immortalize the noble Palestinian people and itsicons, their struggles, and their sacrifices to liberate man from his veiland to return to being ordinary on his own land.

Blessed be the army of the people; the people of redemption. Blessed be Ahmad the ordinary.

I dedicate this work to my father’s soul and to the resilience of the people of Palestine.
A work for the ordinary of my people.

"The Final Scene

*Breaking news: A Statement by the Spokesperson of the Resistance Brigades, Abu Ubayda*

Abu Ubayda appears on the screen,
He does not speak, remains silent for a moment,
He unveils his face, gazes into the camera, then raises the victory sign with his hand.
Allahu Akbar chants erupt from behind the camera at the locationwhere the statement is being filmed,

Abu Ubayda exits the frame. End of scene."

As soon as Abu Ubayda unveils his face he returns to being an ordinary Palestinian, a grocery store owner, or perhaps a cleaner at someone’s dry-clean, or a produce seller. A simple Palestinian. He isn’t a military expert, nor a general, nor a seasoned warrior, nor did he aspire to be. Circumstances forced him to become one, and as soon as his compelling circumstances subsided, he returned to being a father to his little Ubayda, who waits for his daily allowance, wondering if his father will bring a watermelon today on his way back from work.

After the liberation of Palestine, Abu Ubayda returns to being what he should have been, an ordinary person.

The remarkable thing about the “Mulatham” (the veiled) is what his veil symbolizes, an extension of all those veiled or carried a stone in the struggle for the liberation of the Palestine, and a manifestation of the personal construct of every Palestinian; the ordinary person who was forced to become extraordinary, a superhero hiding his identity under the veil. He did not ask for it; he just wants to live a decent ordinary life, nothing more. This is what everyone carrying the burden of his cause and his identity as a Palestinian wants, a life free from compelling circumstances that forces one to be on high alert every moment of his life to defend his cause.

The Mulatham inside every Palestinian is an ordinary person who found that no one had done what was necessary, so he did it himself. Like a head of a household finding a broken faucet in the kitchen that none of his children fixed, so he fixes it himself.