Bassel al-Araj was a Palestinian activist, writer and author. He was a graduate of an Egyptian university and was known for his writings about revolution and arab nationalism. He was killed by Israel’s Yamampolice force on March 6, 2017, after a gunfight lasting nearly two hours. He is known as "the educated martyr" among some Palestinian activists.
Biography
Al-Araj was born in al-Walaja, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem. He worked as a pharmacist and organized educational activities and lectures in which he narrated experiences of Palestinian resistance in tours of Palestinian landmarks. Along with five others, al-Araj was arrested by the Palestinian Authority in 2016 and charged with planning armed attacks against Israel. Having been tortured during their imprisonment, al-Araj and the others began a hunger strike that lasted nine days. Popular support for the men swelled, and the Palestinian courts ordered their release on bail of 500 Jordanian dinars. Subsequently, al-Araj was tracked by Israeli forces, with his family's home in al-Walaja raided repeatedly.
Death
During their imprisonment in the PA-administered Beitunia prison, al-Araj and his companions were subject to torture and mistreatment, leading them to commence a hunger strike in demand of their freedom. During their nine-day hunger strike, al-Araj published a single sentence via his lawyer, "The da`i and the son of the da`i has required us to choose one of two: a basket of gains or humiliation. Far away we are from accepting humiliation", a saying attributed to Husayn ibn Ali. After their release from prison, Israeli forces arrested several of the group, and al-Araj went into hiding for two months. Israeli forces repeatedly served warrants authorizing them to search his family's home and properties. The IDF located him on March 6, 2017 and surrounded him in an apartment near the Qaddurarefugee camp in al-Bireh. He engaged the Israeli forces in a two-hour gunfight, during which the IDF reportedly fired an ENERGA anti-tank rifle grenade, resulting in the partial destruction of the building. Israeli forces reportedly stormed the building and executed al-Araj after his ammunition was depleted, although Israeli reports state that al-Araj opened fire after IDF troops were already in the building. Palestinian reports note that Israeli forces removed al-Araj's corpse from the building by dragging him by his feet. In a handwritten letter published posthumously, al-Araj appeared to predict his own death and placed it within the context of the struggle for Palestinian liberation. In November 2018, Dar Rabal, a Palestinian publisher in Jerusalem, published the full works of al-Araj. The book's title,, was taken from the last letter he wrote prior to his death.
