Nablus- Palestinians chanted: “We die and long live Palestine” and “Israel is a terrorist state… and we will not flee it.” They mourned Turkish-American activist Aisha Nour Azgi (Aishnur Azki) in the northern West Bank city of Nablus after she was martyred by Israeli occupation bullets in the southern city of Beita on Friday afternoon.
Aisha (26) was martyred by a live bullet fired at close range by occupation soldiers, penetrating her head, during her first solidarity participation in a peaceful demonstration denouncing colonization in Palestine, in a crime that confirmed the violence of the occupation armed forces to oppress Palestinians and their supporters.
Thanks to a massive march attended by hundreds of people, and in the presence of official and popular Palestinian and Turkish representatives represented by the Turkish Ambassador to Palestine, Faed Mustafa, the Governor of Nablus, Ghassan Douglas, and other officials, as well as her companions on the ground, Aisha’s body was laid to rest on Monday afternoon in front of the Rafidia government hospital in Nablus, where the funeral prayer for her soul took place.
“The path to freedom”
Aisha’s companions, foreign and Palestinian solidarity activists, carried the body wrapped in the Palestinian flag and keffiyeh on their shoulders, amid angry chants they chanted to reject the crimes of Israel and the United States against the Palestinians. This was followed by a military funeral ceremony, during which Aisha’s body was carried on the shoulders of Palestinian soldiers, and the Palestinian and Turkish national anthems were played.
The body was then transferred to a Palestinian ambulance, which in turn transported it to the US delegation, which then transferred it to Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied city of Lod, to then be transported by US or Turkish plane to be buried in her birthplace cemetery in Antalya, Turkey, in accordance with her family’s wishes, Al Jazeera Net was told. One of the activists in the “Global Solidarity Movement” through whom Aisha came forward.
In front of the morgue of Rafidia Hospital, where Aisha’s body remained for 4 days, dozens of foreign and Palestinian solidarity activists gathered and, in a state of general sadness and anger on their faces, they held up Palestinian flags and photos of Aisha.
Mourners also carried placards with phrases written in English and Arabic, denouncing the crime of the activist’s assassination by the occupation and saying they would not forget her. Another phrase that Aisha herself repeated was “My blood paves the way for freedom.”
His blood is a message to the world
Nablus Governor Ghassan Douglas – via Al Jazeera Net – conveys a message to the world and all those who support Israel, stating that “the martyrdom of Aisha on the land of Palestine is a source of pride for her and her blood is a curse on the land of Palestine.” “The darkness and all those who support the occupation,” and he stressed that the Palestinian people will remain loyal to their land.
Regarding the impact that Aisha left with her martyrdom, Douglas adds that she “lit a candle for the world, and her blood will light the way, and with her testimony, she beat the drums for everyone to hear that the Palestinian people are oppressed and want their freedom.
As for the Minister of the Wall and the Settlements Authority, Moayed Shaaban, he said that Israel kills everyone who defends the Palestinians, and that Aisha is the tenth foreign activist killed by the Israeli occupation. Shaaban added on Al Jazeera Net: “This will not deter or prevent the arrival of solidarity activists who are multiplying in the face of the escalation of the occupation’s crimes, because they see the facts on the ground that the occupation is trying to falsify.”
In the town of Beita, where Aisha was martyred, the town council and the local community are working to establish a “house of condolence” for the martyr and are trying to honour her by erecting a memorial in her honour and naming one of the town’s streets after her.
Beita Mayor Mahmoud Barham told Al Jazeera Net: “We consider Aisha as the 17th martyr among those who stood up in the battle to defend Mount Subeih, which has lasted for more than 3 years, and we have proposed to honor her by burying her in the land of Beita alongside the martyrs, in her honor and in honor of the Turkish people.”
On the path of Aisha
Aisha studied psychology at the University of Washington in the United States of America, worked in some social welfare centers and then in a tourism company. She arrived in Palestine last week as a volunteer in the “Global Solidarity Movement to Support the Palestinians.”
Syrian-American solidarity activist “Lulu” says she and her colleagues support Aisha’s family and stand with them, “and we tell Israel that killing Aisha will not intimidate us, and we come here knowing that we could be martyred because we are like the rest of the Palestinians who are killed every day by the occupation,” as she put it.
Lulu adds – to Al Jazeera Net – that she was attacked by settlers a few days before Aisha’s martyrdom, while she was in solidarity with the residents of the town of Qasra, south of Nablus, where the settlers smashed her head with stones and broke her hand, and she says: “Some friends were afraid to come after Aisha’s martyrdom, but others, and they are many, will come soon.”
As for American solidarity activist “Youssef” – as he calls himself – he said he “feels pain over the loss of his sister in Islam and fellow struggler, Aisha.” He added on Al Jazeera Net: “The occupation does not care about human life, whether American, foreign or Palestinian. But despite the anger and grief that afflicts us, it keeps us on the path of Aisha, and the path for which we came.”
Abdul Karim Dalbah, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement with the Palestinian People (ISM), said: “The martyrdom of Aisha and the Israeli attack on other solidarity activists that has recently intensified have a great impact on them and indicate that we need effective international solidarity.”
Dalbah describes solidarity activists as “defenders of humanity and freedom” and says that “80 percent of their solidarity work happens after they return to their countries. They see the crimes of the occupation as a reality and document them, then pass that on to their governments and their people, and there they are believed more.”
He adds that the need for these solidarity activists is increasing because they are “the best messengers” to make the voices of Palestinians heard in their countries and, more importantly, they “put pressure on their governments that are biased in favor of Israel, and they have a great influence in the boycott and the fight for Palestine, and they are very influential in stopping material and military support for the occupation.”
Dalbah stressed that the occupation’s measures, the assassination of solidarity activists and their attacks against them will not stop their flow to Palestine, and that the number of those registered in their country to participate in solidarity campaigns and their movements is increasing every day.