Muhammed Natshe freed from Zionist custody, PA tries to disrupt hero-reception

[ 12/09/2010 - 07:42 PM ] - PIC

From Khalid Amayreh in al-Khalil Muhammed Jamal Natshe, a prominent Islamic leader from al-Khalil, was freed from Zionist custody on Sunday, after spending more than eight years in Israeli dungeons and detention camps. At the Teena crossing point south west of Dahiriya on the southern edge of the West Bank , Natshe was released around 3:00 o'clock Sunday as hundreds of supporters and admirers shouted "Allaho Akbar" or God is the most Great. The PA security agencies deployed dozens of their agents to the site, carrying cameras and mobile phones to photograph Islamic activists who arrived at the crossing point to congratulate the Islamist leader on his "appointment with freedom." Scuffles and commotions occurred when people sought to prevent security agents from filming activists and other Hamas supporters who came to receive Natshe. Several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were present among a large multitude of people awaiting Natshe's release from Israeli jails. Natshe is considered a leading Islamic figure and intellectual in the southern Bank. Consequently, he was targeted by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The latter arrested and reportedly tortured him prior to 2002. A teacher by profession, Natshe proved himself one of the most resilient and steadfast Islamic figure in occupied Palestine. According to relatives and close friends, all the harassment, torture, and imprisonment meted to him by both Israel and the PA utterly failed to shake his personality. "He is one of the strongest and most resilient men Palestine has given birth to.  He has been a remarkable embodiment of moral strength, steadfastness, wisdom and thoughtfulness. He is totally convinced in the justice of the Palestinian cause," said one of his relatives. "He is so sure about the eventuality of victory as if he were seeing victory with his eyes." Natshe was elected a member of the Legislative Council while in prison in 2006. However, the Israeli occupation authorities extended his imprisonment period several times, mainly as a reprisal for his unflinching Islamic ideology and adamant refusal to succumb to Israeli dictates and demands, namely recognizing the legitimacy of Israeli occupation and colonialism. Natshe has always argued that the expulsion of the bulk of the Palestinian people from their ancestral homeland is a cardinal crime that would never be made lesser with the passage of time. He also argued that a state based on the ethnic cleansing of another people can never acquire moral legitimacy, even if many countries think otherwise. The Natshe family is considered one of the largest families in Palestine. The clan is generally considered highly supportive of the Islamic liberation movement, Hamas.