Read on Twitter
okay i'll do a brief informational thread on the unique plight of afro-palestinians and their role in the resisance against occupation, for anyone who wants it: https://twitter.com/CHUUMARXAJ/status/1334641295483043841
**resistance
okay so most afro-palestinians are descendants of the ottoman/indian ocean slave trade, coming from the swahili coast (zanj). although, some came as early as 634, when the second Islamic caliph omar ibn khattab (RA) conquered the levant
okay so most afro-palestinians are descendants of the ottoman/indian ocean slave trade, coming from the swahili coast (zanj). although, some came as early as 634, when the second Islamic caliph omar ibn khattab (RA) conquered the levant
there are african immigrants who came during the turn of the 20th century, and fought as part of the Arab Salvation Army against British and Zionist colonialism. many also flocked to jerusalem for religious reasons.
earlier afro-palestinians were guardians & servants of the aqsa mosque.during ottoman rule, the neighborhood near the main gates of aqsa mosque were turned into a notorious prison, but was later acquired as part of the public trust (islamic waqf)
after the fall of the ottoman empire, sheikh amin al husseini leased the former prison as housing for afro-palestinians, as a reward for their service being guardians of the temple mount
however, during the nakba, afro-palestinians were very much at the forefront of it all. in fact, the commander that prevented the fall of jalal al-mukabir (an east jerusalem neighborhood) to zionist forces in 1948 is a Black palestinian named muhammad tariq al-afriqi.
1/4 of the afro-palestinian population in jerusalem became displaced (no) thanks to the nakba. to add insult to injury, jordan has REFUSED to give the afro-palestinians jordanian passports, unlike a majority of the palestinians.
this has led to the afro-palestinian population to become effectively stateless individuals.
now i'll get into the life & legacy of fatima bernawi, an afro-palestinian guerilla fighter who was also the first female political prisoner of zionist colonial forces
now i'll get into the life & legacy of fatima bernawi, an afro-palestinian guerilla fighter who was also the first female political prisoner of zionist colonial forces
fatima bernawi was born in jerusalem in 1939, but was forced to flee as a refugee at the age of 9 during the nakba to camp near amman. years later, she reunited with her father in palestine, who was a veteran militant of the The Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936.
she worked as a nurse for ARAMCO, the saudi oil corporation. despite her palestinian nationality, she recounts in the book "Daughters of Palestine" being refused to give patients vaccines because of her skin color
after working as a nurse, fatima bernawi joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the marxist-leninist guerilla group, during the yom kippur war. she was then arrested for the foiled "bomb attack" on zion square, and as she says in her interview w/ amal kawar,
"of course they arrested all the women of african origin" she speaks of the zionist forces. she was originally sentenced life imprisonment, but only served 10 years in an isr*ali prison after a prison exchange.
