the diaries of palestine.

Alsanqour

Name: Ahmad Sanaqra.
Nickname: Alsanqour (the Phoenix) or the Ghost.

"If I die, I want you to know that I have avand myself and Ibrahim"
Said Ahmed while waving to his mother happily after he received a call from Jenin city, congratulating him that his mission had been successful, his exploding cans missions aren't being held only in Balata camp anymore, now that he has accomplished other exploding cans missions in other cities too, cutting the feet of the soldiers who dare to set foot on our lands.

After midnight, while all the Houses in Balata camp were turning the lights off, one by one, Ahmed was looking around, making sure he wasn't being followed as he pulled up the cover of the hole where he used to hide his cans, he pulled the wires up on the roof of the mosque and stretched it to one of the nearby shops, then he left it there with the batteries until the right time comes.

The next day while Ahmed was walking around the camp, he heard people saying that the soldiers were breaking in, so he harried to his trap.
He pulled the wires and set everything ready, when the Jeep of the soldiers approached he whispered " In the name of Allah, Allahu akbar (Allah is the greatest)"
Then he connected the wires and the Jeep went flying in the air exploding completely!
Ahmed wasted no time as he fled out jumping from one roof into the other.

All the roads of Balata camp were trapped with Ahmed's exploding cans, declaring the camp as a forbidden territory for the occupation, whoever dares to break in will have his feet cut off.
His mother once proudly said
"All his missions resulted with soldiers losing their feet"

The Israeli forces couldn't break into the camp without a Bulldozer removing the obstacles first, they needed to be careful because they feared Ahmed's traps.
" I once got up to the roof and saw smoke everywhere, when I called Ahmed answered the phone and said Allah Akbar we blew up the Bulldozer!!"

When Ahmed was 10 years old, I started to notice that he was different from all the other kids.
He was impressively smart, he used to take apart the electronic machines in the house and put them back together much more efficiently, and they would work much better than before!!

I've always told him that he should become an engineer, he would smile and nod his head.
When he was in school, he used to sneak out with his friends to go fight with the resistance when the soldier's break-in, they used rocks and glass bottles, we didn't have phones back then, I have no idea how he found out when exactly the soldiers were going to break in!

Rocks and glass bottles weren’t Ahmed's only weapons anymore, at the age of 16 he started making the exploding cans, then he made his first mission and the soldier's jeep exploded.

Ahmed snatched his books and ran out of the house saying
" I'm sleeping over at my friend's house, we have to study for tomorrow's exam"

His mom did not believe him and got angry, feeling that he was hiding something from her.
So he got closer and whispered to her "We exploded a jeep, the other's got arrested so I can't let them arrest me too, I can't go to jail for 12 years I want to be a martyr!!"


Part 2
Since 2004 the Israeli government had been chasing and hunting down Ahmed Sanaqra, who announced Balata camp as a the free region from the occupation, using his traps and exploding cans.

It was 2 pm on a Tuesday of November 2006.
Ahmed was transporting a truck he trapped with tons of bombs.
But little did he know that the Israeli forces were waiting for him in a nearby building,
And when they got the chance they started firing bullets at him.
Fortunately, he made it out of the truck before it had exploded.
Yet he got injured by 6 bullets!!

The whole camp was alarmed by the news " ALSANQOUR HAD BEEN INJURED" yelled the young boys.

The Israeli forces wouldn't dare step closer to Ahmed's body, because he always threatened that he had an Explosive belt on him all the time.
The people of the camp managed to pull him away, while the resistance stepped in and clashed with the Israeli forces, to clear the way for Ahmed who made it out of the camp after 3 hours, they were delayed because the Israeli forces had surrounded the camp to make sure Ahmed won't make it out.

Ahmed's mother and brother were watching the scene from the roof of their home, feeling helpless that they couldn't reach him, then they heard someone screaming "AHMED IS DEAD"
Ibrahim (Ahmed's brother) lost his mind and went to search for him.

"Oh please don't
Don't leave me now, hang on until I find you "
was all Ibrahim could think about while running to his brother's location, when he reached the spot, he got shot.
His mom followed him and saw his leg bleeding profusely,
She immediately took him to the hospital but unfortunately it was too late.
She had already lost one of her son’s, that’s why she said to herself that she won’t lose the other, so she went to the hospital were Ahmed was and stayed by his side.

He was moved to an apartment far from the hospital, because they did not want the Israeli forces to arrest him, after 3 days he woke up and didn't find his mother by his side like he used to, he insisted to know what had happened and when he did, he called his mother gathering all the strength she had, she answered the phone and said " My dear son. Inshallah you will live and you will keep making bombs to explode it in their faces, Ibrahim is gone may he rest in peace"



Part 3

Ahmed Sanaqra the Phoenix bird.

After Ahmed healed from the 6 bullets injury, he got injured again during another battle aginst the Israeli forces, the bullet damaged his Intestines and left a wound that will remain open for 6 months, Ahmed couldn't bare staying in bed that long, luckily the doctors decided to return his Intestines back and closed his wound after only two months since he was recovering faster than expected.

During another battle, he was again injured by five bullets on his hand and his chest, he had to back down due to his injuries and left his gun behind.
He felt very depressed for leaving his precious gun, especially that his sister sold her jewelry to buy it for him.
His mother said "Ahmed felt very sad for losing his gun.... He endured a lot of hardships to get it, we're sure that the soldiers didn't take it, it was the spy"

Once, and while Ahmed was throwing his bombs at the Israeli forces because they were breaking in Nables city, he got injured and three of his fingers were cut and buried before he gets the chance to catch them, and during another clash, he had to explode the bomb while he was still close to it which lead to an injury on his foot.

His mother once said that after each injury she would pray to Allah and beg him to heal her son and to keep him out of the Israeli government hands.

"He made them go crazy, I was very proud of him, I wish all the yyoung men in our country were like him, especially in that he dedicated his hard work and sacrifices to Allah and Palestine"

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The underground siege

That was the first time Jamela knew where her son would stay the night because he came to have tea with them that day.
He knew something was going to happen, he said to his fellow resistant " If they surrounded us I'm not going to turn myself in... I will go underground but I would never let them capture me...

At dawn 3 Am on the 19th of May 2006, the family of Ahmed Sanaqra woke up to the news of three martyrs who were:
Mohammad Alkhateeb the husband of Ayat Ahmed's sister,
Mohammad Abo All, and Hossam Albadrasawe, the Israeli government announced that they wouldn't hand their bodies to their families.

For three days they had been tearing down the district where Ahmed was trapped, his mother said to "Al-Quds news"

"During these three days we couldn't eat or sleep, we asked the men who were crowded near the scene to keep chanting Allah Akbar as to lift his spirit"

But Jamela's health got bad on the third day, and she could not get out of her house.
The Israeli soldiers called her and asked her to come and call her son out, she knew that they wanted her to do that in order to blackmail him.
So she refused and said
" I have spoken to Ahmed and he has left the district... You can bring all of Israel's tanks and airplanes and keep destroying the district as much as you want... Ahmed isn't here"

In the end, the Israeli forces pulled back on the third day,
they failed their mission and lost millions of shekels (coins).

After the soldiers left, people harried to find Ahmed and to their surprise, a hand reached out of the rubbles, it was Ahmed!!
After 3 days of nonstop shooting, and after they brought the building down on his head he was still alive!!
People couldn't believe it and called him a ghost... Israel went crazy after they found out that he was still alive! although he was badly injured.

When They brought him home, his face had no color and he was in such a mess, but people were happy that he was alive.
Hundreds came to see him and celebrated by giving him sweets and chocolate.

"I fought to make them lose their minds," Ahmed said.

" I used to eat the leaves of the tree. I peed in my shoe and I drank it to survive, it was an experience for me and I survived, inshallah they won't catch me unless I die as a martyr"



Part 4

Ahmed was given two choices.
Either to turn himself in, and let the Palestinian government arrest him, or to be banished from Palestine forever.

Of course, he rejectsed both of them, escaping was his last option and fighting was always his decision.
He used to say " There is no way I would sleep on the beds of traitors in Aljaneen prison"

And so he remained the only wanted resistant in Balata camp while the others died or got captured.
"He never knew fear and he wasn’t a coward, when the Israeli forces broke in the camp the other wanted resistant ran out of the camp, he stayed and fought them while moving forward, while the others would fight and pull back"

" I wish Ahmed stayed alive and kept driving them crazy.
I wish I had other 10 sons like him, the only thing that gives me strength now is his good reputation, and his heroic missions, which I got to see with my own eyes, it's true they were hard days, but now that he’s gone I pray every day for these days to return "

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The final night.

Jamela planned to get her son married in February without having a wedding, but Ahmed refused and said" You won't get the chance to, I'll be gone by then"

Then he raised his hands and prayed " ya Rab, ya Rab, ya Rab, I want to be a martyr tonight after my battle with the soldiers"

Then he said " Ya Allah I don't have a problem getting injured in my whole body except my face, I want my face to remain beautiful so my mom gets to say goodbye to me"

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It was 2 Am, on the 18th of January 2008.

Jamela woke up in a panic, she heard the sound of a single gunshot.
She immediately called her son who assured her that he was fine.
He told her that he was still walking in the backstreets of the camp and he will go to sleep soon.

" I didn't go to sleep, I prayed and asked Allah to protect him... I never prayed like that before, my heart was shaking for him"

That bullet was a sign between the spy and the Israeli forces, they fired a bomb at him which cut his leg then they showered him with gunshots.

The news spread and Jamela went up the roof and chanted at the top of her lungs “Allah Akbar” hoping that her son would hear her.

During Ahmed's last visit to his mom the night before his death his last word was" I want to sleep forever "

He asked her not to put his body in the Mortuary, he asked her to cover him with the cover she got him from the Umrah and to play him the song "badly ya rafeeq aleen" (too soon my darling).

" I spent my whole life hunted and cold... The ones who used to hid me didn't have enough covers... I would always go to sleep feeling cold"

She refused to put him in the mortuary, as he asked her to, and she forced the doctors to place him on a bed and covere him with his cover.
She stayed by his side and kissed him all over his face, she whispered to him " congratulations on your martyrdom my son... May Allah bless you and grant you happiness"

His mother said that whenever she prayed for him she could see him open his eyes!!!

Note: the resource of Ahmed's story is the Asda'a news net