“Hero of Land Day” welcomed back to Dheisheh after release from hospital

April 9, 2012

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, its cadres and supporters, and many residents of Dheisheh refugee camp welcomed comrade Ali Youssef Ahmed Arafa back to the camp after his release from hospital. He has become known as “the hero of Land Day” in the community and on social networking sites.

Comrade Ali was released from the hospital after successful surgery on April 3, 2012, welcomed by Palestinian flags and PFLP banners. During the Land Day protest in Bethlehem, he climbed up the Apartheid Wall near the iron gate at the center of the “North Bethlehem Crossing”, next to a huge military barracks, separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and raised the Palestinian flag at the highest point of the wall, calling for Jerusalem to be opened to its rightful owners, the Palestinian people. The occupation forces stationed at the top of the control tower opened fire with tear gas and stun grenades at him and the crowd.

He was hit at a distance of less than five meters, suffering serious injuries described as potentially critical, and taken to the hospital in Beit Jala, where it was discovered that he had skull fractures and bleedng in his brain. His release from the hospital was celerated with great joy. His friend Mohammed said that he “bore his will and conviction in the inevitable victory of Palestine and always does not hesitate to raise his voice against injustice and oppression, humiliation and occupation, represented by the US-made arms used against him.”