عامر أبو سرحان الذي عنه كتبت اليوم أقابل

قبل قليل في غزة قابلت شخصاً ذكرته في كتابي عن حركة حماس لم يكن يخطر ببالي يوماً أن أقابله، فما كان يظن كثير من الناس إمكانية خروجه من المعتقل الإسرائيلي بعد أن تلقى من الأحكام ما تنوء بحمله أمة بأسرها. إنه عامر أبو سرحان مفجر حرب السكاكين في الانتفاضة الفلسطينية الأولى. وهذا ما كتبته عنه في كتابي "حماس فصول لم تكتب":

It took more than just a restructuring effort to revive Hamas' military effort. The Israelis, of course unwittingly, contributed a big share to the effort. While conditions for the Palestinians were getting worse every day, on 8 October 1990 twenty two Palestinians were killed and more than two hundred were wounded when Israeli troops stormed into the Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Al-Aqsa Mosque compound) in Jerusalem and opened fire on Muslim worshippers who gathered inside the Al-Haram to foil a plot by a group of Jewish extremists known as “Temple Mount Faithful,”[1] to lay a cornerstone of the Third Temple. Infuriated by the news of the massacre Amir Sa’ud Abu Sarhan, who was said to be close to Hamas, stabbed several Israelis in Jerusalem killing three and wounding a fourth; he launched what had become known as the ‘war of the knives’. What broke the camel’s back for the Israelis was a subsequent knife attack on Israelis working in an aluminum factory in Jaffa on 14 December 1990 by two Arabs from Gaza who had crossed the Green Line earlier on the day. The attackers, Marwan Al-Zayigh and Ashraf Al-Ba’luji, left on the wall of the factory a declaration of responsibility in the name of Hamas stating that it was meant to commemorate the second anniversary of the birth of the movement. They managed to escape and went hiding; they became the first to establish the phenomenon of al-mutaradun (those under pursuit). They were soon to be joined by hundreds of Palestinian young men wanted by the Israelis for a variety of terrorism charges ranging from stone throwing to murder.

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[1] Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement was established in 1967. It was founded and is led by Gershon Salomon, a former officer of the Israel Defense Force, who claims that he heard the voice of God speaking to him and calling him to continue the work for the redemption of the people of Israel. This, he believes, was a divine call to consecrate himself to the work of the Temple Mount.