Draft:Afo Ibrahim Alshami

Afo Ibrahim Alshami "Abo Ahmed" was a part of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) who died in a car bomb when waiting to meet with Yasser Arafat, on 17th september 1981.

Early Life 

Abo ahmed was born in 1947, in Tulkarm, Palestine and grew up there. He was one of 12 children to his parents , he had 2 daughters and a son by the age of 34 when he died.

About him

He was a resistance fighter (militant) , targetting only troops, and he was working with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in 1964, originally aimed to establish Arab unity and statehood over the entire territory of former Mandatory Palestine, opposing the State of Israel. However, by 1993, alongside the Oslo I Accord, the PLO's focus had shifted to seeking Palestinian statehood specifically in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. This shift represented a significant change in approach, recognizing Israel's existence and engaging in negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Over the years, the PLO has played a central role in representing the Palestinian people on the international stage, though its influence and dynamics have evolved within the complex landscape of Palestinian politics.

Death

During July 1981, concurrent with Israeli aerial strikes on PLO facilities in Lebanon, a previously unknown group emerged, embarking on a series of car bombings that escalated notably in September. Their campaign unleashed a wave of destructive attacks in Muslim neighborhoods in cities such as Sidon, Tripoli, Chekka, and West Beirut, extending their reign of terror until February 1982. These bombings were augmented by the placement of a potent command-detonated explosive device in a crowded cinema, an event for which they claimed responsibility through a phone call to the French newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour on October 1, 1981.

He died in the 17th September 1981 Sidon attack which was an absolutely devastating act of terror that tore at the very fabric of peace and hope in Lebanon. At around 9 a.m. that day, a monstrous explosion shook Sidon as a booby-trapped car, carrying an unfathomable 300 kilograms of TNT, was ruthlessly detonated outside the Joint Forces operational headquarters. The sheer cruelty of this act is heightened by the fact that it occurred just 15 agonizing minutes before a scheduled meeting of Palestinian and Lebanese militants, a moment that could have brought about dialogue and reconciliation. Instead, the explosion claimed the lives of 21 to 23 individuals, many of them innocent civilians, and inflicted unbearable wounds on 96 others. Among the victims were four militants, their lives extinguished in this senseless tragedy. This horrific event serves as a harrowing reminder of the unforgiving violence and anguish that plagued Lebanon during that turbulent period, leaving scars that still haunt the collective memory.

Witness statement→ He was in the building that belonged to the organization(PLO) at around 9 am before a meeting with Yasser Arafat who was late to the meeting and while they were waiting a car filled with explosives nearby their building went off destroying the whole building and killing more than 20 people, many looked unrecognizable, but he looked fine with just blood coming out of his nose and ears. His friend and colleague , who was disabled, was going to get some breakfast for him and himself which saved him from the explosion, but he said that he had hoped Abo Ahmed went for breakfast instead of him, because hes disabled and Abo ahmed isnt, he was then taken to be burried in damascus in the martyr's graveyard in al yarmouk.