By: Saher Ghazawi
The issue of the Qassam Cemetery endowment, located in the Palestinian village of Balad al-Sheikh in the Haifa district, which holds the graves of many martyrs, most notably the grave of the martyr and fighter Izz al-Din al-Qassam, represents a model that reflects Israeli policies and plans since the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. These policies have been aimed at seizing Islamic and Christian endowment lands in historic Palestine.
This issue is not far from me as the author of the book The Qassam Cemetery – The Usurped Endowment: Unveiling the Process of Seizing the Endowment Through Legal Deception and Biased Judiciary, which has recently been published by the Mizan Human Rights Center in Nazareth. I have lived through a brief but significant period of this case and its details—although my engagement was relatively short compared to the long history of this issue. I followed the case through journalistic work and media coverage, attended sessions held in Israeli courts to discuss this matter, participated in field activities organized at the Qassam Cemetery, and tried as much as possible to read articles, reports, and watch videos that support and advocate for the Qassam Cemetery cause in various ways.
When Mizan Human Rights Center entrusted me with the task of preparing and writing a book that sheds light on the case of the Qassam Cemetery endowment, aiming to reveal the Israeli plans and judicial manipulation used to seize the Islamic endowment over many years, I approached the task with a deep sense of duty and responsibility—both individually and collectively—toward this just and significant cause in the history of our Palestinian people. It is a just cause for a people struggling to reclaim their stolen rights and holy sites.
In my opinion, Mizan was successful in selecting this important title The Qassam Cemetery – The Usurped Endowment: Unveiling the Process of Seizing the Endowment Through Legal Deception and Biased Judiciary, because it encapsulates the core of this very important book. This is not an exaggeration. This book documents and preserves the past, present, and future of this just cause in memory, as part of the history of our community within Israel and the broader history of our Palestinian people for future generations. This book is also an essential reference and historical document for study and research, offering legal, human rights, historical, and political perspectives on the issue of the Qassam Cemetery endowment, which represents a case for the wider issue of usurped Islamic and Christian endowments in our current reality.
Although I lived through a period of this case, as mentioned earlier, I was astonished when I received the files related to the Qassam Cemetery endowment case to review and read before beginning the writing process. I was shocked by the large volume of files containing court session protocols, appeals, and legal documents—especially from the period when Mizan became involved in following up on the case. I was even more stunned when I came across historical documents, some of which are published for the first time in the book, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. These documents reveal what is referred to as the “exchange deal” between the endowment trustee at the time, Suheil Shukri, and the Israeli authorities. This proved to me, more than anyone else, that what we thought we knew—or assumed we knew—about the Qassam Cemetery case was merely a small part of the story. Many crucial details have been hidden from public view, and this book plays a crucial role in revealing the judicial manipulation employed by Israeli authorities through laws imposed on Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948, as well as through covert deals that claimed to have been signed (under secrecy) many years ago.
The book also uncovers the deceptive tactics used by Israeli authorities, who hired and appointed individuals to negotiate these dubious deals in exchange for monetary compensation.
In conclusion, it is with great pleasure and honor that Mizan Human Rights Center entrusted me with the responsibility of preparing and authoring The Qassam Cemetery – The Usurped Endowment: Unveiling the Process of Seizing the Endowment Through Legal Deception and Biased Judiciary. I am grateful to Mizan and its director, lawyer Omar Khmaisi, who accompanied me throughout the entire process—from start to finish—and supervised the preparation and writing of this book. He was instrumental in assisting me with the translation from Hebrew to Arabic, and in formulating many of the sentences, words, and terms used in the book. My sincere thanks also go to lawyer Mustafa Suhail Mahamid, who took on the task of reviewing and editing the book. He helped distill the essential points, eliminating unnecessary content, and worked to refine and verify the information in a manner that was objective and appropriate for the book’s context. I would also like to thank lawyer Firas Dallasha, President of Mizan, who contributed to the editing and preparation, offering valuable feedback and notes on several sections of the book. Finally, my thanks go to lawyer Hassan Tabaja, who also provided us with crucial files containing valuable information, especially since he represents the Committee of Families Defending the Qassam Cemetery Endowment.
