May 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

REMEMBERING A PALESTINIAN FIGHTER
Ali Kased, 1942-2005

New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine mourns the loss of Ali Kased, a lifelong fighter for the Palestinian cause and an inspiration to generations of activists that continue to follow in his path.

Ali Kased lived a life of clear and principled commitment to the Palestinian struggle for liberation and return, against any forces or so-called "peace processes" that would see that struggle defeated or compromised. He was a community leader and a beloved friend and mentor to many in the New Jersey and New York community and his work bridged generations and eras of struggle. We pledge to continue his work in this community, in his remarkable spirit of dedication, principle, action and internationalism and to view his life and work as an inspiration for our own. We extend our deepest condolences to all who were touched by Ali Kased's life, and especially to the entire Kased family. He will be greatly missed, and he will not be forgotten, but will live on, as he did in life, in the struggle.

Memories of Ali Kased

Yes, we die like True Fighters, Like Refugees! In honor of Fatmeh Kased...

It is almost impossible to write about comrade Ali Kased using the past tense. It seems that, simply, he is still living, and he never left us on April 3rd 2005, and he is still, despite everything, breathing, talking, and maybe shouting at somebody, somewhere, somehow, defending the dream of his life -- a land without war, Palestine without Zionism and without occupation -- a place to which he can return. He is still living, because Fatmeh, his beloved wife, still visits his grave and still asks us, "Do you want me to pass a message to him?"

The cold, naked truth is the exact opposite: we have lost a friend, a comrade, a father and a true storyteller.

What was natural and human for Ali Kased, and still is for all Palestinians, is the impossibility of our enemy -- Ali's right to return to Ein Yabroud, to his small and beautiful village near Ramallah, to die there, to die free, with dignity, and to die in peace with honor. But no, instead, he had to be buried in cold New Jersey, like a Palestinian Arab, like a stranger, like an oppressed immigrant.

He was a simple worker and a simple leader.

The state of "Israel" has managed, throughout its history, to live on a false illusion, a myth and a wish at the same time -- the concept that not allowing Palestinians to return to their homes will make refugees forget Palestine, or, best of all, disappear. That did not work with Ali Kased, who fought for Palestine until his last breath, nor will it ever manage to work for the six million Palestinian refugees, who still fight to this day, for that simple dream and for that national and human right.

In the early sixties, comrade Ali Kased left Palestine to study in Egypt. "I wanted to study anything that would feed me bread," he said.

Being a student at the American University of Cairo during the Nasser era, however, worked differently for our comrade. It opened another gate to the world for the young Palestinian, a gate to the Pan-Arab Movement, a movement that called for the unity of the Arabs and for socialism. This organization, founded by Dr. George Habash (Al-Hakeem), Dr. Hani el-Hindi, and Dr. Wadie Haddad later became the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

While in Egypt, Ali witnessed the defeat of 1967. "Israel" waged a war against the Arab countries and occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Sinai of Egypt. All of Palestine now came under military occupation. This historical event left a mark in Ali's life and heart, as it did to millions of Arabs and Palestinians. The issue of a Unified Arab homeland took one step back in his mind and the primary question for Palestinians became that of the liberation of Palestine.

"To do that, to liberate Palestine, we need a popular front, no? A front that can represent the working class of the Palestinian people and to defend the oppressed popular sectors. We looked to the students, the workers, teachers, youth, women…" he would say.

"A new and changed Ali I had left Egypt," he said. After five years of studying and organizing the student movement there, Ali left again with a dream, but this time, to the island of occupied Puerto Rico, where he studied for his master's degree in what he called "the science of political economy." It was there that he first learned deeply about the revolutionary left of Latin America and was introduced to the theories of Marx, Lenin, Mao and many others.

In 1969 Ali left the University of Porto Rico and decided to work and live in New Jersey and then New York City. "We wanted to build any support possible for our people, for the Palestinian revolution, and we found the answer in the working class of our community," he said. Organizing the Arab communities and mainly the Palestinians in the Diaspora was a challenging task.

"So what did you do when arrived to New York?" we asked him.

"First, we opened a coffee shop in Brooklyn, on Atlantic Avenue to be exact," he replied.

When we laughed, he screamed at us. "That was our first community centre, stupid!"

"Coffee shop?" We continued to laugh, and he continued to shout:

"You can laugh as you like, but you must know one thing, from that coffee shop you are mocking, we started our first step to three and a half decades in the struggle. We built more than twenty community centers, we built a student organization of more than a thousand members, a women's organization, a youth organization, and we also built a history. Never forget these, comrades, never!"

The Passing of a Son of Palestine

Ali Qased, long-time activist and organizer for Palestinian national rights, died in the early hours of Sunday, April 3rd, 2005, after spending nearly two weeks in a New Jersey hospital. He had been battling health problems for the last three years, and finally succumbed to complications from heart failure at St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. He was 62.

Qased was born in a village near Ramallah, Ein Yabrood, on May 27th, 1942, six years before Al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe, when over 750,000 Palestinians were driven off their land by European Jewish settler-colonialists and their British allies. That moment in the history of the Palestinian people stayed with Qased his whole life, and prompted him to dedicate his political work to fighting for the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

As a teenage activist, Qased was forced into exile to Egypt, where he studied and gained a degree in economics and political science from the American University of Cairo. Egypt was also the place where he became influenced by the ideas of Jamal Abdel-Nasser and ultimately joined the ideologically-similar Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM). After moving to Puerto Rico, he also gained a master's degree from the American University of Puerto Rico.

A leader in the Palestinian and Arab community of New York, Qased also organized Palestinians in Ohio, New Jersey, and Algeria, where he lived for eight years. But it is his work in the United States that will be missed the most. He influenced activists all across the country, and will always be remembered for his strong will, principled stances, and mentorship of two generations of Palestinian and Palestinian-American organizers and activists. Adherents of his ideas and views can be found in many cities in the U.S., from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Youngstown, Ohio, to Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, and New York.

His ideas were militant and revolutionary, but grounded in a brilliant understanding of community organizing- meeting people at all different political levels, and helping to move them forward to advanced views of the world. He obviously saw Israel and Zionism as the enemies of his people, but also recognized the roles that U.S. imperialism and Arab reactionary regimes play in the repression of Palestinian national rights. And, most importantly, he was an internationalist, supporting national liberation and workers' struggles all across the globe, including the U.S.

One of his proteges commented on an irony associated with his death: "Ali was a man who spent his whole life fighting for Palestinian national rights, especially the Right of Return. But he'll be buried in New Jersey, while American Jews from Brooklyn have the right to be buried in Jerusalem, the capital of his nation, Palestine. He lived and died in exile, barred by Israel from returning to Palestine, like most Palestinians, as a proud representative of the heroism and steadfastness of an entire people."

Qased is survived by his strong and loving wife of 29 years, Fatma; four daughters, Arwa, Khulood, Rama, and Reem; two sons, Jamil and Hakam; one granddaughter, Fatma; and three grandsons, Ali, Wajih, and Adam. He is loved by many throughout the world, and will be greatly missed.