Awad, Palestin's freedom fighter

Awad, Palestin's freedom fighter

Grace Emilia, Contributor, Jakarta

In the last three years, almost every foreign diplomat who has
arrived in or left Indonesia has been greeted or bid farewell by
Ribhi Y. Awad, the dean of the diplomatic corps here and also the
chairman of the Arab Ambassadorial Council in Jakarta.

Having spent 10 years as the Palestinian Ambassador to
Indonesia, Awad is not just a senior diplomat, but also a life-
long freedom fighter. War and conflict have been his fate since
he was born in Jerusalem in 1940, the fourth of nine children.

When he was six he was collecting spent bullet cartridges used
by his father and uncles.

His mother, he added, is also a great leader. When the family
fled to Bethlehem after Jerusalem was bombarded by the Israeli
army, she led her children out of Jerusalem because her husband
was in the mountains with other fighters.

"It was winter and it was windy and rainy. We traveled in
darkness from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. We only had two or three
pairs of trousers so we wore all our clothes, and we brought some
bread and olive oil to survive."

When the United Nations tried to alleviate the suffering of
the Palestinians in 1949 by distributing powdered milk and sugar,
they were already on the edge of famine.

"So my mother had an idea and asked my eldest brother to mix
some lemons with sugar and water and sell it, as a source of
livelihood. And I was asked to carry people's baskets from the
market to their homes to make a little money," says Awad, who
believes that almost every Palestinian who has money today will
use most of it for food because of these memories of starvation.

"We just try to compensate. That's why I love cooking and
often cook for myself."

After graduating from the School of Economics and Political
Science at Cairo University, the young Awad began his career in
the media when he joined the Fatah group, which became the
backbone of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) before
Arafat took over the PLO in 1969.

Awad was an editor for Fatah's newspaper and radio station,
and was responsible for coordinating with the international
press.

"My job was to guide foreign journalists who wanted to meet
with Arafat, which I had to do in total secrecy because I didn't
want to give away the location where Arafat was in hiding. So I
usually took them at midnight on a very secret trip, so they
could speak with Arafat about our aims and our movement," says
Awad, who says he survived two assassination attempts when he was
in Jordan in the 1970s.

Awad served as the Palestinian press envoy in Beirut, Damascus
and Jordan, before serving as ambassador to Egypt, Kenya,
Aljazair, Finland, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

During his term in the Emirates, Arafat gave Awad the name
"Bulldozer", which he is very proud of.

"I got this title because of my energetic and dynamic work in
mobilizing support for the PLO, especially during my five years
in the Emirates. Unfortunately, Ariel Sharon also has this
title," says Awad.

Loyal as he is, Awad said he has not always seen eye to eye
with Arafat. He cites the Oslo accords in 1993 as an example. At
that time, The Jakarta Post ran a headline saying he was
skeptical of the Oslo accords.

"I was critical of the Oslo Accords in 1993. At that time I
was in Indonesia, and The Jakarta Post put it in a headline that
the Palestinian envoy was skeptical of these accords.

"So I was expecting Arafat to relieve me of my duties when he
came to Jakarta after visiting Beijing from Oslo, and I told
Arafat of my reasons for being skeptical. Luckily he didn't make
it an issue," remembers Awad.

Such vocalness put him on the bad side of then president Anwar
Sadat of Egypt, after he arranged demonstrations of Palestinian
students against Sadat in Cairo.

"I also campaigned on the radio and held press conferences
denouncing him after he struck a practical solution with Israel,
thus leaving his war partners Syria and PLO behind," says Awad.

Although a warrior, Awad is ready to befriend anybody,
especially those who sympathize with the Palestinian struggle. He
was recently invited by the Indonesian Christian Church Regional
Synod of West Java to speak about the humanitarian and national
aspects of the struggle in Palestine, and also to clarify the
perception that exists among many Indonesians that the struggle
in Palestine is a religious one.

Awad explained the Palestinian struggle was not a religious
one, but a national liberation movement.

"The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are Muslim, while
there is a Christian minority. Together we fight for our dignity
against Israel. We have martyrs from both the Muslim and
Christian sides. One of our well-known martyrs is Kamal Nasser,
an executive member and spokesperson of the PLO, but also a poet
and a Christian. He was assassinated by Mossad in April 1973,
together with his good friend Abu Yusuf An Najjar and wife, Kamal
Udwan. All were members of the PLO central committee," says Awad.

Currently, Awad is writing several books about Palestine to be
published in Bahasa Indonesia.

"I hope I do not die before the publication of these books.
But my ultimate personal ambition is to see and live for at least
one year with my 105-year-old mother in Jerusalem and visit my
father's grave."

"I also long to smell the fragrance of Jerusalem. When I left
Jerusalem, I felt like I was losing something very important in
my psyche. I often see my mother in my dreams. The last time I
met her was only for one night, three years ago when I had to
arrange a meeting between (the then) president Abdurrahman Wahid
and President Arafat in Jordan in 2000. It is difficult for me to
see her. I'm a member of the Palestine National Council. But in
my own land, I have to smuggle myself into Jerusalem in order to
see my mother."