Sheikh Hamed Al-Beitawi | West Bank Hamas

Sheikh Hamed al-Beitawi was a leading Islamic scholar and member of Hamas from Nablus. He was a founder of the Islamic Brotherhood in the West Bank and preached at Al Aqsa in Jerusalem. He spent many years in Israeli jails and was exiled to no-man’s land in Lebanon, and also faced strictures and imprisonment by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. Beitawi was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council from Nablus in 2006 on the Hamas ticket. We first filmed Beitawi at his home in Nablus. Beitawi was hospitalized for heart surgery in March, 2012, and we did our second interview with him in the hospital. He died several days later, and his funeral was held in the Al Aqsa mosque.

TRANSCRIPT

The Tatars of today
Behave yourself. This is Omar, he is in kindergarten. And he’s good, my grandson.

[Now overlooking Nablus] We’re on the eastern side of Nablus, the Foqara neighborhood. At the gates of the city of Nablus, the crusaders were defeated in the battle of Hattin. Also, the Tatar and Mongol were defeated at Ain Jalut, also in the area of Nablus. The Israelis are the crusaders and Tatars of today and will be defeated in Palestine, in God’s will. [As he exits] We are in a high mountain area and the poet says: “Who doesn’t like climbing mountains, lives forever between holes.”

download transcript pdf