Word: shabab
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...heart of Nablus, the largest Arab city in the West Bank. After two years of revolt, the ancient and impoverished community has won distinction as the most dangerous turf in the occupied territories. The dense, mazelike architecture gives the Palestinians a home- court advantage, enabling the young shabab (activists) to vanish down secret passageways or disappear over rooftops. Nervous soldiers respond with trigger-happy brutality. The consequences: at least 23 residents have been killed by Israeli troops, and more than 1,000 wounded. Internecine bloodshed has claimed an additional 18 Arabs accused of collaborating with the Israelis. Israelis feel...
Despite the lopsided statistics, the shabab boast of their accomplishments. "We've finally made the Israelis afraid of us," says an activist named Jamal, 21. His boyish face bespeaks both pride and intense anxiety. "You only die once," he says with some relief. Only once, like his friend Nadir Tayseer Abu Yasin, 14, who was "martyred" two days earlier. Jamal pulls out a photo of the dead boy taken moments after the shooting. "This is our fate...
...packed vegetable market, hurried transactions are interrupted by rumors of arrests and raids. By 11 a.m., the shops are shuttered and the shabab take over, attacking and evading soldiers. Five toughs from a Palestinian gang called the Black Panthers swagger down the street only two blocks from an Israeli foot patrol. "We're running our own state here," says a young "enforcer" as he demands identification from strangers. Two days earlier, the Panthers dragged Naima Ja'ara, 35, from her house and shot her in the head for allegedly collaborating with the Israelis...
...shabab are back on the streets by 6 in the morning, reclaiming their territory and gathering information. The news leaves them visibly shaken: Israeli soldiers stormed Abdel Nasser's house at 1:30 a.m. and hauled him off for interrogation. Seventeen other Palestinians were also arrested. "There is no escape from this nightmare," says Jamal, recalling his own time behind bars. "One night I even dreamed the soldiers had come and taken me away to prison." He awoke to the sound of soldiers bursting through the door...
...Adel, 19, is a veteran of the streets. At 16 he joined the Shabiba, an illegal P.L.O.-affiliated youth group, and later he led a protest strike and was jailed twice. When the intifadeh caught fire, he moved to the front line of the shabab, the young militants who keep the rebellion alight. Last winter the Israeli authorities threatened to demolish his family's home if he did not turn himself in. He complied and spent 8 1/2 months under administrative detention. At one point, he and two of his brothers shared a tent in the harsh desert camp...