Ashira Darwish, a Palestinian activist, journalist, and spiritual guide, recently shared her poignant experiences with Palestinian resistance fighters on the podcast “The Tea with Myriam François.” Her account offers a rare glimpse into the humanity and emotions of these fighters, often portrayed in a different light by the media.
Encounter with Resistance Fighters
Ashira Darwish recalls her initial fear when she met with the resistance fighters. “I never saw more love than I saw in these resistance fighters. And softness,” she says. Despite her initial fear, she was treated with utmost respect and care. “When I went to an interview, they put a bag on my head, and I was like, Ashira, you’re going to die,” she remembers. However, she quickly noticed the fighters’ respectful behavior, dispelling her fears. “They don’t come close to you, they don’t touch you, you’re a woman. So even when they had to move me around with the bag, they found a woman to come and grab me so they don’t touch me. And they sat very far away.
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Motivations and Dreams
As Ashira delved deeper into her conversation with the fighters, she uncovered their deep motivations and dreams. “When I started speaking to them about why, and like, you’re young, like you’re dead. I’m talking to a dead man. I know that you know that I know that you’re not going to make it,” she says. The fighters’ stories were full of love for their land, their families, and their community. “All of the stories that they come with is stories of love. Love to the land, love to their mother, love to their brother who died, to their uncle and cousin who got killed and assassinated.”
Consequently, the interview with Ashira Darwish sheds light on the human side of Palestinian resistance fighters. Their dreams are not of world domination but of simple, everyday desires: to marry, to have a house, to pray in the mosque, and to live in peace. “It’s not like they want to control the world, they just want to be able to live in peace in their village, in their refugee camp, without somebody coming and killing the people they love.”
