Abu El Sa3eed

One of my great uncles (my dad's uncle) and the man who thought me a lot about people and Palestine has just passed away. He was 78 years old! Yousef Almadhoun "Abu El Saeed” he loved two things Arabic tobacco and tea, and nothing ever stopped him from his smoke. When I was growing up in Gaza in the 90s, he would come and hang out at our store to chill and have tea there. We used to play lots of pranks on him and joke with him. He had a great sense of humor and I remember talking to him more than a month ago when I called my sister (Some of my sisters are married to some of his sons) I sang one of his favorite songs. The song goes like this in Arabic "Rice and Yogurt do the body good, and if you do not believe me, then cook it up and give me a taste".

There are so many stories about Abu El Saeed that I cannot remember, but one thing I can remember that he was a big role in shaping my thinking about realism, and doing all that we can do, not all that we want to do.

The story goes that he got sick and he was in the intensive care unite in the local hospital for a week, and then the doctors needed to use the room for another patient so they sent him downstairs where he passed away two days later. One of his sons lost his cool and got a nervous breakdown; he wanted to do the doctor harm. Who’s to blame on worsening medical conditions in besieged Gaza? My dad says, it's his time.

His death is a tragedy to my family and to many folks in the area because he used to be a social icon. However, his live was full of adventures and stories.

May he rest in peace...


Here is an article with him was done more than a year ago, you can see his picture in there.



http://www.imemc.org/article/48394