Mohammad Khaleel Jamjoum

Mohammad Khalil Jamjoum (1902 - 17 June محمّد خليل جمجوم) 1930) was a Palestinian activist involved in the 1929 Palestine riots, who took part in the Hebron massacre. He was hanged by the British Mandatory government of Palestine in 1930.

Early life

Mohammad Khalil Jamjoum was born in Hebron in 1902.^[1] After leaving school, he left to study at the American University of Beirut.^[2]

Riots, arrest and execution

Jamjoum was involved in the 1929 Palestine riots. As an opponent of Zionism and the British Mandate for Palestine, Jamjoum joined in protests around the city of Hebron, which led to the massacre of 67 Jews in the Hebron massacre.^[2] He was arrested, and convicted of murder along with 25 other Palestinian Arabs.^[3]

Execution

When given the news of their death sentence, Jamjoum and the other accused started singing: "We thank Allah, that we who are of no importance will be our homeland's sacrifice,and not those men that benefit our homeland, Palestine, with their services and hardwork," and asked the executioner to tie their hands together, following a custom often done by the citizens of Hebron at wedding ceremonies. 23 of the death sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.^[1] Jamjoum was hanged in Acre Prison at 09:00^[2] on 17 June 1930 along with Atta Ahmed el Zeer and Fuad Hassab el Hejazi.^[4]

Letter

Mohammad Jamjoum and the other two men to be executed were allowed to write a letter the day before their execution, which read:

Now and that we are on the door of death,sacrificing our souls for our beautiful homeland,dear Palestine,we implore all the Palestinians not to forget our souls that will fly in the sky of this loved land,and to remember that we sacrificed our souls and skulls for them to be building units for the independence and freedom of this country.I ask of you to fight and work hard to get rid of our foreign enemies,and not to sell even one span of our land to the Jews. I also ask of the Arab kings and princes and all the Muslims to save Palestine from the state of pain it is in right now .We express our deep gratitude for our men who are fighting and ask of them to continue that way till we reach victory.And now that we have witnessed from our people such patriotism,we gladly accept death,putting the ropes of the swing in our necks for you free Palestine.As an end,we ask of you to inscribe those words on our grave:For the Arab Nation is the complete independence or the early death,and by the name of the Arabs we live and by the name of the Arabs we die^[2][3]

References