[Farouk Abdel-Muhti is a New York-area Palestinian activist imprisoned by the US immigration service since April 2002. He is currently being held in solitary in York County Prison in Pennsylvania.] 

     I write with deep sorrow for the death of our professor, brother and compatriot Edward Said.

     I want my condolences and deeply felt sympathy to go to his beloved family, his friends, to the whole Palestinian people and to all people who value the steadfast and revolutionary role that was expressed in his intellect and was written with his hands throughout his intellectual and revolutionary life.

     His rifle was the pen, and his wisdom was his instruction manual. His thought remained steadfast, an inheritance for the whole Palestinian people, and his steadfastness remained like a tree on  the Mountains of Olives with its roots firmly planted in this planet, not only in Palestine, in the Arab countries or in the United States, but in the whole world.

     His writings are a treasure for everyone who believes in justice and human rights.

     His position in the West was always as a compass and a detector of the tricks fabricated by the colonialist mentality. He identified with all the peoples, but his heart always remained in the East, in "the Holy Land."

     His place was always in the Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps. When southern Lebanon was liberated from the Israeli military occupation forces, his place was there, and the same hands that he used for his pen he also used to throw rocks at the invaders, reminding us of his great friend and brother from the 1970s, the martyr Hana Mikhael, who left Harvard University to join his people's resistance which demanded justice and rights, while also being in the same trench as the Lebanese democratic popular forces, to which he gave his blood with the AK-47 on his shoulder, and as the great teacher Jose Marti said: "With the poor of the earth I wish to cast my lot."

     I remember the last time I spoke with Professor Edward Said personally, at the beginning of 2000, when I went to his office at Columbia University in New York to give him the signatures on a petition in support of his Palestinian identity and rights, signatures of Palestinian intellectuals and professionals in Syria, Iraq and also Jordan, which the Palestinian Cultural Centro carried out; the people who did this campaign were democratic Palestinian intellectuals and activists in exile.

     He has not died, because his thoughts has been resurrected and his works remain an inheritance for the entire Palestinian and for all the peoples that love justice and peace, including the American people.

     We will continue this just struggle with your presence, professor! With a democratic definition and an aspiration to go on defending our rights that can bring a real peace with justice.   With all my respect, Farouk Abdel-Muhti September 25, 2003

     [Farouk Abdel-Muhti es un activista palestino de area de Nueva York, encarcelado por el servicio de inmigracion de EEUU desde abril del 2002. Se encuentra actualmente en solitario en la Carcel del Condado de York en Pensilvania.] 

     Me expreso con un profundo dolor por la muerte de nuestro profesor, hermano y paisano Edward Said.

     Deseo que mi condolencia y sentido pesame sea llegada a su querida familia, amistades, a todo el pueblo palestino y a todos los pueblos que valorizan el papel firme y revolucionario que se expreso en su intelecto y se escribio con sus manos a traves de su vida intelectual y revolucionaria.

     Su fusil fue la pluma, y su sabiduria era su manual. Su pensamiento quedo firme como una herencia para todo el pueblo palestino, y su firmeza quedo como un arbol en los Montes de los Olivos con sus raices bien firmes en este planeta, no solo en Palestina, en los paises arabes o en Estados Unidos, pero si en todo el mundo.

     Sus escrituras es una joya para todo aquel que cree en justicia y derechos humanos.

     Su estadia en el Occidente siempre fue un compas y detector de lo paquetes fabricados por esta mentalidad colonialista. Se identifico con todos los pueblos, pero su corazon siempre quedo en el Oriente en "la Tierra Santa."

     Su presencia siempre estuvo en las ciudades, aldeas y campos de refugio palestinos. Cuando el sur de Libano se libero de las fuerzas militares de ocupacion israeli, su presencia estuvo alli, y esas mismas manos que uso la pluma, tambien las uso para tirar piedras a los invasores, recordando a su gran amigo y hermano de los 70s del siglo XX, al martir Hana Mikhael, que dejo Harvard University para unirse a la resistencia de su pueblo que pide justicia y derechos, como tambien estar presente en la misma trinchera de las fuerzas populares democraticas libaneses, al cual ofrendo su sangre con el AK-47 en su hombro, y como dijo este gran maestro Jose Marti: "Con los pobres de la tierra, quiero yo mi suerte echar."

     Recuerdo la ultima vez que hable con el profesor Edward Said personalmente, a principios del an~o 2000, cuando fui a su oficina en Columbia University en Nueva York a entregarle las firmas de peticion en apoyo a su identidad palestina y su derechos, firmas de intelectuales y profesionales palestinos en Siria, Irak e inclusive Jordania, que llevo a cabo el Centro Cultural Palestino; los que llevaron esta campana fueron intelectuales y activistas democraticos palestinos en el refugio.

     El no ha muerto, porque su pensamiento resucito y sus obras quedan como una herencia para todo el pueblo palestino y a todos los pueblos que aman la justicia y la paz, inclusive al pueblo americano.

     Seguiremos esta justa lucha con tu presencia, profesor! Con una definicion democratica y una aspiracion de seguir defendiendo nuestros derechos que nos lleve con justicia a una paz concreta.   Me excuso con todo mi respeto, Farouk Abdel-Muhti 25 de septiembre de 2003