We Do Not Forget Akka
June 18, 2025
Ninety-five years ago, the British colonial state tried to crush the Palestinian revolt by hanging three young revolutionaries: Fouad Hijazi, Mohammad Jamjoum, and Ataa al-Zeer. But the gallows of Akka did not end the revolt—they sharpened it. Fouad Hijazi, Mohammad Jamjoum, and Ataa al-Zeer are not just martyrs of the past—they are living symbols of the path we walk today. They remind us that colonial violence is not new, and neither is our refusal to submit to it. As revolutionary youth, we see in them the clarity, courage, and commitment that continues to define our struggle. They stood against British imperialism and Zionist expansion when the price was death, and they paid it singing. Their legacy is not one of mourning, but of militancy. To remember them is to organize, to resist, and to sharpen our role in the unfinished war for liberation—from Akka to Gaza, from the river to the sea.
We, today, do not forget. Their execution was carried out by British imperialism, but the same hands of betrayal and repression remain—Zionist occupation, U.S. domination, and Arab regimes that collaborate with both. The struggle that took them is the same one we are still fighting.
Fouad, Jamjoum, and Ataa are not just names in our history—they are part of the revolutionary legacy which we have inherited. They remind us that liberation is not granted. It is seized. It is fought for. It is paid for with blood.
Fouad, Jamjoum, Ataa—your names are still on our walls, your defiance still in our lungs.
Glory to the martyrs. Freedom to the prisoners. Revolution until Victory.
The following is a famous Palestinian poem commemorating the 3 martyrs of the al-Burāq Revolution in 1929, translated into english.
من سجن عكا
From Akka Prison
كانوا ثلاثة رجال
They were three men,
جال يتسابقوا عالموت
Walking in a race toward death.
أقدامهم عليت فوق رقبة الجلاد
Their feet rose above the executioner’s neck,
وصاروا مثل يا خال طول وعرض البلاد…
And they became symbols, my dear, the length and breadth of the land
يا عين…
O eyes… [repeated refrain]
نهوى ظلام السجن يا أرض كرمالك
“We endure prison’s darkness, O land of generosity,
يا أرض يوم تندهي بتبين رجالك
O land—when you call, your true men emerge!
يوم الثلاثا وثلاث يا أرض ناطرينك
On Tuesday, three awaited you, O land:
مين اللي يسبق يقدم روحه من شأنك
Who’d be first to offer his soul for your sake?”
يا عين…
O eyes…
من سجن عكا طلعت جنازة
From Akka Prison emerged a funeral—
محمد جمجوم وفؤاد حجازي
Carrying Muhammad Jamjoum and Fuad Hijazi.
جازي عليهم يا شعبي جازي
“Repay them, my people, repay them!
المندوب السامي وربعو عموما
The High Commissioner and all his kin!”
محمد جمجوم ومع عطا الزير
Muhammad Jamjoum and Ata al-Zeer,
فؤاد الحجازي عز الذخيرة
Fuad Hijazi—pride of our arsenal.
أنظر المقدم والتقاديري
Behold fate and destiny:
بحكام الظالم تيعدمونا
“By tyrants’ verdicts, they execute us!”
ويقول محمد أنا أولكم
Muhammad said: “I’ll go first!*
خوفي يا عطا أشرب حسرتكم
Lest I drink the bitterness of watching you, Ata.
ويقول حجازي أنا أولكم
Hijazi said: “I’ll go first—
ما نهاب الردى ولا المنونا
We fear neither death nor the fates!”
أمي الحنونة بالصوت تنادي
“My tender mother cries aloud,
ضاقت عليها كل البلادي
All lands have narrowed around her.
نادوا فؤاد مهجة فؤادي
Call Fuad—my heart’s core—
قبل نتفرق تيودعونا
Before we part, let him bid us farewell!”
تنده ع عطا من ورا البابي
“Call for Ata behind the door:
أختو تستنظر منو الجوابي
His sister awaits an answer.
عطا يا عطا زين الشبابي
‘Ata, O Ata, finest of youth—
تهجم عالعسكر ولا يهابونَ
He charged the soldiers, unafraid!’
خيي يا يوسف وصاتك أمي
‘Brother Yusuf, our mother entrusted you:
أوعي يا أختي بعدي تنهمي
Sister, after I’m gone, do not collapse!
لأجل هالوطن ضحيت بدمي
For this homeland, I sacrificed my blood—
كُلو لعيونك يا فلسطينا
All for you, O Palestine!’”
ثلاثة ماتوا موت الأسودِ
Three died the death of lions;
جودي يا أمة بالعطا جودي
“O nation, be generous in giving!
علشان هالوطن بالروح نجودي
For this homeland, we lavish our souls.
كرمل حريتو يعلقونا
For its freedom [the enemy] will hang us”
نادى المنادي يا ناس إضرابِ
The herald called: “O people, strike!
يوم الثلاثة شنق الشبابِ
On the day three youths were hanged,
أهل الشجاعة عطا وفؤادِ
The brave—Ata and Fuad—
ما يهابوا الردى ولا المنونا
Feared neither death nor the fates!”