The Collaborator's daughter

I just read that Hamas was established in 1987. How could that be? I was a kid when I first heard of Hamas in the West Bank. I was 12 or 13 years old. It was in the mid- late seventies not in the eighties. People in my parents' social circle were talking about 2 new fishy movements: Hamas & Hamam! Hamas: حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Islamic Resistance Movement and Hamam, the Christian Resistance Movement. حركة المقاومة المسيحية.
In Arabic Hamas means: enthusiasm. Hamam means: pigeons! Hamam didn't stay on for long. It disappeared in a few months magically just like it had appeared 'magically'.
To all people that I knew & respected it was clear that Israel was behind both movements. The designer was too obvious, The proof was that representatives of these movements were known collaborators & corrupt individuals. In a small city people know each other & know everyone's history.
One of the first to be known from Hamas was my friend's father. He was known as a collaborator. He walked around with a gun on his side. I didn't see the gun, only heard about it. He boasted about his powerful relationships with the military ruler & Israel's occupation Administrators
His name was Moussa. He wore dark glasses. He felt distant & aloof. His family and my family were good friends before he went in his shameful direction. They lived right next door in the same duplex. They both rented. His wife was a good woman, friendly, warm, nice. My mother liked her & befriended her. The 2 families had kids around the same age so we played together and became friends. Their eldest daughter, Tamara, was around my age in my school & in the same grade, we sometimes studied together. we were close friends. She was an excellent student.
When her father started having money. He built them a house in the lower side of our neighborhood. They moved to their new house that had also a nice big garden full of big trees.
After the move he became more bold about his Israel connections. He had his own home and was inviting more fishy people and having fishy meetings... My dad cut his ties with him. My mom stayed friends with his wife but was visiting her much less.
I remember visiting Tamara. I tried to avoid going into her house. We spent most of the time in her family's garden. It had all kinds of trees. I remember how me, Tamara , and some other kids used to climb those trees. We played on the trees. We spent long blissful hours on tree branches, Playing, climbing, swinging... picking & eating fruits.. dreaming, pretending, Joking, laughing, imagining...
Tamara had long blond hair. She was petite, calm, polite, nice, she didn't gossip. I stayed friends with her even after it became known to the world officially that her father was a collaborator with Israel. I thought it isn't fair to condemn someone because their father is a bad person. I know Tamara. I know she has innocence and a kind heart and wouldn't do what her father did. all Moussa's kids were like Tamara. Polite, nice, had good manners and people liked them. They were like their mother not like their father. Maybe he wasn't around long enough to influence them negatively. I think they were more influenced by their mom, their schools, the neighborhood ..
In Moussa's funeral only very few people attended, close family barely attended... He was killed in the middle of the day right in front of everybody. He was 'executed' by masked people who Everyone was saying belonged to the 'National movement' الحركة الوطنية. They were said to be the youth who lead the first intifada. it was around the time of the first intifada. They say his blood trickled down the manger street hill and filled the street with red. He was 'executed' right in front of his office in downtown in front of his sons who worked with him in his travel agency/ cab business.
The image is still in my head even though I didn't see it. People described it over & over & over! The killing, the funeral.. The LESSON!!

People in my circle didn't exactly cheer but they recognized that's the way it goes. You sell your people. You pay the price. Some where relieved that he was 'neutralized' because all the hurt he was causing would stop. And because he hurt Palestinians & the Palestinian cause a lot in the past by collaborating with the occupying army & their representatives & providing them with all kinds of info that Israel uses to further hurt & try to strangle the Palestinian resistance. I thought it was brutal the way he was killed.
My parents were sad for his wife & kids. I was very sad for them too, especially for my friend Tamara. Why did these kids have to pay such a high prices for crimes they didn't commit. I can only imagine the pain of their social shame.. The trauma!!
Tamara was good looking & well mannered so she got married off early & ended up in leaving the West Bank with her new husband to some oil Arab country. I was happy for her. I hoped it will be good for her to move away from all her shameful family history and start a new life where she will not be carrying the heavy load of stigma & hopefully have a chance heal from the trauma of her painful past.