Ashraf Marwan... The Man of a Single Story

Ashraf Marwan... The Man of a Single Story
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Ashraf Marwan... The Man of a Single Story

Ashraf Marwan... The Man of a Single Story

When the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) published last month, a book that partly deals with the October 1973 War, it included two documents related to the meeting of Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of the late Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the information secretary of his predecessor, President Anwar Sadat, with the head of the Mossad.

“The Angel,” “Babylon” and most frequently “the In-Law,” are code names that were given for “the spy”, who leaked to the Israelis the date of the Egyptian attack.

Marwan’s name gradually emerged over the years through memoirs by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974), Chief of Military Intelligence Eli Zaira (1972-1974), and Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan (1967- 1974).

However, the Mossad book presented for the first time a document that states that the Israeli intelligence body refuses to consider Marwan a “double agent,” and rejects Egypt’s description of him as a “national hero, who succeeded in conveying the most important information about the Israeli enemy.”

For the Mossad, Marwan was loyal to Israel.

In the face of the Israeli narratives, Egypt maintained an official silence. However, a well-informed Egyptian source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that ongoing Israeli discussions about the spy “reflect competition between the security services in Israel,” stressing that everyone in Tel Avivi is “trying to justify themselves by attempting to appear as heroes.”

Dr. Tariq Fahmy, professor of political science and specialist in Israeli affairs, said that the “recycling of the Israeli narrative,” whether regarding the October War or Marwan, represents “an embodiment of the military and intelligence failure in Israel.”

Major General Nasr Salem, former head of the Egyptian Army’s reconnaissance service and professor of strategic sciences at the Military Academy for Postgraduate Studies, said that Marwan is “an Egyptian hero who participated in implementing the strategic deception plan through which Egypt preempted the war.”

He also considered that he “participated in removing the head of the Israeli Mossad from the operations management team in Tel Aviv, hours before the outbreak of the war.”

The British Court of Public Inquiry ruled in July 2010 that Marwan died of an “unknown cause,” and that evidence provided by the police and witness testimonies “do not support any hypothesis regarding his death.”

The investigations did not accuse any party of being behind Marwan’s death on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, when he fell to his death from the balcony of his house in an upscale neighborhood in London, at the age of 63.

His wife, Mona Gamal Abdel Nasser, accused the Israeli Mossad of assassinating him.

The scene of Marwan’s funeral increased the mystery surrounding him, as it was arranged by official agencies, in the presence of senior statesmen, led by Gamal Mubarak, the son of the Egyptian president at the time.



Israeli Raids Displaced Tens of Thousands in the West Bank. Now Few Places to Shelter Remain 

Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
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Israeli Raids Displaced Tens of Thousands in the West Bank. Now Few Places to Shelter Remain 

Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 

For weeks, the family had been on the move. Israeli troops had forced them from home during a military operation that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. After finding shelter in a wedding hall, they were told to leave again.

"We don’t know where we’ll go," said the family's 52-year-old matriarch, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. She buried her face in her hands.

The grandmother is one of more than 1,500 displaced people in and around the northern city of Tulkarem who are being pushed from schools, youth centers and other venues because the people who run them need them back. It was not clear how many displaced in other areas like Jenin face the same pressure.

Many say they have nowhere else to go. Israeli forces destroyed some homes.

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has little to offer. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest aid provider in the occupied territories, struggles to meet greater needs in the Gaza Strip while facing Israeli restrictions on its operations.

Approximately 40,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in January and February in the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel says the operations are needed to stamp out militancy as violence by all sides has surged since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza.

Fears of long-term displacement Israel's raids have emptied out and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and nearby Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars.

Israel says troops will stay in some camps for a year.

People with means are living with relatives or renting apartments, while the impoverished have sought refuge in public buildings. Now that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has ended, many are being told to leave.

"This is a big problem for us, as the schools cannot be used for the displaced because there are students in them, and at the same time, we have a shortage of financial resources," said Abdallah Kmeil, the governor of Tulkarem.

He said the Palestinian Authority is looking for empty homes to rent to families and plans to bring prefabricated containers for some 20,000 displaced. But it’s unclear when they will arrive.

Seven minutes to pack

The matriarch said Israeli troops gave the family seven minutes to pack when they evicted them from the Nur Shams camp in early February. They left with backpacks and a white flag to signal they weren't a threat.

Shelters were overcrowded. People slept on floor mats with little privacy, and dozens at times shared a few toilets and a shower.

The family tried to return home when soldiers allowed people to go back and get their belongings. Days later, they were forced to leave again, and soldiers warned that their house would be burned if they didn’t, the woman said.

The family found a charity center that doubles as a wedding hall in a nearby town. Now, with the onset of wedding season, they have had to leave.

When the family feels homesick, they walk to a hilltop overlooking Nur Shams.

Palestinians sheltering in and around Tulkarem say they feel abandoned. Much of the aid they were receiving, such as food and clothes, came from the community during Ramadan, a time of increased charity. Now that has dried up.

Israel's crackdown in the West Bank has also left tens of thousands unemployed. They can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages, making it harder to rent scarce places to stay.

Iman Basher used to work on a Palestinian farm near her house in Nur Shams. Since fleeing, the day's walk there is too far to travel, she said. The 64-year-old was among dozens of people recently forced from another wedding hall. She now sleeps on a mat in another packed building.

Basher said soldiers raiding her house stole about $2,000, money she had been saving for more than a decade for her children’s education.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the army prohibits the theft or wanton destruction of civilian property and holds soldiers accountable for what it called "exceptional" violations. The army said gunmen fight and plant explosives in residential areas, and soldiers sometimes occupy homes to combat them.

‘The scale of the displacement is beyond us’

Aid groups said some displaced people are living in unfinished buildings, without proper clothes, hygiene, bedding or access to healthcare.

"It’s hard to find where the need is ... The scale of the displacement is beyond us," said Nicholas Papachrysostomou, emergency coordinator in the northern West Bank for Doctors Without Borders.

The charity's mobile clinics provide primary healthcare, but there’s a shortage of medicine and it’s hard to get supplies because of Israeli restrictions and financial constraints by the West Bank's health ministry, he said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, plans to disburse $265 a month to about 30,000 of the most vulnerable displaced people, but there is enough money for only three months, said Hanadi Jaber Abu Taqa, head of UNRWA in the northern West Bank.

The agency's money mostly goes to Gaza. Just over 12% of the funds it seeks from donors for this year will be allocated to the West Bank.

Portable housing for the many displaced would only be a temporary fix. Some Palestinians said they wouldn't accept it, worrying it would feel like giving up their right to return home.

Isam Sadooq had been helping 60 displaced people staying at a youth center in Tulkarem. Last month, he was told, by the people who run the center, that they should consider evacuating so children can resume sports.

"If we cannot find them another place to live, what will be their fate?" he said. "They will find themselves in the street, and this is something we do not accept."