The West Bank’s Tulkarm City still holds in mind, alongside Arabs and other Palestinians, the valiant story of warrior Fahed Al Marrek who led the Saudi regiment sent by King Abdulaziz to defend Jerusalem in 1948.
Palestine has long been a priority for Saudis-- an Arab cause surviving the stretch of decades.
Saudi, Arab and Islamic world support has shined as bright and as steady as the sun.
Saudi support throughout history was present militarily, politically, financially, formally and popularly. It never wavered a day from the reign of King Abdulaziz until today’s monarch, King Salman.
After the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution in 1948, King Abdulaziz issued an order to send a group of soldiers to fight for Palestine alongside Arab armies.
The war was to defend the Arab origins of the occupied land. Marrek was one of the many volunteers who heeded the call to participate in protecting Islamic and Arab holy sites found in Palestine.
He led the Saudi regiment within the Arab Salvation Army--also called the Arab Liberation Army, it was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force.
Marrek participated actively in the battles in northern Palestine and went down as a martyr in history books keeping record of those who braved all challenges to partake in battles supporting the Palestine cause.
Other than being a fighter for liberation, Marrek was a writer and historian.
Born in 1910 in Hail, Saudi Arabia, Marrek left behind valuable literature dedicated to the Palestinian cause in general and the plight of the people of Palestine in particular.
Over ten of his works cite him experiencing significant political events affecting both the history of Saudi Arabia and the Arab nation as whole.
He also wrote books on ways to defeat Israel, and on lurking truths about Zionists and Arabs.
Marrek authored a compilation of Arab stories on loyalty, honesty, mercy, the strength to protect neighbors, honor and courage.
His words evoke both an intellectual and moral justification to the war and its objectives, expressing how deeply every Arab appreciates the notion of sacrifice in an effort to unite against oppression.
It is noteworthy that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named a street after Marrek found at the southern entrance of the West Bank city of Tulkarm in 2012.
What is more is that Abbas vowed to move the street inside Jerusalem after it is successfully liberated.
