When I heard the noise I jumped and opened my door only to see that a pistol was directed at my head. I recognized that it was officer Jawad. I told him what he wanted and he replied that he wants to search the house again. I yelled that the kids were sleep and they had done the searching a zillion times. This was the last time I saw officer Jawad.
Frankly, I was happy that they were coming to search. I was sure that as long as they were searching, the leader was alive and well. I wished that he would leave the country to a far away and unknown place…
Riad al Sulh wanted to find the leader. He had many people work on this project. We had a mole. She was named Edil Sariy al Din and was a new SSNP recruit. She was tasked by al Sulh for finding the leader. She tried to wow Fayiza Antiba and told her that that Majid Arslan had contacted her and told her that he was trying to lift the arrest warrant for Saadeh and that he needed to know where he was. After inquiring from her on why she is doing this she told me about Edil and her plan. I told her that I have to ask people to know about Saadeh's whereabouts since I don't know at the moment where he is. She went to her home where Edil was apparently waiting for her. When Edil came out from Fayiza's house empty handed Security forces went in and arrested her [Fayiza] and took her to prison. She remained there for about three months. Her brother, Rushdi, tried to have her released but to no avail.
I wrote to Saadeh that same day about what Edil was doing. I also wrote that Fayiza was arrested. I also told him that Khalil Bishara al Khuri wanted to meet him and that he had asked this to an SSNP member who came and told me about it.
My neighbor Mrs. Tabbara came out to be a real friend during those tiring times. I told her that I might be arrested too. I instructed her to take care of my daughters and especially Raghida who was ten months old. I told her that in case I was arrested I had prepared a suitcase for the kids and that she had to take them to her house. She accepted without any hesitation.
CHAPTER TEN
Yusra Hakim and her brother Ahmad used to visit me. Yusra would tell me that she is ready to work for us and she would also put me in the general political atmosphere. Her brother, who was younger than her, was also enthusiastic, but he has not on the same level as Yusra. That was why I used to avoid him. I just listened to his news, which were not that accurate. He would even tell me that he wanted to get involved in some activities, which I did not condone. Yusra used to be more accurate than some comrades that I used to get news from.
The female comrades that visited me would take my letters to other comrades or to a group of them that had to meet at some place unknown to me. I used to get some instructions from Saadeh, which I used to complete very carefully.
This went on for some time. I used to meet comrades away from home and in different places. Only comrade Joseph Haddad was instructed by the leader to see me. He would visit me and ask for some documents or other stuff that the leader needed. He had to climb some walls so that he would not be seen by security forces who were watching our house. I used to wait for his visits so that I would now of the latest news about my husband. At least I would know that the leader was safe, since he would ask about things only my husband knew about. None of the female comrades knew about Joseph's visits. This continued until my husband relocated to the mountains. I did not know what part of the mountains he had relocated to. All I knew afterwards was that he was able to meet George Abd al Masih and things were arranged for him. It might be that his decision to go to Damascus was one of these arrangements. I could not confirm this when I met my husband in Damascus for a few hours one day shy of the [Husni al Za'im's] revolution on July 2, 1949. The house where I met my husband was a busy place with activities regarding the military coup that was about to take place. Therefore, I had no time to understand from Saadeh what the motives were behind the Jimmayzeh incident.
