Citations
From the memoirs of Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud
Men die and some of them leave in silence while others are surrounded by noise and polish, But after a little time, the powders melt away from those faces that were polished and decorated by falseness to become pale and pale as if they were burned out by not the desert sun, but by the fire that don’t leaves nothing.
History is made by men, and for this reason, history does not forget the deeds of men, no matter how much some ones try to hide them and even remove them, and despite all these attempts, the pages of history are not erased and its memory is not forgotten and does not become forgotten.
Memoirs of Algerian Mujahid and Diplomat Rabah Mechhoud, Part 1, page 6
Military history professors have intentionally or unintentionally neglected to mention the role of Israeli intelligence in the Arab-Israeli wars in their writings, focusing instead on military superiority in general and aviation in particular. However, those who carry out reconnaissance and guidance operations are not exposed to this, Therefore, it is everyone’s duty to reveal the truth as it is, in order to benefit from the positives and avoid the negatives…
The Israeli spy network carried out its mission and provided the Zionist leadership with the accurate military and political information necessary before the battle.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 3 page 48
I went to my house and stayed there until the car picked me up and drove me to the airport. When I arrived and the plane landed, the protocol was that the diplomatic and military escorts stand in front of the door of the hall of honor until the president comes out of the hall of honor and shakes hands with him, then the diplomatic escort walks to the president’s right and the military escort to his left.
President Houari Boumediene came and shook my hand while looking at me with a smile, then he shook hands with the military escort and we walked towards the airplane
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 4 page 26
I was one of the members of the Al Zaytouna Association of Algerian Students in Tunis, and I was also in charge of the secret organisation in Tunisia, and I point out that this association was ostensibly a cultural association, but in fact it was a front for the Algerian national movement.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 15
History does not favour anyone, regardless of how much it is obscured or distorted. In modern history, intimidation may play an important role in obscuring the truth, because the people being talked about may be powerful and influential, making it difficult to tell the truth about what they have done and exposing those who do tell the truth to dire consequences.
To be honest and for the record, the majority of militants, i.e. the overwhelming force of militants in all over the Algerian country, were supporters of the party’s leader ‘Messali Hajj, who was the first to speak the word of independence, before the independence of Algeria, he was even accused of madness
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 16
The next day, Colonel Fathi al-Deeb, who was then a captain, not a colonel, and was a well-known Egyptian intelligence officer in charge of the Algerian revolution.
I testify that he was loyal to the Algerian revolution, and Mr Ben Bella said to me in a state of confusion “One of the Egyptian brothers will come and you will sit with him alone and he will ask you questions and see how you answer them”.
I was, of course, very young at the time.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 36
While I was in my office at the embassy, the new acting ambassador of the Iranian embassy called me on the phone and told me that his country’s foreign minister, who was visiting the UAE, wanted to meet me at the guest palace. I told him: ‘Foreign Minister Qotb Zadeh is a guest of the UAE, and I cannot visit him unless he requests it and it is arranged through the protocol department or the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’ About an hour later, the same person called me back and said: ‘We have informed the officials in the UAE of the Minister’s wish.’ About half an hour later, I received a phone call from the Director of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is of Syrian origin and the son of “Fawaz al-Adm”, the former President of Syria. He became Director of Protocol and enjoys Emirati nationality. He told me, word for word: ‘We have informed the Iranian Foreign Minister that he wishes to meet with you,’ and he set a time for me to meet with the minister.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 4 page 212
days, the right Mr. Ben Bella came to me at night with the two mentioned persons, and he was very eager to meet me, so I moved away with him from those two persons, when he said to me: “Brother, I am Ben Bella.” I said: “I do not know Ben Bella, so either you have something to prove it or else tell me the secret word, and as for your friend who came with you, he came to me yesterday and claimed to me that he is Ben Bella.”
Mr. Ben Bella looked confused, so he asked me: “Did you say anything to him?” I said: “No, I did not say anything to him.” Then he went out and showed me an Egyptian passport with the name “Maziani Massoud” as Mr. Ben Bella was carrying this nickname, which was the password that I had taken from Algeria, and indeed I found the name “Maziani Massoud” written on his passport, and there I knew that he was the actual “Ahmed Ben Bella” because the martyr “Zigoud Yousef had told me that the password was for the holder of an Egyptian passport with the name “Maziani Massoud” written on it.
As for the secret word that confirms that I am the emissary of the hero “Zigoud Youssef and makes Ben Bella trust me, it is the word “Region II, Second Element No. 2222” Here, each of us made sure that we were with the right person.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 31-32
As for the type of shoes – God forbid – they had inverted soles, which made the footprints appear upside down in order to camouflage those who were cutting the jar, as they say, or cutting the footprints during the day, because the sand retains the footprints… I disguised myself in those clothes and left Tunisia with a man named ‘Daw Shalouf,’ who had been sentenced to death and had escaped from prison.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 27
As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Ben Boulaïd, may God have mercy on him, tasked me with maintaining unity among students in Tunisia. He had met me while passing through Libya before the revolution, and at the time I did not know whether he was passing through Libya or returning from it. I was also tasked by Zighoud Youssef, may God have mercy on him, with purchasing some weapons and ammunition before the revolution, which I sent to specific locations as I mentioned earlier. When
the revolution broke out, I was the first Zaytouni student to take up arms and participate in preparing for the revolution.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 20
On 9 August, I was assigned the task of smuggling weapons from abroad. I left Algeria on that day for Tunisia, and since that day I have not seen my family members, as after the attacks of 20 August 1955, France took revenge and exterminated many families in the region. The forces of the French General ‘Paul Ausaris’, one of the thugs of French colonialism during the Liberation Revolution, killed in one moment the members of my family, young and old, and our house was completely destroyed and no trace of it remained, after the colonial army carried out prolonged air raids followed by strong artillery strikes on the village where I lived called ‘El Kef of the municipality of ‘El Harouch’, Province of Skikda, knowing that I was considered dead to the French colonialists, as my name was included in the list of deaths in the civil status records of the French administration at the time.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 1 page 50
Some people believe that diplomatic work consists of parties, soirées, wine, hard currency, luxury and so on, but in reality diplomatic work is suffering, sleepless nights, fatigue, gathering information, reviewing and extrapolating the information that diplomats are able to obtain. The diplomat is the eye that sees, the ear that hears, and the mind that thinks for his country. He is the shining or ugly image of his country, Their work reflects on their country and homeland, and my diplomatic experience has made me strongly reject the lies that claim that those who do not drink alcohol cannot represent their country… How can we believe that someone who has no mind or whose thinking and mind have been affected by alcohol can distinguish between good and bad, as they say, since the two are opposites that can never coexist?
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: 5 page 54
I dedicate this part of my memoirs:
To Dr. Fadel Abbas.
To those who risked their future and that of their children to help me gain access to highly confidential information.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: ‘5’ page 5
In Italy specifically, there are about 15 or 20 Arab embassies, in addition to the Palestine Liberation Organisation office, while there is only one embassy for the Zionist entity. However, there is a big difference between the large numbers of diplomats and those who are merely pretending to be diplomats. There are those who work and those who pretend to work but want to be praised for what they have not done. Thus, there are those who work, those who do not work, and those who do not want to work.
Memoirs of the Algerian mujahid and diplomat Rabah Mechhoud Part: ‘5’ page 56