The resistance in the West bank was insignificant due to the poorly equipped people in front of the ultra modern trends of the Israeli army and the cowardly withdrawal of the Jordanian army except for a few officers and soldiers who fought heroically until the end. In the wake of the fall of the West Bank and other Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation, a new era of Palestinian struggle started. It shed behind it the illusions that the Arab armies will liberate Palestine and reinstate the rights of the Palestinian people. The Palestinians took their destiny into their own hands which meant armed struggle under the banner of their own independent national forces. The different Palestinian factions were formed. Omar took the task of organizing and training the first Fidaiy groups in the PFLP, banking on his knowledge of the teachers, students and people in general. The first groups were formed in Jerusalem, Jenin, Qalquilia and Nablus. His work embodied both military training and political education through propaganda and printed pamphlets addressed to a large sector of the population.

He organized the union of the teachers with the aim of challenging the education, policy of the occupier.

The role of Omar grew bigger in the first weeks and months of the occupation of the West Bank. The political and military work of the different Palestinian factions began to increase, and to develop.

They succeeded on inflecting on the enemy human losses and material damages. The Israelis were retaliating with massive and brutal repression.

Omar was among the most wanted by the Israeli army but he managed to go underground and continued his militant work. His house was searched very often. When the Israelis failed to capture him, they took his brother as a hostage until he gives himself up. He realized the impossibility of working under these conditions. At that movement he took shelter in Jordan, joining the Fedaiyies in their positions on the River Jordan. He joined a military training course in Egypt. He also had a military training in Syria. In 1968 he became member of the military leadership of the PFLP. He participated in the heroic battle of Al-Karameh, the battle that represents the turning point in the development of the Palestinian resistance movement. He planned military questions across the River Jordan. During the congress of 1968, Omar was elected central committee member of the PFLP and was one of the exponents of the Marxist-Leninist trend within the organization, and one of the founders of the DFLP.

In spite of his important political leading role, Omar remained attached to armed struggle inside the occupied territories, the focal pint of resistance. He was convinced that Fedaiy cells should be built inside, especially in the province, among the people and with the participation of the youth from the occupied land. He believed firmly in that policy, taking into accounts his deep knowledge of the people and the unlimited sacrifices they can endure. Omar used to say to his comrades in the bases: there is no alternative but to strengthen the “inside” with the revolutionary cadres to develop the armed resistance, and to build the political organization that would consolidate the steadfastness of the people against the occupation.

On the night of 28 October 1968, Omar put his words into action. At the head of a Fedaiy group he crossed the River Jordan, heading for the mountains of Ramallah, to practice what he was preaching. They crossed many dangerous pass ways, but before arriving there, they were ambushed by an Israeli Patrol near the village of Kafer Malek. They fought back until they ran out of ammunitions. The Israeli Patrol managed to capture them. On that day, the spokesman of the Israeli army declared that they have ambushed a group of guerrillas and captured its leader, a 27 year old man, educated and resident of Jerusalem.

When imprisoned, comrade Omar was armed with theoretical consciousness, since he was one of the leaders of the Marxist Leninist trend, and convinced with the necessity of a joint struggle on abroad front’s formulas. He was experienced in struggle since the war of June 1967, added to commando experience in Jordan. He was imprisoned at the brim of his revolutionary enthusiasm which stems from the Palestinian national enthusiasm, after Karamah battle which registered the first victory on the Israeli army.

Since the first moment of his detention, he began to translate his enthusiasm and consciousness into action. He clashed with Israeli soldiers till his ammunition was over. He did not stop at this point but carried on the political battle when he asked the Israeli officer to treat the commandoes as war-prisoners, and to be committed to Geneva Convention.

In the court, he transformed his sentence of “sabotage action” to a question of a people who suffer from military occupation in their homeland, and who have a legitimate right to resist it by all means.

Comrade Omar has presented a new revolutionary style of treatment with the Israeli occupation authorities, when he transformed his trial to trial of the Israeli occupation. Even though the result of Omar Al-Qassem trial was a file-imprisonment, but this style of political confrontation with the occupation has become a political tradition to the Palestinian militants. The detention camps were then crowded with young commandoes who followed the groups of resistance in the framework of general national enthusiasm. Hence they had not the experience of treatment in prisons, no consciousness of the dimensions of the Palestinian struggle.

Comrade Omar and few militants had the experience and the consciousness to carry on this great task of struggle. In his long march, Omar has stated a doctrine which he always repeated before comrades; the role of a militant begins in prison, i.e. struggle in prison is integral with struggle outside. We should stand our ground in this front “detention camps”, and we will stand steadfast despite the deficiency in the balance of forces. With the declaration of the establishment of de DFLP on February 22, 1969, comrade Omar began to form the organization of the DFLP in the Israeli prisons and detention camps. He remained a leader of this organization till his martyrdom. Long and hard struggle started in prisons, starting with small issues and ending with big demands. Detainees were prevented from practicing sports in the ground of the detention camp, especially massive exercise. Omar began playing individually in the courtyard. Prisons administration protested and transformed him to and individual’s dungeon for two weeks. Afterwards he resumed his exercise in the courtyard. The prison administrator asked to see him and gave him permission to exercise alone, but Omar refused the proposal saying: “It is not a matter of permission for an individual but for all detainees. Then prison administration was obliged to allow all of the detainees to exercise sports in the courtyard of the prison.

In the first period of detention, prison administration resorted to imposing a system of military productive work, on the detainees. Omar began a prolonged discussion with his comrades to stop the work, especially the grids used for tanks and armoured cars. His call for boycott found a positive immediate response. Although comrade Omar was isolated in fail after he was charged of provocation, yet this important achievement of boycott continued. The experience extended to other detention centres and became comprehensive.

When the front action developed among the detainees, with the development of mental and political consciousness, struggle in prisons was escalated. This happened after the success of the strike of July in 1970 in which all detention camps participated under the slogan of breaking the Israeli sword of terrorism held over the necks of the detainees, and improvement of detention conditions. Comrade Omar was one of the prominent leaders of this strike, who defined its demands and followed all the phases of its achievement. The proof to this is the attempt of the prison, administration to isolate comrade Omar and three militants in individual’s cells to foil the strike. This attempt failed and the strike succeeded in achieving its demands. Thus the tyranny of the Israeli terrorism was crushed vis-à-vis the steadfastness of the heroic detainees and their valiant challenge. The prison administration transformed comrade Omar from Ashkelon prison to Al-Ramlah prison, as a punishment for his active role in the success of the strike.

With all the new gains, the struggle of the detainees was developed and escalated. Prisons were transformed to real arenas of struggle. In an attempt to stop this process and to return to the previous phase, prisons administration opened the neo-Nazi prison of Nafha in the desert, especially for the activists and leaders of detainees. Comrade Omar was transformed to this dreadful prison among the first group of detainees in 1980. The great challenge is that the detainees decided to fight the battle with the prisons administration, aiming at blocking the way against this base conspiracy on the detainee.

The first step was when a committee was formed to lead the strike in Nafha prison and other detention camps. This committee planned for an open strike in all the detention centres, under the slogans; “prison authorities should give up its repressive measures”. Here began the long battle of strike.

The steadfastness of the detainees was heroic. Two detainees fell martyrs. Prison administration handled the matter in the same way, i.e. it transformed four detainees, including comrade Omar to Al-Ramlah prison. There has been an attempt to foil the strike by force, restoring to violent beating.

Meanwhile comrade Omar was about to die when a hose was inserted into his stomach and taken out violently without using the alimentary substance.

This action was described as an attempt of assassination, planned for by prison administration. The strike succeeded and realized its main objectives.

Struggle entered a new developed phase in detentions centres’ Front. Comrade Omar identified this phase saying: “After we exact our demands in prison, we should announce supportive struggle with the struggle of our people in the occupied territories and contribute to it from there. Such struggle began before the great strike of Nafha and was escalated afterwards. Detention centres struck to denounce project of autonomy and the civil administration, to topple the heads of municipality, elected in the West Bank, and to reject deliberate aggression against Bassam Al-Shakaa, Karim Khalaf, and Ibrahim Al-Taweel. Detention camps struck in support with Jerusalem electric company, since it was exposed to seizure, as a national institution.