Dec. 31, 2009

Palestinian Media Watch
Abbas sponsors birthday celebrations
honoring “Martyr” Dalal Mughrabi, killer of 37

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
p: +972 2 625 4140 +972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

This week Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas once again honored
the memory of the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi – this time by sponsoring a
ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of her birth. Mughrabi led the
worst terror attack in Israel’s history in 1978, when she and other
terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians. Present at the ceremony
were Palestinian dignitaries and a children’s marching band. Earlier this
year, Abbas sponsored a computer center named after Mughrabi.

The PA further glorified Mughrabi on the date of her birth when the Governor
of Ramallah announced the naming of the “Dalal Mughrabi Square”.

An article by Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazal in the official PA daily defined
the terrorist Mughrabi as “the heroine of Palestine’s heroines.”

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 30, 2009]

Photos:
Banner showing Mughrabi at birthday celebration
PA leaders at Mughrabi birthday celebration
Children’s marching band at Mughrabi birthday celebration
Remnant of bus hijacked by Mughrabi
The text on the giant banner carrying Mughrabi’s portrait at the birthday
ceremony read:

“Under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas
The Political and National Education Authority
Ceremony on the anniversary of the birth of the bride of the cosmos
The Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi.”

Two PA TV news broadcasts focused on the celebration:
“Under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas, the Political and National
Education Authority held a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the
Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi, commander of the Coastal Operation (i.e.
hijacking of bus and killing of 37 civilians).”

[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 29, 2009]
==========================================

Subject: PMW Bulletin: Abbas turns 3 latest terrorists into Palestinian heroes

Bulletin
Dec. 29, 2009 Palestinian Media Watch

Abbas and PA turn latest terrorist murderers
into Palestinian national heroes
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
p: +972 2 625 4140 +972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai — a 45-year old Israeli and father of seven
children – was killed in a drive-by shooting last Thursday. The Al-Aqsa
Martyrs’ Brigades, part of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s
Fatah movement, took responsibility for the killing. On Friday night,
Israeli forces located and killed three of the terrorists involved in the
attack. The fourth surrendered to the PA police.

The response of the PA has been unequivocal support and backing for the
terrorists. Since Friday, the leadership of the PA, the heads of Fatah, the
heads of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and the PA-controlled media have
continuously portrayed the killers as Palestinian heroes and Shahids — holy
Martyrs — while describing Israel’s killing of the three terrorists as
“murder in cold blood” and “assassination.”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared the killers “Shahids” (holy Martyrs) and
sent his personal emissary to visit the families:
“Secretary General of the Presidents Bureau, Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, conveyed
condolences on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas to the residents of Nablus
and to the families of the three Shahids [Martyrs] for the Martyrdom of
their sons, who were assassinated by Israeli occupation forces yesterday
morning. He conveyed to the fighting families letters of condolences from
the President [Abbas] and updated them as to [Abbas’s] decision to declare
them as Shahids [Martyrs] of the Palestinian revolution…”
Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim: “Without doubt, what the [Israeli] occupation
authorities have carried out is a wild and barbaric act and a deliberate,
malicious assassination in cold blood.”
[PA TV (Fatah) News, Dec. 27, 2009]

PA Prime Minster Salam Fayyad went even further, personally visiting the
families of the terrorists along with other senior PA officials.
“Prime Minister visits Nablus and conveys condolences to the families of the
Shahids (Martyrs). Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad today visited the city of
Nablus in the wake of the Israeli military operation, and presented
condolences to the families of the three Martyrs who were murdered by the
occupation forces.
Dr. Fayyad was accompanied by Internal Affairs Minister Dr. Said Abu Ali,
leaders of the security agencies, and Police Director-General Major General
Hazem Atallah, and they visited the house of mourning, which was held in the
Trade Unions compound in the city… The Prime Minister condemned the
Israeli military operation in the city.”
[WAFA news agency, Dec. 26, 2009]

The Fatah movement is glorifying the terrorists:
“Mahmoud Al-Aloul, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said that the
occupation murdered these three young men as well as another three in Gaza,
in cold blood. He described them as ‘[military] commanders, brave heroes,
and fighters.'”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 27, 2009]

PA TV focused on the Fatah poster (above), signed with condolences of PA
Chairman Abbas, honoring the three terrorists. The following is the text on
the poster with pictures of the terrorists:

“With honor and admiration to those who are more honored than all of us.”
[Reference to supreme honor of Shahids – Martyrs in Islam]

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=110

“The Palestine Liberation Organization, Fatah, accompanies to their
wedding:”
[Reference to Islamic belief that Martyrs marry virgins in Paradise]

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=565
The Martyr, Commander, Hero: Rassan Abu Serah
The Martyr, Commander, Hero: Ra’ed Al Aschregi
The Martyr, Commander, Hero: Anan Sobh

The Director General of the Presidency expresses condolences to the Nablus
Martyrs – in the name of the President [Abbas]

It’s important to note that in condemning Israel’s killing of the
terrorists, the PA is not denying that those killed were responsible for the
murder of Rabbi Hai:

“The Shahid Imad Mughniyeh group [named after Hezbollah terrorist] of the
[Fatah’s] Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades has denounced the [Israeli] crime of the
assassination in Nablus, killing three Fatah activists, including Anan Sobh,
who, according to the [Fatah’s Al-Aqsa] Brigades, planned the Tulkarem
operation which led to the death of the settler in a shooting operation.”
[Ma’an News Agency, Dec. 26, 2009]

In the official announcement right after the terror attack, Fatah took
responsibility, while calling the killers “Jihad Fighters” and warning of
more “quality operations:”

“A group announcing that it belonged to the Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’
Brigades claimed responsibility for the shooting… ‘The Jihad Fighters
confirmed that the person who was in the car had taken a direct hit, and
praise to Allah – the Jihad Fighters escaped unharmed…’ The announcement
said that ‘this action is part of a series of operations; you can expect
more quality operations [terror attacks] from us.'”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 25, 2009]

After the terrorists were killed the Fatah changed from threatening more
“quality operations” to warning that it would avenge the killing of the
“Jihad Fighters:”
Headline: “The occupation murders three residents of Nablus in cold blood…
the President’s [Abbas’s] Bureau denounces the Israeli crime…”
“The [Fatah’s] Al-Aqsa Brigades announced: ‘By the act of murdering an
elite group of our Jihad Fighters in Nablus and in Gaza, the occupation is
opening for itself the gates of Hell.’ They threatened that ‘our activists
will not stand idly by while the blood of Jihad Fighters is spilled… The
enemy will hear nothing from us but the language of blood and fire, and our
Shahada [Martyrdom] Seekers will go out to [the enemy] from every place in
order to turn his days into nights, and he will come to regret his crime. We
shall not sleep over the blood of our Jihad Fighters, and our response will
be swift… We affirm the continuation of our choice of blood and Martyrdom.
The only choice, in the face of the repeated attacks against our people in
the towns and villages and refugee camps of the occupied homeland. We shall
turn the spilled blood of the Martyrs and the commanders into a torch of
fury that will burn the forces of evil and aggression.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 27, 2009]

——————————————–

Fatah vows to escalate struggle against occupation
Thu Dec 31, 2009:44 am ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091231/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictpalestinianfatah
RAMALLAH (West Bank) (AFP) – The secular Fatah movement led by Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday vowed to step up its struggle against the
Israeli occupation with demonstrations and diplomacy.

“Our program emphasizes the importance of a two-track approach, with the
first being the escalation of the popular struggle to resist occupation,”
the movement said in a statement.

The group said it would model the struggle on the weekly demonstrations in
two West Bank towns, Bilin and Nilin, where residents hurl rocks and protest
against the expansion of Israel’s controversial separation barrier.

Fatah, which marks the 45th anniversary of the start of its armed struggle
on Friday, also vowed to “increase movement on the international level to
pursue Israel, to isolate it and to force it to answer to international
law.”

“We renew our vow to continue the struggle until the end of the occupation
and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with east
Jerusalem as its capital, and a solution to the refugee issue,” it said.

Fatah went on to say that it “would not spare any effort in restoring
Palestinian national unity and returning the Gaza Strip from the hands of
those who have taken it hostage,” referring to its Hamas rivals.

The two main Palestinian movements have been divided into geographically
separated hostile camps since the Islamist Hamas seized power in Gaza in
2007.

The secular Fatah was founded by the late iconic leader Yasser Arafat in the
1950s and formally launched its armed struggle against Israel on January 1,
1965.

Arafat entered into peace negotiations with Israel when he signed the 1993
Oslo autonomy accords, but during the 2000 Palestinian uprising Fatah’s
armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, carried out scores of deadly
attacks.

When Abbas became president following Arafat’s death in 2004 he brought the
armed struggle to a halt, but the movement has never given up its “right to
resistance” against the Israeli occupation of lands seized in 1967.