Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party has resumed a call for violence against Israel despite the ongoing peace negotiations.
Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel-based media watchdog, reported on the Palestinian Authority’s latest call for “armed struggle” against the the Jewish state at a ceremony in support of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Jericho, where Fatah Central Committee member affirmed that the party has “not let go of the rifle.”
PMW has documented Fatah’s frequent use of Facebook to promote violence and glorify terrorism. Most recently, PMW pointed to a cartoon posted this month on the social media website showing a small boy pulling the hand of a man; the adult was carrying a gun, dressed in military uniform and wearing a traditional Palestinian headscarf. The child says: “We have missed you. Come back!”
The media watchdog also documented a program last week on official PA TV, in which PA Central Committee Member Tawfiq Tirawi declared:
“A national enterprise cannot succeed without the national liberation movement, Fatah. We in this movement have not cast down the rifle and have not let go of the rifle. The rifle is here! The method of struggle we are adopting now [i.e., negotiations] is [only] one of the methods of struggle. But the rifle is here, and it can burst forth at any moment, with a new method and a new leadership. It will burst forth from this [current] leadership if we remain alive, because we are its people; and if we are no longer alive, [then] our sons, our young lions and you will be its people. Revolution until victory, until victory, until victory.”
PMW’s numerous reports include a PA TV presenter’s description of terrorists upon the return of their bodies from Israel almost two weeks ago as follows:
“The skies of Nablus [Shechem] adorn themselves with the stars who loved the soil of the homeland in which they will lie forever, having returned to it as martyrs.”
Released Prisoners Resume Violence Against Israel and Innocent Civilians
With Abbas’s refusal to compromise on any issues during the U.S.-brokered peace negotiations, Israel said it was reconsidering the commitment it had made, in pursuit of a peace agreement, to free a fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, especially considering the fact that many who had been released in earlier stages have resumed their terror activities against innocent civilians.
In response, Abbas is threatening unilateral moves at the UN.
Date: Mar. 26, 2014