Op-ed in PA daily glorifies "heroism" of terrorist "Martyrs": Palestinians “will elevate their names,” name institutions after them
Headline: "We will elevate their names"
Excerpt of an op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, a regular columnist for the official PA daily
"The Martyrs (Shahids) of the Palestinian Arab people are the symbols of the national struggle. With their great sacrifices they illuminated the path to freedom, independence, and the return [of the refugees], which still continues. The leaders and citizens are in awe of them, as they have defended the just national goals for which they paid with their lives, and for which the [Palestinian] people will continue its struggle until they are fully achieved: The building of the independent nation-state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967, borders, the guarantee of the right of return for the refugees to their lands on the basis of international [UN] Resolution 194, and equality for the members of the [Palestinian] people in the Galilee, the Triangle (i.e., a concentration of Israeli-Arab towns and villages in northern Israel), the Negev, and on the coast.
Whoever thinks that the Palestinian people can deny their heroic Martyrs is mistaken - children, women, men, and elderly – and primarily the Martyr leaders, the Palestinian national symbols: Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, George Habash, Abu Iyad, Abu Ali Mustafa, Faisal Al-Husseini (the anniversary of whose death as a Martyr is today) [parentheses in source], Abu Al-Abbas, Samir Ghosheh, Fathi Shaqaqi, Omar Al-Qassem, Khaled Nazzal, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani, Wadi’ Haddad, Jamil Hassan Shehadeh, Abd Al-Rahim Ahmad, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, Dalal Mughrabi, and the list is still long (see below for details about them –Ed.).
Out of respect for them, their acts of heroism, and their pioneering in the liberation struggle, and out of pride in their national status, the Palestinian people and its leadership will elevate the names of the Martyrs in the skies of Palestine, and memorialize them by naming squares, universities, schools, streets, cultural centers, and sports clubs after them – even in Arab states, friendly states, and everywhere possible. The people and its national leadership will not fear the sword of terror of Israel, the US, and those who follow them. They will record their struggle on the golden pages of the history of the Palestinian people.
A few days ago, as a result of Israeli pressure, the government of Norway and afterwards UN Secretary-General [António] Guterres surrendered [to Israel], by taking steps that scorn human rights and the struggle of the Palestinian people and of a female fighter who was one of its most prominent Martyrs – Dalal Mughrabi. They declared the cessation of their support of a center that serves 60 women in the village of Burqa in the Nablus district, because it is named after the heroic Martyr [following PMW's publication of the story, Ed.]. Moreover, the friendly Norwegian government adopted the terrorist approach of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu when it requested the removal of the Martyr's name from the center. In addition, it declared the cessation of its support for it and demanded the return of a small and insignificant amount, which does not exceed $10,000, which it paid in order to assist in the establishment of the center! In the same context, the Portuguese [man] who heads the UN (i.e., António Guterres) ordered the stopping of the support for the women's center, as it is named after the courageous Martyr! Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anders Samuelsen is apparently also heading in the same direction, as he asked to carry out a comprehensive check of the donations that are transferred to the non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations in the areas of the State of Palestine that were occupied in 1967…
The Palestinian people and its legal leadership have objected and still object to the murder of innocent citizens whoever and wherever they may be. They absolutely object to terror as they are pioneers of freedom, peace, and co-existence…
However, those who refuse this are the Israelis – Netanyahu and the supporting pillars of his government, the racist settlers. If you review the decisions of the Israeli Parliament and the governments of Israel throughout their generations, and examine all of the new and old violations, you will discover that you have done an injustice to the Palestinian people and its Martyrs, and primarily Martyr Dalal Mughrabi, of whose heroism and sacrifice we are proud."
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) was a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks in the 1960’s - 1980’s. These attacks, which murdered a total of 125 Israelis, included the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
George Habash - Founder of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000- 2005 (the Intifada).
Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) - One of the founders of Fatah and head of the terror organization Black September. Attacks he planned include the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972) and the murder of two American diplomats in Sudan (March 1, 1973). It is commonly assumed that his assassin, a former Fatah bodyguard, was sent by the Abu Nidal Organization, a rival Palestinian faction.
Abu Ali Mustafa - Secretary-General of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, which rejected the Oslo Accords (1993), has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000-2005 (the Intifada).
Faisal Al-Husseini – a senior Fatah and PLO terror leader in the 1970s.
Abu Al-Abbas headed the terror organization Palestinian Liberation Front. He planned the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, in which one Jewish wheelchair bound hostage, Leon Klinghoffer, was singled out, shot, and then thrown overboard.
Samir Ghosheh was Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PSF) from 1974 to 2009. The group carried out terror attacks against Israeli and American targets in the 1970s and 1980s.
Fathi Shaqaqi - Founder of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, which has carried out more than 1,000 terror attacks, murdering and wounding hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Omar Al-Qassem - Led a terror squad that crossed the Jordan River into Israel to carry out a terror attack in 1968. Caught by Israeli soldiers, the squad murdered two soldiers. Al-Qassem was given two life sentences, and died in his prison cell 21 years later.
Khaled Nazzal – Secretary of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and commander of its military branch. He was responsible for the terror attacks in Ma’alot and Beit Shean in 1974 and Jerusalem in 1984.
Mahmoud Darwish is considered the Palestinian national poet. He published over 30 volumes of poetry and 8 books of prose and has won numerous awards. He joined the Israeli Communist Party in 1961 and the terrorist organization PLO in 1973, becoming a member of the PLO Executive Committee in 1987. He left the PLO in 1993 because it signed the Oslo Accords with Israel.
Many in Israel see his poetry as inciting hate and violence. One poem he wrote in 1988 at the height of the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel (the first Intifada, 1987-1993) calls to Israelis: “Take your portion of our blood - and be gone… Live wherever you like, but do not live among us… Die wherever you like, but do not die among us… Leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds, everything, and leave the memories of memory.”
He also wrote “Silence for the Sake of Gaza” in 1973, which many see as glorifying terror: “She wraps explosives around her waist and blows herself up. It is not a death, and not a suicide. It is Gaza's way of declaring she is worthy of life.”
His defenders have claimed that Israel misinterprets his poetry and that he sought reconciliation with Israel. One wrote in 2017: “Darwish arranged meetings between Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals, and published essays on their discussions. He was optimistic that, through mutual understanding, the two sides could eventually reconcile.” [https://www.bcalnoor.org/single-post/2017/05/29/Poetic-Justice-Mahmoud-Darwishs-Vision-of-Palestinian-Israeli-Coexistence-in-the-Holy-Land]
Ghassan Kanafani – a writer and a leader of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Wadi’ Haddad - a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was directly responsible for many of the PFLP's most prominent terror attacks, including a series of hijackings of Israeli EL AL planes in the 1960s and 70s. These included the hijacking of an EL AL plane flying from Rome to Tel Aviv on July 22, 1968 – the plane was forced to land in Algiers, where the 32 passengers were held as hostages for 39 days; the EL AL Flight 253 attack in Athens on December 26, 1968; the hijacking of 3 planes on September 6, 1970, which were forced to land, after which the passengers were released; and the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 on June 27,1976, whose passengers were freed in Israel’s Operation Entebbe.
Jamil Hassan Shehadeh – a member of the PLO Executive Committee and Secretary-General of the Arab Liberation Front, a Palestinian political party. He died in 2017.
Abd Al-Rahim Ahmad - a member of the PLO Executive Committee and the central committee of the Arab Liberation Front, a Palestinian political party. He died of an illness in 1991.
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization and prepared bombs for many attacks against Israel. While she was preparing a bomb for an attack in Tel Aviv in 1968, it accidentally detonated and killed her.
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.
Excerpt of an op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, a regular columnist for the official PA daily
"The Martyrs (Shahids) of the Palestinian Arab people are the symbols of the national struggle. With their great sacrifices they illuminated the path to freedom, independence, and the return [of the refugees], which still continues. The leaders and citizens are in awe of them, as they have defended the just national goals for which they paid with their lives, and for which the [Palestinian] people will continue its struggle until they are fully achieved: The building of the independent nation-state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967, borders, the guarantee of the right of return for the refugees to their lands on the basis of international [UN] Resolution 194, and equality for the members of the [Palestinian] people in the Galilee, the Triangle (i.e., a concentration of Israeli-Arab towns and villages in northern Israel), the Negev, and on the coast.
Whoever thinks that the Palestinian people can deny their heroic Martyrs is mistaken - children, women, men, and elderly – and primarily the Martyr leaders, the Palestinian national symbols: Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, George Habash, Abu Iyad, Abu Ali Mustafa, Faisal Al-Husseini (the anniversary of whose death as a Martyr is today) [parentheses in source], Abu Al-Abbas, Samir Ghosheh, Fathi Shaqaqi, Omar Al-Qassem, Khaled Nazzal, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani, Wadi’ Haddad, Jamil Hassan Shehadeh, Abd Al-Rahim Ahmad, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, Dalal Mughrabi, and the list is still long (see below for details about them –Ed.).
Out of respect for them, their acts of heroism, and their pioneering in the liberation struggle, and out of pride in their national status, the Palestinian people and its leadership will elevate the names of the Martyrs in the skies of Palestine, and memorialize them by naming squares, universities, schools, streets, cultural centers, and sports clubs after them – even in Arab states, friendly states, and everywhere possible. The people and its national leadership will not fear the sword of terror of Israel, the US, and those who follow them. They will record their struggle on the golden pages of the history of the Palestinian people.
A few days ago, as a result of Israeli pressure, the government of Norway and afterwards UN Secretary-General [António] Guterres surrendered [to Israel], by taking steps that scorn human rights and the struggle of the Palestinian people and of a female fighter who was one of its most prominent Martyrs – Dalal Mughrabi. They declared the cessation of their support of a center that serves 60 women in the village of Burqa in the Nablus district, because it is named after the heroic Martyr [following PMW's publication of the story, Ed.]. Moreover, the friendly Norwegian government adopted the terrorist approach of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu when it requested the removal of the Martyr's name from the center. In addition, it declared the cessation of its support for it and demanded the return of a small and insignificant amount, which does not exceed $10,000, which it paid in order to assist in the establishment of the center! In the same context, the Portuguese [man] who heads the UN (i.e., António Guterres) ordered the stopping of the support for the women's center, as it is named after the courageous Martyr! Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anders Samuelsen is apparently also heading in the same direction, as he asked to carry out a comprehensive check of the donations that are transferred to the non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations in the areas of the State of Palestine that were occupied in 1967…
The Palestinian people and its legal leadership have objected and still object to the murder of innocent citizens whoever and wherever they may be. They absolutely object to terror as they are pioneers of freedom, peace, and co-existence…
However, those who refuse this are the Israelis – Netanyahu and the supporting pillars of his government, the racist settlers. If you review the decisions of the Israeli Parliament and the governments of Israel throughout their generations, and examine all of the new and old violations, you will discover that you have done an injustice to the Palestinian people and its Martyrs, and primarily Martyr Dalal Mughrabi, of whose heroism and sacrifice we are proud."
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) was a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks in the 1960’s - 1980’s. These attacks, which murdered a total of 125 Israelis, included the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
George Habash - Founder of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000- 2005 (the Intifada).
Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) - One of the founders of Fatah and head of the terror organization Black September. Attacks he planned include the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972) and the murder of two American diplomats in Sudan (March 1, 1973). It is commonly assumed that his assassin, a former Fatah bodyguard, was sent by the Abu Nidal Organization, a rival Palestinian faction.
Abu Ali Mustafa - Secretary-General of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, which rejected the Oslo Accords (1993), has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000-2005 (the Intifada).
Faisal Al-Husseini – a senior Fatah and PLO terror leader in the 1970s.
Abu Al-Abbas headed the terror organization Palestinian Liberation Front. He planned the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, in which one Jewish wheelchair bound hostage, Leon Klinghoffer, was singled out, shot, and then thrown overboard.
Samir Ghosheh was Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PSF) from 1974 to 2009. The group carried out terror attacks against Israeli and American targets in the 1970s and 1980s.
Fathi Shaqaqi - Founder of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, which has carried out more than 1,000 terror attacks, murdering and wounding hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Omar Al-Qassem - Led a terror squad that crossed the Jordan River into Israel to carry out a terror attack in 1968. Caught by Israeli soldiers, the squad murdered two soldiers. Al-Qassem was given two life sentences, and died in his prison cell 21 years later.
Khaled Nazzal – Secretary of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and commander of its military branch. He was responsible for the terror attacks in Ma’alot and Beit Shean in 1974 and Jerusalem in 1984.
Mahmoud Darwish is considered the Palestinian national poet. He published over 30 volumes of poetry and 8 books of prose and has won numerous awards. He joined the Israeli Communist Party in 1961 and the terrorist organization PLO in 1973, becoming a member of the PLO Executive Committee in 1987. He left the PLO in 1993 because it signed the Oslo Accords with Israel.
Many in Israel see his poetry as inciting hate and violence. One poem he wrote in 1988 at the height of the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel (the first Intifada, 1987-1993) calls to Israelis: “Take your portion of our blood - and be gone… Live wherever you like, but do not live among us… Die wherever you like, but do not die among us… Leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds, everything, and leave the memories of memory.”
He also wrote “Silence for the Sake of Gaza” in 1973, which many see as glorifying terror: “She wraps explosives around her waist and blows herself up. It is not a death, and not a suicide. It is Gaza's way of declaring she is worthy of life.”
His defenders have claimed that Israel misinterprets his poetry and that he sought reconciliation with Israel. One wrote in 2017: “Darwish arranged meetings between Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals, and published essays on their discussions. He was optimistic that, through mutual understanding, the two sides could eventually reconcile.” [https://www.bcalnoor.org/single-post/2017/05/29/Poetic-Justice-Mahmoud-Darwishs-Vision-of-Palestinian-Israeli-Coexistence-in-the-Holy-Land]
Ghassan Kanafani – a writer and a leader of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Wadi’ Haddad - a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was directly responsible for many of the PFLP's most prominent terror attacks, including a series of hijackings of Israeli EL AL planes in the 1960s and 70s. These included the hijacking of an EL AL plane flying from Rome to Tel Aviv on July 22, 1968 – the plane was forced to land in Algiers, where the 32 passengers were held as hostages for 39 days; the EL AL Flight 253 attack in Athens on December 26, 1968; the hijacking of 3 planes on September 6, 1970, which were forced to land, after which the passengers were released; and the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 on June 27,1976, whose passengers were freed in Israel’s Operation Entebbe.
Jamil Hassan Shehadeh – a member of the PLO Executive Committee and Secretary-General of the Arab Liberation Front, a Palestinian political party. He died in 2017.
Abd Al-Rahim Ahmad - a member of the PLO Executive Committee and the central committee of the Arab Liberation Front, a Palestinian political party. He died of an illness in 1991.
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization and prepared bombs for many attacks against Israel. While she was preparing a bomb for an attack in Tel Aviv in 1968, it accidentally detonated and killed her.
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.