PA ministry: First Palestinian terror wave was "glorious", Fatah pledges to use same "modus operandi"

PA ministry: First Palestinian terror wave was “glorious”

Fatah encourages more violence and terror, pledging it continues the “popular resistance… while relying on the modus operandi of the great popular intifada”

Official PA daily: “The blessed Intifada”

Fatah glorifies first terror wave and arch-terrorist Abu Jihad: "There is no voice that rises above the voice of the Intifada"

Posted text: "The Stone Intifada"
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Dec. 8, 2019]

This week Palestinians marked the anniversary of the outbreak of the first Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel – the first Intifada or “the Stone Intifada.” During this wave of violence (1987-1993), Palestinians threw stones and used car bombs, stabbings, as well as shootings to murder approximately 200 Israelis.

The PA Ministry of Information commemorated this as “the glorious Intifada” and highlighted the necessity of martyrdom for Palestinians in order to be “saved”:

“The [PA] Ministry of Information said that the Stone Intifada… proved our people’s determination to be saved through the sacrifices of the Martyrs, the moans of the wounded, the suffering of the prisoners, and the oppression of the expelled. [The ministry] emphasized that the fact that the anniversary of the popular Intifada is occurring at a time when the Israeli terror is increasing, a cruel settlement attack is occurring, and the American administration is continuing its coup against international law after declaring Jerusalem the capital of the occupation state demands national unity from our people – something that characterized the glorious Intifada.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 9, 2019]

Abbas’ Fatah Movement encouraged more violence while pledging that they will continue the “popular resistance… while relying on the modus operandi of the great popular intifada”:

“The Fatah Movement… pledged to our people to adhere to the national principles and continue the path of national struggle…
[Fatah] emphasized that its fighters, both those at the leadership level and those on the ground, are proving to the Palestinian people that they are continuing the path of legal national struggle… and broadening the circle of popular resistance and the variety of its ways and means‎, while relying on the modus operandi of the great popular intifada." 

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 9, 2019]

The term “the variety of its ways and means” used by Fatah indicates the same as the terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” and “all forms,” which Palestinian Media Watch has documented are ‎used by PA leaders to refer to both peaceful means and all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.

The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, ‎Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is."

Reporting on the ministry’s and Fatah’s statements about the first Palestinian wave of violence and terror, the official PA daily referred to it as “the blessed Intifada”. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 9, 2019]

Fatah also posted photos from the violent riots of the first Intifada (above) on Facebook, and glorified arch-terrorist Abu Jihad who orchestrated attacks in which at least 125 were murdered:

Posted text: "There is no voice that rises above the voice of the Intifada
The 32nd anniversary of the first Intifada, Dec. 8, 1987"

 [Official Fatah Facebook page, Dec. 8, 2019]

 Posted text and text on picture: "There is no voice that rises above the voice of the Intifada" 

[Facebook page of the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission, Dec. 8, 2019]

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, in which a total of 125 Israelis were murdered, included the Coastal Road attack that (until Oct. 7, 2023) was the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.

The following is a longer excerpt of the report cited above:

Headline: "32 years since the Stone Intifada"
"Yesterday, Dec. 8 [2019], was the 32nd anniversary of the outbreak of the first Intifada, ‘the Stone Intifada’ (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993), which continued from 1987 to 1994.
The Intifada broke out in Jaballa following the death as Martyrs of four Palestinian laborers at the occupation Hanoun (Erez) [parentheses in source] checkpoint… after extremist settler Herzl Bokobza rammed them with his truck (an accident, and after being tried, Bokozba was found innocent of causing death by negligence –Ed.)…
The next morning, rage prevailed throughout the Jaballa refugee camp, and spontaneous demonstrations of rage broke out that turned into violent confrontations with the occupation forces. As a result of this, young Hatem Al-Sisi was killed, who became the first Martyr of the blessed Intifada…
The [PA] Ministry of Information said that the Stone Intifada… proved our people’s determination to be saved through the sacrifices of the Martyrs, the moans of the wounded, the suffering of the prisoners, and the oppression of the expelled. [The ministry] emphasized that the fact that the anniversary of the popular Intifada is occurring at a time when the Israeli terror is increasing, a cruel settlement attack is occurring, and the American administration is continuing its coup against international law after declaring Jerusalem the capital of the occupation state demands national unity from our people – something that characterized the glorious Intifada…
The Fatah Movement… pledged to our people to adhere to the national principles and continue the path of national struggle until the achievement of freedom and independence, and until the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem…
[Fatah] emphasized that its fighters, both those at the leadership level and those on the ground, are proving to the Palestinian people that they are continuing the path of legal national struggle… and broadening the circle of popular resistance and the variety of its ways and means ‎(i.e., terms used by Palestinians, which also refer to the use of violence and terror)‎, while relying on the modus operandi of the great popular intifada."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 9, 2019]