Fatah post glorifies its history of terror

Text posted on the official Fatah Facebook page, written by Secretary of Fatah’s Branch in Poland Khalil Nazzal

Posted text: "The daily message: Fatah, revolution until victory

The Zionist project was not at its beginning when a group of brave self-sacrificing fighters (Fedayeen) decided to establish the Fatah Movement and declare armed struggle at the beginning of January 1965 (refers to Fatah’s attempted bombing of Israel’s National Water Carrier; see note below –Ed.), but this project was at the most dangerous stage vis-à-vis the Palestinian existence. It is true that part of Palestine's land had not yet fallen into the hands of the Israeli occupation then, but the reality surrounding Palestine did not bode well: The Palestinian people, that had been hidden since the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) – no one saw it as more than scattered groups of refugees, which the international community made efforts to atone for its crime towards them through the distribution of sacks of flour…

Simultaneously, the situation in the Arab world that was busy with its internal struggles warned against the loss of what remained of Palestine, while not noticing the growing danger that the Zionist state constituted for the entire nation. The Israeli participation in the tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956 (i.e., the Sinai Campaign to end terror incursions into Israel and the Egyptian blockade of Eilat) was a glaring example of this [danger] and of the role the foreign entity was to play as the tool of the Western colonialism any time it wanted to play with the Arab national security.

The founding self-sacrificing fighters understood this, and therefore they did not promise the Palestinian people a quick and easy victory, but rather called on it to be a partner on a long path as part of the people’s long-term war; and they included all the details of the national liberation project in one clear slogan, which represents the revolution plan: 'Revolution until victory.'

Fear and desperation had not penetrated the self-sacrificing fighters' hearts when the nation experienced the defeat of June 5, 1967, and all of Palestine came under Israeli occupation. However, the Fatah Movement hurried to redefine its priorities… and instead of cursing the Arab armies, they began to gather the weapons and equipment that these armies left behind, and began to organize and train the resistance cells against the occupier, and also established bases on the homeland’s borders. And it is not chance that Fatah… and with it the heroes of the Jordanian Arab army, succeeded in defeating the Israeli army when the self-sacrificing fighters decided to inscribe their names on the rocks of history, and chose the town of Al-Karameh(refers to the Al-Karameh battle, a military victory for Israel that Arafat nonetheless declared a Fatah victory; see note below –Ed.) as the place from which the new Palestinian counting [of the years] would begin…

Fatah's experience led it to [follow] the logic of not retreating from the enemy. Thus Fatah decided to stand firm at Al-Karameh and in Beirut… and thus it led our people's intifadas. This is experience that proves the revolutionary ability to defeat the impossible, to move from one minefield to another, and from one diaspora to another, until [Fatah] arrived at the homeland with its people and institutions. And woe to anyone who thinks that the '[Palestinian] National Authority' station is the end of the journey! Anyone who has a doubt about the absolute necessity of the continuation of the path need do nothing but examine Fatah's goals, which were emphasized in two conferences that the [Fatah] Movement held in the homeland… Whoever has had despair creep into his heart, please listen to [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas when he calls to escalate the popular resistance, or study the pictures of the Martyrs, and foremost among them first self-sacrificing fighter (Fida'i) [former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat, and his brothers and comrades on the path, the founding self-sacrificing fighters. Then he will understand how Fatah executes its role… and how it understands its obligation to maintain the national project, with the commitment it swore when it fired the first bullet is before its eyes at all times, and it has called on the people to join a long path – which is sometimes called 'the long-term people's war' and sometimes 'popular resistance' or standing up to 'the deal of the century’ (i.e., US President Donald Trump's as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan)…

Fatah understands well the rules of the struggle with the enemies, and knows how to manage it. It is not sunken in an illusion, but rather understands that our people’s enemies have enough factors of power to prolong the life of the occupation, and to make our path to freedom difficult. However, they cannot change the course of history, whose first page Fatah’s self-sacrificing fighters wrote with the bullets of the Al-Asifa forces (i.e., Fatah military unit) on Jan. 1, 1965, and on it they wrote their promise to their people: Revolution until victory."

Bombing of Israel's National Water Carrier - On Jan. 1, 1965, Palestinian terrorists attempted to bomb Israel's National Water Carrier. This was the first attack against Israel carried out by Fatah. Fatah refers to the attack as the “Intilaqa”, meaning “the Launch” of Fatah.

Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.

The Karameh battle, or Al-Karameh - On March 21, 1968, Israeli army forces attacked the town of Karameh in Jordan, where Fatah terrorists had been launching attacks on Israel. Although Israel prevailed militarily, Arafat used the event for propaganda purposes, declaring the battle a great victory that erased the disgrace of the 1967 Six Day War defeat.