“We won’t die alone and we won’t suffer alone,” PA top official threatens Israel
PA senior official Jibril Rajoub:
“If the [Israeli] decision to annex is made – you [Israel] are in a battle with Fatah, the Fatah of Jan. 1, 1965 (i.e., Fatah’s first terror attack against Israel)”
We must turn Israel’s “life into hell”
“There is general Palestinian agreement on popular resistance at this stage, but we are prepared to move to another stage... If there will be an annexation, then we won’t suffer alone and we won’t die alone”
“The time has come to fight this racist and fascist occupation. No one can tell us that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his coalition are elected. Hitler and Mussolini were also elected! Go back to history and read it correctly! If [Netanyahu] turns now to annexation, I’m telling you, we will not wave a white flag, we won’t die alone, we won’t suffer alone”
“We don't think that going to bloodshed at this stage [prior to annexation] serves our cause”
PA TV filler warns Israel:
Response to annexation will be “with spirit and blood”
The PA continues to threaten Israelis with terror and death, should Israel apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and the Jewish cities and towns on the West Bank. At a recent press conference, PA top official Jibril Rajoub, who is Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, warned that the PA is prepared to escalate its “resistance,” promising that if there will be an annexation, “we won’t die alone and we won’t suffer alone”.
Rajoub explained that Palestinians agree on engaging in “popular resistance” – a term Palestinian Media Watch has shown is used by the PA– including Mahmoud Abbas himself - to include murdering Israelis by stabbings and car rammings. Rajoub threatened that the PA is prepared to “move to another stage” – of more and worse violence as well, probably meaning more organized terror attacks such as shootings and bombings. He underlined this strategic choice, hinting that the PA will use more organized terror when it is beneficial, in his words when it “serves our cause.” He indicated that since the international community is asking Israel not to apply the law, broad terror now is not be in Palestinian interest. However, should Israel continue with its plans so would Palestinian interests:
Rajoub: "For the first time in the history of the conflict – the contradiction between [the occupation and] the interests of the world, international law, and its values have reached a peak, and we must not undermine this clash through the wrong actions – whether in word or in actions that deviate from the consensus. That is this stage… We don't think that going to bloodshed at this stage serves our cause… The time has come to fight this racist and fascist occupation. No one can tell us that [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and his coalition are elected. Hitler and Mussolini were also elected! Go back to history and read it correctly! If [Netanyahu] turns now to annexation, I’m telling you, we won’t wave a white flag. We won’t die alone, we won’t suffer alone… If annexation is declared, no – we have a scenario, and we won’t speak about it today, but I’m telling you… We will treat this occupation – with its symbols and expressions – on the Palestinian state’s lands as an enemy."
[Official PA TV Live, June 21, 2020]
The official PA daily also quoted Rajoub from the press conference:
Rajoub:“There is general Palestinian agreement on popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) at this stage, but we are prepared to move to another stage if there is general agreement on that too. If there will be an annexation, then we won’t suffer alone and won’t die alone.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 22, 2020]
Further proof of Rajoub’s terror intentions is found in another statement he made. Rajoub said Israel if it “annexes” it would be in “battle with Fatah of Jan. 1, 1965.” The date is historic for the Fatah Movement since it marks its first terror attack against Israel. If Israel “annexes” - terror will return. This is Rajoub’s message.
"If the [Israeli] decision to annex is made – you [Israel] are in a battle with Fatah, the Fatah of Jan. 1, 1965 (i.e., Fatah’s first terror attack against Israel)… This is the unanimous decision of the [Fatah] Central Committee."
[Facebook page Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, June 9, 2020]
In the same interview, Rajoub stated that Palestinians “need to turn this occupation’s life into hell”:
"What we need is to get rid of the occupation… On July 1, if it declares annexation – there will be a different language, and there will need to be different means… We want everyone (i.e., including Hamas) to be with us. … The resistance that harms the occupation is our means, and the establishment of the state is our mutual goal… Everyone needs to be in the battle. In the West Bank, in Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians within the Green Line (i.e., Israeli Arabs)… We need to turn this occupation’s life into hell through the uprising of us all.
[Facebook page Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, June 9, 2020]
Rajoub stressed that the PA currently is getting support from the international community and that using violence will harm the Palestinian “cause.” This is not the first time Rajoub has calculated how much terror the international community will accept. Palestinian Media Watch exposed that Rajoub advocated terror attacks against “settlers and soldiers” because the international community didn’t care about them, whereas exploding busses in Tel Aviv wouldn’t be accepted abroad.
Similarly, an editorial in the official PA daily – Abbas’ mouthpiece – threatened terror. Taking pride in Fatah’s murderous terror of the past, the PA daily warned that “when it speaks, Fatah acts,” and threatened that Fatah will “turn into actions of popular struggle on various levels, because our people will not agree to the annexation of one centimeter of its land.”
Official PA TV is continuously sending out the same message, inciting and enraging Palestinians so they are ready for the PA’s “next stage.” One filler broadcast numerous times – sometimes several times a day – promises that Palestinians will defend the land “with spirit and blood.” It addresses Israel, warning it to “act wisely”:
Official PA TV narrator: “O occupier, what you have plotted to do [with the Jordan Valley] will backfire on you. There is none among us who will agree to negotiate. Whoever agrees to the Jordan Valley being cut from our state is not one of us. And he will be counted among the deviant traitors. The leader of the path [PA President Abbas] has said ‘No!’”
Caption: “No to the deal of the century”
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “I absolutely will not agree to this solution.”
Narrator: “His voice rose throughout the world. We are loyal to it. We will defend it with spirit and blood. Therefore, [O occupier] – act wisely! Because your steps of annexation and Judaization will not pass.”
[Official PA TV, June 5, 6, 8, 12 (twice), 13 (three times), 14, 19 (twice) 20 (twice), 21, 2020]
This filler joins the many other fillers and music videos the PA has been broadcasting for the last few months to stir up the rage of the Palestinian street. One video that is being broadcast repeatedly, promises Israelis that they will “taste the sword”:
Lyrics: “I’ve continued to sing and burn everything [like] gunpowder…
O, usurper of my land, there is nothing in it for you other than sorrow
Your sorrow is from my response and from the revolution’s fire that won’t calm down.
[We] are coming to you with lion soldiers – and what you’ll taste is the sword!
We’ll destroy your structure, and pray at the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]."[Official PA TV Live, June 6, 13, 14, 21 (twice), 2020]
The following are longer excerpts of Rajoub’s statements cited above and an additional interview with Rajoub in which he made similar statements:
Headline: “In a press conference Fatah called to march towards the Jordan Valley against the annexation – Rajoub: If there will be an annexation we will not suffer alone and we will not die alone – Abu Rudeina: We will not sit with the Americans alone, and there is no alternative to the 1967 borders”
“The Fatah Movement called on our people in all the districts of the West Bank to march to the Jordan Valley today, Monday [June 22, 2020], in order to participate in a mass gathering. [Fatah] also called on our people in all the world states to come out and engage in activities with one message: ‘Israel’s plans to annex any part of the Palestinian lands will not pass.’
In a speech that is unusual among Fatah in recent years, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub said in a joint press conference with [PA] Deputy Prime Minister, [PA] Minister of Information, and Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Abu Rudeina, which was held at the Public Broadcasting Council headquarters in Ramallah: ‘There is general Palestinian agreement on popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) at this stage, but we are prepared to move to another stage if there is general agreement on that too.’ He added: ‘If there will be an annexation then we will not suffer alone and will not die alone.’
Rajoub said that representatives from the international community will participate in the gathering at the Jordan Valley, and foremost among them UN Secretary-General [António Guterres’] Envoy [for the Middle East Peace Process] Nickolay Mladenov, the representative of the European Union (EU), and representatives of foreign states, including the British consul general in Jerusalem, the Chinese ambassador, and the ambassador of Jordan who will speak on behalf of the Arab ambassadors.
[Rajoub] added: ‘For the first time we are seeing this kind of clash between the Israeli government’s plans and the international society’s interests and values. We must maintain this clash.’
Abu Rudeina said: ‘There is a national decision that has been made at different levels… to reject annexation. The coming 10 days will be decisive and dangerous. We are not certain that Israel and America will back down, and based on this we made the decision to reject annexation. The coming processes will depend on what happens in these 10 days.’”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 22, 2020]
Jibril Rajoub also serves as Head of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).
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." https://palwatch.org/page/9276
Official PA TV Live, broadcast of a press conference by Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub and PA Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeina
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “Our internal discourse needs to be a discourse of unity…
This is in order to present a model of coordination at the highest level. But we also need to translate this into efforts that today we are calling a ‘peaceful popular uprising’ (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), through which we will convey three messages. The first message is meant for this fascist occupation that is embodying the new Nazis in the world political system, and for its leadership that constitutes a danger for us, for the regional stability, and for world peace…
We are adhering to international law that gives us the right to self-determination, and gives us the right to establish a state – whether through resolutions, conventions, or through [the fact] that there are 5 million [Palestinians] who since 1967 have been living under a fascist racist occupation the likes of which has not been seen, and they are dealing with genocide that is being carried out through policy, laws, and mechanisms that contradict international law, the world’s standards, and the world’s morals…
If the [Israeli] decision to annex is made – you [Israel] are in a battle with Fatah, the Fatah of Jan. 1, 1965 (refers to the bombing of Israel’s National Water Carrier, Fatah’s first terror attack against Israel –Ed.). We are speaking credibly and modestly. This is the unanimous decision of the [Fatah] Central Committee. I say to all the Fatah members – we are in front of you. And when we intend ‘in front of you’ – that means that we will not sit in our offices and tell you ‘It will be okay.’ …
These [potential foreign partners of Fatah] are not the enemies of Israel. Its enemy and its opposition is Palestinian, and not someone who is not Palestinian. The Palestinian nationalism- forget it, the Egyptian is called Egyptian, only Ayman Odeh and Mohammad Barakeh (i.e., Israeli Arab members of parliament) and all our people [in] the 1948 [territories] (i.e., Israel) – their name is ‘Israeli Arabs.’ In other words, this entire land [is Israel’s], and we are living among them…
Has a month’s salary arrived? Two months? It is true that this is a need and it is true that this is an interest, and everything is true. But this is not the order of priorities. We are at the last minute and we need to decide where we are heading…
Brothers, friends, our story is not [about] standard of living. That is important, but what we need is to get rid of the occupation…
This occupation, according to international law, will need to bear responsibility… On July 1, [2020,] if it declares annexation – there is a different language here, and there will need to be different means…
We want everyone (i.e., including Hamas) to be with us. We think that this is a possibility, and we are calling on everyone to confirm joint modes of action with one goal, under one flag, and with one slogan…
The national flag unites us, the slogan of freedom and independence consolidates us, the resistance that harms the occupation is our means, and the establishment of the state is our mutual goal. So why do we [and Hamas] have to disagree? This needs to be focused on it being comprehensive in all senses – the geographic sense, the political sense, and the social sense.”Fatah-run Awdah TV host: “What do you mean by comprehensive?”
Jibril Rajoub: “Everyone needs to be in the battle. In the West Bank, in Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians within the Green Line (i.e., Israeli Arabs) (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel; the Green Line is the ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries, 1949-1967) – they can act and influence as happened yesterday, it is incredible! Or two days ago in Tel Aviv, and in the diaspora (refers to protests against the potential Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley and Israeli towns in the West Bank –Ed.)…
We will create steps on the ground and will create an agenda of activities in all the lands and territories that are in the crosshairs and those that are not, and so on. We need to turn this occupation’s life into hell through the uprising of us all. Our strategic planning – and this is no secret – is that this will reach the level of national rebellion. In other words, we will all go out into the streets. Whoever can will go, whoever cannot will also go, and the young people and so on and so forth, and we will go out and sit in the streets. Let them bring their tanks before the entire world and do what the Nazis and fascists did in the 1940s.”[Facebook page Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, June 9, 2020]
Video posted on the Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, showing an interview with Rajoub on Al-Araby TV
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “Until the annexation happens, our effort is based on mobilizing the entire world, on preserving the international community that opposes the idea of annexation, and on the status of Palestinian national agreement in its regional aspect, both the Arab and Islamic… Now if [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] declares annexation, then there are a number of scenarios that are still being discussed. There is the crisis team led by [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas], there is the [PLO] Executive Committee and the Fatah Movement Central Committee. At the same time we are consulting with all our friends and allies, but certainly – and I am speaking here as a Fatah member – we will not raise a white flag in front of the occupation. Certainly our response will be in accordance with the process that will be carried out, and I say that for every annexation of one inch of the Palestinian lands we will have a position on the ground, and we will also have a political decision that we will discuss at the same time…
The responsibility for the political issue is in the hands of the PLO Executive Committee, and not in the hands of the [PA] government. [PA] Prime Minister [Muhammad Shtayyeh] has his significance, and he is also a member of the Central Committee… If [Netanyahu] will annex, the Executive Committee will convene, but certainly we in Fatah have a strategic view that is connected to resistance to annexation. [His] battle will be with us, and we will lead it, but we want our entire people to be with us. At this stage we are talking about popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) to convey a message to the world, but if we reach the bridge of annexation, we will remain loyal to our commitment to our people.”
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Al-Araby TV host: “In a popular sense, when will Fatah declare or [when will] the PA call on the masses to oppose this outline?”
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Jibril Rajoub: “We think that the measure of contradiction between this fascist racist thinking [of Netanyahu], which has no precedent other than with [Adolf] Hitler and [Benito] Mussolini, who also were elected – it has no precedent both in terms of its treatment of international law, its treatment of human rights, or its treatment even of the agreements between us. Netanyahu is a case who thinks-
... A measure of contradiction between [Netanyahu] and the entire world has been formed, and we want to maintain this matter. Currently, the entire world opposes annexation. Even among [Netanyahu’s people] they are divided. If he makes a decision on annexation, we certainly- but from here to there, yes. We will have activities on [June] 22, [2020]… Afterwards, we will have an activity on [June] 24 at the [UN] Security Council.”
…
Host: “Is the PA speaking in two voices, one diplomatic and another popular?”
Jibril Rajoub: “Look, first of all, I can speak on behalf of Fatah, that is first. Secondly, no, we have a discourse. This is the first time that there is Palestinian national agreement; but we are also a democratic movement, people can talk and such. We have a clear position, and the position is based on decisions of the [PLO] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) and [PLO] Central Council…
We want to convey a message to the world. At this stage we are saying peaceful popular resistance, but we will not suffer alone, we will not die alone, and we will not allow the settlers to uproot our trees and such, and this depends on the world’s response and its ability to create sources of pressure on the occupation.”[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, June 17, 2020]