12% of terrorist prisoners are from PA Security Forces, brags Fatah official Rajoub
Abbas “never opposed any… action that could contribute to this occupation leaving,” says Fatah official
“The members of the [PA] Security Forces are the heroes of the self-sacrificing movement… They are the ones who struggled with their bare bodies, their willpower, and their courage in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the years 2000-2005” – column in official PA daily
As Palestinian Media Watch has documented, the PA, led by Fatah, competes with Hamas over who is doing more for “the Palestinian cause” – in particular, who is “resisting” the most by carrying out more terror attacks against Israel.
Accordingly, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub bragged at a recent Fatah rally that 12% of the imprisoned Palestinian terrorists are from the PA Security Forces:
Jibril Rajoub: “12% of the prisoners (i.e., terrorists) in the [Israeli] prisons are members of the PA Security [Forces]. 12% of the total are security members. So no one should lecture Fatah or its institutions.”
[Official PA TV, July 13, 2021]
Along the same lines, Fatah Revolutionary Council Secretary Majed Al-Fatiani stated that Fatah is “leading this popular resistance and it is part of the Palestinian organizational and fighting activity,” and emphasized that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “never opposed any… action that could contribute to this occupation leaving”:
Fatah Revolutionary Council Secretary Majed Al-Fatiani: “It needs to be made clear that Fatah is not just raising slogans of ‘popular uprising.’ Fatah is adopting and leading this popular resistance and it is part of the Palestinian organizational and fighting activity. Fatah – in cooperation with the forces and factions of the Palestinian national action – will establish the united leadership for this popular resistance... [PA Chairman Abbas] never opposed any decision or position or action that could contribute to this occupation leaving.”
[Official PA TV News, June 20, 2021]
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. Well into the terror wave, when 14 Israelis had already been murdered, Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is."
A columnist in the official PA daily similarly praised the PA Security Forces earlier this month, stressing their participation in the PA’s terror against Israel:
“The members of the [PA] Security Forces are the heroes of the self-sacrificing movement and the confrontations in the great [first] Intifada of 1987-1993 (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993). They are the ones who struggled with their bare bodies, their willpower, and their courage in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the years 2000-2005 (i.e., PA terror campaign, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered), and they are the ones who sacrificed the most Martyrs in the struggle against the Israeli death army forces during [then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon’s invasion of the cities of the Palestinian West Bank in 2002 (i.e., Operation Defensive Shield).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2021]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented explicit bragging on behalf of Fatah and the PA about how the movement has killed the most Israelis:
“No one killed more Israelis than Fatah”
Fatah has more prisoners and Martyrs than Hamas
Fatah killed 11,000 Israelis
The following is a longer excerpt of the column cited above:
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, former advisor on national affairs to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Those who make accusations of treason are not an opposition”
“A number of days ago I wrote here that opposition is a legitimate right anchored in the basic law… but opposition is one thing, and the rabble accusing [the PA] of treason and heresy is something else, and it has no connection to opposition…
The members of the [PA] Security Forces are the heroes of the self-sacrificing movement and the confrontations in the great [first] Intifada of 1987-1993 (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993). They are the ones who struggled with their bare bodies, their willpower, and their courage in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the years 2000-2005 (i.e., PA terror campaign, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered), and they are the ones who sacrificed the most Martyrs in the struggle against the Israeli death army forces during [then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon’s invasion of the cities of the Palestinian West Bank in 2002 (i.e., Operation Defensive Shield; see note below)…
Yes, there are mistakes and mishaps in the Security Forces. One of them is what happened to political activist [Nizar] Banat, which is unjustified, condemned, and unacceptable (refers to PA Security Forces murdering Banat; see note below -Ed.). But these mistakes are specific and are not a general policy…
The time has come for everyone to stop being hung up on the case of Nizar Banat, to return to the straight path, … and to return to directing the arrows and the compass towards the Zionist enemy.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2021]