PA President calls terrorist, murderer of 125 Israelis, a source of inspiration and hope

Headline: "The [PA] president to the prisoners: Our people's heads are held high thanks to your patience, resolve, and belief in the justice of our cause"

"[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas said to the prisoners in the Israeli occupation's prisons: 'Our people's heads are held high thanks to your patience, resolve, and belief in the justice of our cause.'

The president added for [Palestinian] Prisoner's Day which falls on April 17: 'The prisoners' cause will remain the cause that is our top priority, despite all of the difficulties that we are facing, in order to defend our people’s just rights which are not up for negotiation or concession.'

The president said: 'We salute our heroic prisoners who have sacrificed the most precious thing a person has – which is his freedom and the years of his life – for their people's cause and its legal rights to freedom, independence, and the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.'

The president continued: 'We again emphasize the commitment that we will not sign any final peace agreement without emptying the Israeli prisons of our heroic prisoners, who are freedom fighters.'

He added: 'We call on the international community, the humanitarian organizations, and the human rights organizations to intervene and pressure Israel to adhere to international law in order to save the lives of our prisoners and protect their wellbeing, given the spread of the Coronavirus that is threatening all of humanity. Therefore, we immediately demand that the Israeli government releases our prisoners and detainees, and we hold it [the government] fully responsible for their wellbeing and protection, particularly the sick prisoners, children, and women.'

The president emphasized: 'We will not give in to any pressures applied to us to abandon our heroic prisoners and their families, and we will continue to provide everything necessary in order to provide them with dignified lives.'

President Abbas said that Khalil Al-Wazir 'Abu Jihad' (i.e. terrorist, responsible for the murder of 125) was one of the historical and founding leaders and was an important part of a difficult and dangerous historical period. The president added on the anniversary of commander and symbol Abu Jihad’s death as a Martyr that the great commander Khalil Al-Wazir was a heritage and a role model of affiliation and sacrifice for a free and independent Palestine, and a source of inspiration for all fighters and free people who have sacrificed with their blood for the realization of the hopes and expectations of their peoples for freedom and independence.

The president continued: 'We also remember three of our great commanders, Abu Yusuf [Al-Najjar] (i.e. terrorist, involved in the murder of 11), Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser (i.e. leaders of the Black September terror organization), who with their pure blood, paved our people's struggle and longing for freedom and independence, and emphasized that through our people's resolve and its adherence to its basic national principles we will achieve the independence of our state whose capital is East Jerusalem.'"

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.

Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar - was Arafat's deputy and among the founders of Fatah. He was the Commander of Al-Asifa, Fatah's military unit, and member of Fatah's Central Committee and PLO's Executive Committee. He also was the Commander of Operations of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, and involved in the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972). He was killed by Israel in 1973.

Kamal Adwan and Kamal Nasser were both senior members of Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, who were killed by Israeli forces in April 1973. Kamal Nasser was also the spokesperson for the PLO and Fatah. Kamal Adwan was responsible for Fatah terrorist operations in Israel.