PA accords military funeral to terrorist who was also officer in PA Intelligence Forces

• Fatah official used funeral as opportunity to announce more terror:
  There is “a national decision in all factions and all national institutions” to confront Israel “with every weapon at our disposal”
   
• PA Intelligence Forces officer and member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades - Fatah’s military wing - shot at Israeli soldiers while they were arresting two wanted terrorists

• Top PLO official called for continued terror against Israel: “You need to fight this enemy on all fronts”

Yet another member of the PA Security Forces has turned out to be playing a double role. While Ashraf Al-Sheikh Ibrahim was an officer in the PA Military Intelligence Forces, he was also a member of Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. When Israeli soldiers came to arrest wanted terrorists in Jenin, Ibrahim attacked and shot at them, and was killed by the Israeli forces return fire.

Ibrahim’s attack and resulting death as a “Martyr” earned him praise from the PA/Fatah top echelon and a military funeral attended by the director of the PA General Security Forces:

Terrorist Ashraf Ibrahim’s dead body wrapped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh with a headband of “The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades,” Fatah’s military wing.

“Ashraf Muhammad Amin Ibrahim (i.e., terrorist, shot at Israeli soldiers), 38, died as a Martyr… after he was wounded early yesterday morning during confrontations that broke out following the invasion of Jenin. He is a [PA] General [Military] Intelligence Forces officer…

Masses from among our people accompanied the Martyr’s body in a military ceremony to its final resting place… They carried the Martyr’s body on shoulders while it was wrapped in the Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh (i.e., Arab headdress) of the Fatah Movement to the cemetery, where the body was interred.

Participating in the funeral procession were [PA] General Security Forces Director Brig. Gen. Ahmed Abu Hadid, officers of the forces, and Fatah [Jenin] Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 30, 2023]

At the funeral, Fatah Jenin Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh announced that there is consensus – a “national decision” - among all the different Palestinian political factions to “fight” Israel, as terrorist Ashraf Al-Sheikh Ibrahim did, and “confront it with every weapon” available. In other words, there is a decision to continue to use terror against Israel: 

Fatah Jenin Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh: “There is a national decision in all the factions and all our national institutions to fight this occupation. Wherever the occupation is, we must confront it with every weapon at our disposal, just as heroic Martyr commander Ashraf Al-Sheikh Ibrahim, who died as a Martyr while fighting, fought… He was one of the [PA] General Security Forces officers.”

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, Facebook page, May 29, 2023]

Many Western countries have given money, armed, and even trained the PA Security Forces in the hope that the Security Forces would fight Palestinian terror. However, the PA and Fatah have been bragging about the participation of their police officers in terror throughout 2022 and 2023. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed this double role played by PA Security Forces members as cops by day and terrorists by night.

Abu Rmeileh’s announcement that all factions have endorsed terror reflects a call by PLO Executive Committee Secretary Hussein Al-Sheikh a few months ago. Al-Sheikh urged the different Palestinian factions to unite against Israel and “fight this enemy on all fronts, in all arenas, without exception”:

PLO Executive Committee Secretary Hussein Al-Sheikh: “[Fatah] called on all the Palestinian national action factions (i.e., Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) to create a broad front against the Israeli aggression. It is no secret that there is a quiet and calm dialogue between us and Hamas. I hope that this dialogue will succeed… You need to fight this enemy [Israel] on all fronts, in all arenas, without exception. You need to fight it on the ground and in the international organizations and authorities… The central topic in all the leadership’s meetings is strengthening the Palestinian popular resistance against the occupation’s army and the settler herds… This strengthens the Palestinian negotiator and doesn’t weaken him. I said this before: Are we stopping anyone [from resisting]? Are we tying anyone’s hands?”

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 27, 2023]

The following is additional information on terrorist Ibrahim, and a longer excerpt of one of the statements cited above:

Ashraf Muhammad Amin Ibrahim – 38-year-old Palestinian terrorist, PA military intelligence officer, and member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (Fatah’s military wing) who shot at Israeli soldiers while they were arresting two wanted terrorists in Jenin on May 29, 2023. The soldiers returned fire in self-defense, killing Ibrahim.

“Yesterday [May 29, 2023,] the Israeli occupation forces and the settler herds continued their attacks against the civilians in various parts of the West Bank.

Released prisoner Ashraf Muhammad Amin Ibrahim (i.e., terrorist, shot at Israeli soldiers), 38, died as a Martyr… after he was wounded early yesterday morning during confrontations that broke out following the invasion of Jenin.He is a [PA] General [Military] Intelligence Forces officer…

Masses from among our people accompanied the Martyr’s body in a military ceremony to its final resting place… They carried the Martyr’s body on shoulders while it was wrapped in the Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh (i.e., Arab headdress) of the Fatah Movement to the cemetery, where the body was interred.

Participating in the funeral procession were [PA] General Security Forces Director Brig. Gen. Ahmed Abu Hadid, officers of the forces, and Fatah [Jenin] Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh…

In a speech on behalf of Fatah and the intelligence forces, Fatah [Jenin] branch member Osama Bazzour said that the occupation’s incessant terror and crimes will not dissuade our people from continuing the resistance.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 30, 2023]

Hussein Al-Sheikh also serves as Head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, Fatah Central Committee member, and Head of Civil Affairs in the PA.

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." At the time Abbas said this, 14 Israelis had already been murdered.