Abbas' Fatah to Hezbollah: "We are in the same trench, and are resisting the same enemy"
Abbas' Fatah to Hezbollah:
"We are in the same trench,
"We are in the same trench,
and are resisting the same enemy"
Fatah salutes commander of
terror organization Hezbollah
as "hero" and "Martyr"
Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Earlier this month, Hezbollah commander Jihad Mughniyeh was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Jihad Mughniyeh was commander of the terror organization in the Syrian Golan Heights and son of Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah member assassinated in 2008. According to Western intelligence sources, Jihad Mughniyeh was planning and preparing terror attacks against Israel, including firing of rockets and explosive devices meant to target Israelis.
"We are resisting the same enemy," said Rifat Shanaah, the director of Fatah's Lebanon branch who headed the "high-ranking delegation," which Abbas' Fatah party immediately sent off to convey condolences upon the death of Mughniyeh. The delegation "laid three wreaths on the grave of Martyr Jihad Mughniyeh... on behalf of the embassy of the State of Palestine, the PLO and Fatah." Speaking "in the name of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - Fatah; in the name of the PLO and the resisting Palestinian people," Shanaah said:
"We hereby express our heartfelt condolences to [our] brothers in the Hezbollah leadership and to the families of the Martyrs. We are in the same trench, and are resisting the same enemy."
[Ma'an (independent Palestinian news agency) Jan. 21, 2015]
He further emphasized Fatah's, PLO's and the Palestinian people's "adherence to the principle of struggle and Jihad between us and our brothers in Hezbollah":
"Cowardly acts such as these (i.e., the Israeli airstrike)... merely strengthen our adherence and determination to resist this enemy... We will adhere even more to our goals and Palestinian national principles... and that of struggle and Jihad between us and our brothers in Hezbollah and all the forces acting to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem."
[Ma'an (independent Palestinian news agency) Jan. 21, 2015]
Abbas' Fatah party was also quick to greet Mughniyeh as a "hero" and a "Martyr," posting the following text on its Facebook page:
"Rest in peace, a hero's rest, and give greetings to your father from the free men. Martyr (Shahid) Jihad Mughniyeh."
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page",Jan. 18, 2015]
Abbas' advisor and Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein also sent terror organization Hezbollah "our best wishes for its Martyrs":
"We convey to Hezbollah our best wishes for its Martyrs, and are certain that its reaction is inevitable, and that it will not pass over this crime in silence."
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member
Sultan Abu Al-Einein, Jan. 20, 2015]
Palestinian Media Watchhas exposed that Al-Einein glorified the murder of five people in a Jerusalem synagogue in November, blessing their "quality weapons."
He has also previously glorified terrorist killers like Dalal Mughrabiand blessed "the breast that nursed" a terrorist who stabbed a man to death.
Several Western countries, among them the US, Canada, France, and the Netherlands, have, like Israel, designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Others, among them the EU, Australia, New Zealand and the UK have only listed the organization's military wing as such.
The following are longer excerpts of some of the items quoted above:
Headline: "Palestine offers its condolences to Hezbollah"
"Following the assassination of a group of Hezbollah activists in Quneitra by Israeli occupation forces, the ambassador of the State of Palestine in Lebanon, Ashraf Dabbour, expressed his condolences on Tuesday at the Al-Imam Al-Mujtaba compound. He was accompanied by the commander of the [PA] National Security [Forces] in Lebanon, Major-General Subhi Abu Arab and his deputy Major-General Munir Al-Maqdah.
In addition, a high-ranking delegation sent by the Fatah leadership headed by the director of [Fatah's Lebanon] branch, Rifat Shanaah, [which included] the branch members and Fatah Secretary-General in Beirut Samir Abu Afash... expressed their condolences at the Al-Imam Al-Mujtaba compound.
The Fatah delegation laid three wreaths on the grave of Martyr (
Shahid) Jihad Mughniyeh (son of Martyr Imad Mughniyeh) [parenthesis in source] on behalf of the embassy of the State of Palestine, the PLO and Fatah... As they were laying the wreaths, Rifat Shanaah said: 'In the name of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - Fatah; in the name of the PLO and the resisting Palestinian people, we
hereby express our heartfelt condolences to [our] brothers in the Hezbollah leadership and to the families of the Martyrs. We are in the same trench, and are resisting the same enemy.'
He said: 'We emphasize that cowardly acts such as these and those [committed] against our young men and our people in Palestine, Lebanon or anywhere else merely strengthen our adherence and determination to resist this enemy, who robs our people. We will adhere even more to our goals and Palestinian national principles and to the unity of our position and that of struggle and Jihad between us and our brothers in Hezbollah and all the forces acting to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem. We say to the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) that their sons, their Martyrs, are the Martyrs of the Palestinian people.'
Hezbollah's deputy commissioner on the Palestinian issue, Sheikh Atallah Hammud, said: 'In the Martyrs' garden, by the tomb of Martyr Imad Mughniyeh, his son Martyr Jihad Mughniyeh and all the [other] Martyrs, we give thanks to our brothers in the PLO and Fatah for their participation. We emphasize that the Martyrs who fell at Quneitra fell on the path to Palestine, and for Palestine. We emphasize... that we will continue to stride down the path and that our goal is Palestine and will remain Palestine. Blessings to all the Martyrs who protected the honor of this nation.'"
Hezbollah's deputy commissioner on the Palestinian issue, Sheikh Atallah Hammud, said: 'In the Martyrs' garden, by the tomb of Martyr Imad Mughniyeh, his son Martyr Jihad Mughniyeh and all the [other] Martyrs, we give thanks to our brothers in the PLO and Fatah for their participation. We emphasize that the Martyrs who fell at Quneitra fell on the path to Palestine, and for Palestine. We emphasize... that we will continue to stride down the path and that our goal is Palestine and will remain Palestine. Blessings to all the Martyrs who protected the honor of this nation.'"
[Ma'an (independent Palestinian news agency) Jan. 21, 2015]
Imad Mughniyeh - senior member of Hezbollah who was linked to major international terror attacks, including but not limited to: the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut (63 killed), the 1983 bombing of the US army barracks in Beirut (241 killed), the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847 (1 killed), the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires (29 killed), and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudia Arabia (19 Americans killed). He was also linked to the Karine-A affair, a failed attempt to smuggle 50 tons of illegal weapons to the Palestinian Authority in 2002, and to numerous attacks along the Israel-Lebanon border. He was killed in a car bombing in 2008.
Jihad Mughniyeh - Commander of Hezbollah in the Syrian Golan Heights and son of Imad Mughniyeh. Information about Mughniyeh is scarce, but according to Western intelligence sources quoted in the international media, he was planning and preparing terror attacks against Israel in the Golan Heights, including rocket fire and explosive devices meant to target Israeli soldiers and civilians. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike on January 18, 2015.
Text posted by Abbas' advisor and Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein on his official Facebook page:
"While Hezbollah escorts this group of Martyrs (Shahid) [to Paradise], it is fully aware that Israel is afraid and waiting [for its reaction]...
We convey to Hezbollah our best wishes for its Martyrs, and are certain that its reaction is inevitable, and that it will not pass over this crime in silence... And if we go back and quickly analyze the words of Secretary-General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, [we will see] that he has many options at his disposal, and Israel understands that all these options are now on the table.
This brings us to the inescapable conclusion that Israel, which opened a door without knowing what would come through it, gambled with the lives and security of millions of settlers and soldiers when it assassinated members and commanders of Hezbollah. Moreover, this shows that Israel is unaware of what the price would be of this gamble, which the prime minister of Tel Aviv (i.e., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) believed would tip the votes in his favor ...
No one in the entire world would want to be in Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's shoes right now, after his face was wallowed in the dust of Paris, the Hague and New York, and after it will wallow [in the dust] under the weight of Beirut, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Rahat and the Negev.
In conclusion, if he has even a drop of dignity left, and if he wishes to keep it, he must make the decision himself to leave politics, after having heightened Israel's isolation, dragged it to the International Criminal Court, and inflamed its northern front - for he will surely be dismissed, and ultimately imprisoned in Israel or by the international community, which has had enough of him."
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member
Sultan Abu Al-Einein,Jan. 20, 2015]
Sultan Abu Al-Einein,Jan. 20, 2015]
Posted text: "Martyr (Shahid) Jihad Mughniyeh"
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", Jan. 18, 2015]