Fatah already planning terror campaign to prevent US embassy move
Fatah already planning terror campaign
to prevent US embassy move to Jerusalem
- Fatah official: Fatah is holding meetings with “all of the field leaders... in preparation for a fierce popular intifada”
- "We won't... hesitate to take to the streets and return to confronting the occupation using all means"
- “America and the entire world will be witness to the collapse of the peace process and instability, and not only in Palestine”
- “Fatah said in a statement that this will cause an explosion in the entire world”
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Abbas’ Fatah Movement has already held meetings in preparation for a terror campaign against Israel should the United States decide to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Deputy Secretary of Fatah’s Jerusalem branch, Shadi Mattour.
Mattour told official PA TV that Fatah is holding meetings with “all the field leaders in the branches and the Shabiba (Fatah’s youth movement)... in preparation for a fierce popular intifada.” He declared that Fatah “won't hesitate to take to the streets and return to confronting the occupation using all means."
The term “using all means” is a Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror. Already last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that PA and Fatah leaders are preparing the population for a violent response to a decision to move the embassy by threatening that an embassy move will lead to bloodshed .
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The Palestinian Authority is indicating that it expects that threats of violence, and if need be, a strong violent response “using all means” will force US President Trump to retract his decision:
“Secretary-General of the National and Islamic Forces [and PLO Executive Committee member] Dr. Wasel Abu Yusuf said that transferring the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will cause the spread of terror and harm to the region’s stability, and emphasized the actions to find tools to pressure the new American administration in order to prevent it from approving the transfer.’”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Jan. 24, 2017]
PMW notes that this high number of threats to use violence by senior PA leaders is unprecedented during the Abbas administration.
The last time PA officials expressed many threats to use violence was during Sept - Oct 2015, which sparked many months of Palestinian terror.
Many PA and Fatah leaders have added more threats:
“Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki emphasized that they will not sit idly by if the new American administration decides to transfer its embassy to occupied Jerusalem, and predicted a new type of mobilization to save the city... Zaki said in press statements: ‘We do not see Palestine without Jerusalem and therefore if the American embassy is moved to the city, we will be exempt from all of the obligations and will renounce all existing ties, and whoever knocks on the door will hear a reply.’
He added: ‘I fully believe that we will not sit idly by, and we will not be alone, as there are people that love Jerusalem and understand its spiritual status, and a new type of mobilization, that nobody expected, will begin to save the holiest site on the planet.’
Zaki emphasized that Jerusalem is the mother of battles, and without it life is of little value. He noted that they are at the stage of preparations to resolve their situation and resolve the Palestinian situation in general, so they will be ready for the next confrontation...
Zaki said: ‘The Palestinians are a people of power, and Allah chose them to protect His holiest site, and in the end we will win and the Zionist extremists will pay the price.”
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Jan. 23, 2017]
“Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen said ... ‘Transferring the embassy will destroy the possibilities of peace, and the response to it if it is implemented will be confrontation with the occupation on the ground by all possible means’ ... District Governor of Hebron Kamel Hamid... noted that Jerusalem is ‘a symbol of the intifadas, the conflicts, and the wars, but also a symbol of stability, peace, and love. Whoever dares [to act] against it will burn in its fire, and it is the red line of everyone respectable in the world.’ ... Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki mentioned the danger of the decision to transfer the American embassy to Jerusalem, and warned against the danger of the position and its consequences. He noted that the Fatah Central Committee has decided to oppose this decision using all means.’... Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul... added that the Palestinian people is prepared for any sacrifice for Jerusalem and the land of Palestine, and cannot agree to this step.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 20, 2017]
"Fatah Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations] Abbas Zaki emphasized today, Tuesday [Jan. 24, 2017], that if the American embassy is transferred to Jerusalem, the PA has many and unlimited options for coming out against this step.”
[Palestine Today, independent Palestinian news agency, Jan 24, 2017]
The following is a longer excerpt from the PA TV program mentioned above:
Official PA TV host: “Transferring the American embassy to Jerusalem, the occupied capital, is against international law, and constitutes a crossing of all lines and a violation of all the international norms and conventions, which have confirmed that the city is an occupied city. All the international bodies have related to it on the basis of this principle. The hostility being displayed by the American Congress and the [American] administrations toward the rights of the Palestinian people is unprecedented, and requires an appropriate response by the states that are members of the [UN] Security Council, the UN, and the Arab and Islamic states. The occupation state and the US that supports it must understand that the Palestinian people and its legitimate leadership have enough willpower to fight and to endure over the coming decades - and if they approach the red lines, it will turn into ferocity and defiance that will allow it to defend the sites holy to Islam and Christianity, the independence of its Palestinian state, and its eternal capital, Jerusalem.”
Deputy Secretary of Fatah in Jerusalem Shadi Mattour: "We in Fatah, at all levels of the movement and the leadership, have said that this is a declaration of war, the collapse of the peace process, and that it will cause an explosion in the street. Fatah has begun a series of meetings with all of the field leaders at the branches,in Shabiba (youth movement), and all its offices, in preparation for a fierce popular intifada if this decision is carried out. We won't be embarrassed or hesitate to take to the streets and return to confronting the occupation using all means (i.e., including violence) if this decision is implemented. If the embassy is moved, we think that America and the entire world will be witness to the collapse of the peace process and instability, and not only in Palestine. Yesterday, Fatah said in a statement that this will cause an explosion in the entire world."
[Official PA TV, The Occupied Capital, Jan. 24, 2017]
The terms "all means," "peaceful uprising,” and “popular uprising" are often used by PA leaders to refer to events that include violence and deadly terror against Israeli civilians such as rock-throwing, stabbings and even shootings. See Mahmoud Abbas' reference to murderous terror as "peaceful" during the 2015-2016 terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), which included numerous stabbings, shootings and car ramming attacks in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded.