Official PA daily: Resistance is legitimate and should not be called "terrorism" - Israel is the "source of terrorism"
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
“Describing the Palestinian resistance as ‘terrorism’ is irrational; it contradicts UN conventions and regulations and the right of [all] nations to self-determination and liberation from the yoke of occupation and aggression.
Therefore, the whole world – especially the West, and specifically the US – must stop describing the [Palestinian] resistance as terrorism, since the origin and source of terrorism is the Israeli occupation and aggression – the settlement, Judaization and expropriation of lands; the demolishing of homes; the arrest of innocent children, women and elderly; the revoking of ID cards; the construction of the racist separation fence; the isolation, dangerous violations, invasion of peaceful areas and so forth.
This is terrorism, and this is the factor that strengthens the racist and fascist Israeli tendencies. It places a large question mark over all the media outlets, media platforms and political leaderships of those countries that use the term ‘terrorism’ to describe the Palestinian resistance, because the resistance, in all its forms, is legitimate, and is consistent with the spirit of international law.”
Note: This article was published during the 2014 Gaza war as Hamas was firing hundreds of rockets at Israel and as Israel was responding with Operation Protective Edge, which aimed at destroying Hamas' terror infrastructure and ability to launch rockets at Israel.
“Describing the Palestinian resistance as ‘terrorism’ is irrational; it contradicts UN conventions and regulations and the right of [all] nations to self-determination and liberation from the yoke of occupation and aggression.
Therefore, the whole world – especially the West, and specifically the US – must stop describing the [Palestinian] resistance as terrorism, since the origin and source of terrorism is the Israeli occupation and aggression – the settlement, Judaization and expropriation of lands; the demolishing of homes; the arrest of innocent children, women and elderly; the revoking of ID cards; the construction of the racist separation fence; the isolation, dangerous violations, invasion of peaceful areas and so forth.
This is terrorism, and this is the factor that strengthens the racist and fascist Israeli tendencies. It places a large question mark over all the media outlets, media platforms and political leaderships of those countries that use the term ‘terrorism’ to describe the Palestinian resistance, because the resistance, in all its forms, is legitimate, and is consistent with the spirit of international law.”
Note: This article was published during the 2014 Gaza war as Hamas was firing hundreds of rockets at Israel and as Israel was responding with Operation Protective Edge, which aimed at destroying Hamas' terror infrastructure and ability to launch rockets at Israel.