Imprisoned terrorists and “Martyrs” glorified at Ramadan event
Headline: “A tribute to a number of families of Martyrs and prisoners – the conclusion of the activities of the Return (i.e., of the refugees) cultural competitions in Deheisheh with the victory of the Aida [refugee] camp team”
“Yesterday [May 25, 2019], the IBDA [Cultural Center] institute concluded the activities of the annual Ramadan Return competitions, with the participation of the Art and Culture Department of the Public Council for Community Peace in the Deheisheh [refugee] camp in the Bethlehem district, with the victory of the Aida [refugee] camp team over the Beit Jibrin [refugee] camp team in the final competition, in the presence of Bethlehem Governor Kamel Hamid, former Minister (sic., former Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs) Issa Karake, Martyrs and prisoners’ families, and an audience of residents, NGO representatives, and activists from throughout the district.
At the beginning of the competition… a tribute was held for the families of Martyrs Saleh Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, murderered 1 together with his brother), Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh (i.e., terrorist, recruited and trained other terrorists and prepared explosives), Danial Abu Hamama (i.e., terrorist, involved in shooting attacks in Jerusalem), and [the families of] prisoners Karim Younes (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1 together with his cousin) and Fakhri Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1 together with an accomplice), who were invited to be hosted at the fast-breaking meal table of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners at the Deheisheh camp…
Hamid praised the efforts of the IBDA institute to bring about the success of the annual Return competition activities… while explaining that these activities contribute to a deepening of the affiliation and adherence to the right and to the dream of the return of the refugees to their homes from which they were expelled, and to the Palestinian people’s rights to independence, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Karake praised the efforts of the IBDA institute, the management, teams, and all those working on the Ramadan Return activities, and said: 'Palestine – with its struggle, its Martyrs, its prisoners and its tortured, its geography and its history – was present at the Deheisheh camp at all of these wonderful evening events, which are overflowing with love, national affiliation, harmony, and pluralism. Mahmoud Darwish (i.e., Palestinian national poet; see note below), Ghassan Kanafani (i.e., writer and leader of the PFLP terror organization), [former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat, George Habash (i.e., founder of the PFLP terror organization), [Khalil Al-Wazir] Abu Jihad (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 125), Izz A-Din Al-Qassam (i.e., Muslim terror group leader in British Mandate Palestine), Fahran Al-Sa'adi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of at least 2), Edward Sa'id (i.e., Palestinian-American literary theorist and Palestinian activist), “Guevara [of Gaza]” (i.e., Muhammad Al-Aswad, PFLP member), [former Egyptian President Gamal] Abdel Nasser, and [former South African President Nelson] Mandela were with us… and all of the prophets, Imams, monks, and patriarchs.'
IBDA institute Director Khaled Al-Seifi said: 'The Ramadan evenings of Return activity program, with the participation of the
the Art and Culture Department of the [Public] Council for Community Peace in the Deheisheh camp, is striving to revive the Palestinian memory and strengthen the culture of the right of return, and the adherence to the Palestinian principles and the values of harmony and pluralism.’ … He noted that a tribute was held for 30 families of Martyrs and prisoners in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, and the Interior (i.e., Israel), including the families of Martyrs ‘Guevara of Gaza,’ Muhammad Adwan from the Qalandiya [refugee] camp (i.e., killed while participating in violent confrontation with Israeli soldiers), Jaris Qanqar from Beit Jala (i.e., communist party member, killed by Israeli soldiers in 1988 while participating in a protest march), Mahmoud Nakhleh from the Jalazone [refugee] camp (i.e., killed while participating in confrontation with Israeli soldiers), female Martyr Christine Sa'adeh from Bethlehem (i.e., Arab-Israeli girl accidentally shot and killed by Israeli soldiers attempting to apprehend wanted terrorists), and the family of late prisoner Ali Al-Qattawi (i.e., PFLP member, imprisoned and released in prisoner exchange deal, died of natural causes in 2019), and the families of prisoner Muhammad Al-Tous (i.e., terrorist, ordered murder of 3 and participated in murder of 2) from the village of Jab'a west of Bethlehem who was sentenced to life, who has already spent more than 30 years in the occupation's prison, and prisoner Walid Daqqa (i.e., terrorist participated in murder of 1) from the interior who has been serving life in prison for the last three decades, and the families of the two Martyrs Ashraf Na'alwa (i.e., terrorist, murdered 2) and Jayel Al-Arja, and prisoners Mahmoud and Nasser Abu Sorour (i.e., terrorists, murdered 1)."
Saleh Barghouti – Palestinian terrorist who, together with his brother Asem Barghouti and other terrorists, shot and wounded 7 Israelis - a pregnant woman, her husband, another man, and 4 teenagers - in a drive-by shooting attack next to Ofra, north of Jerusalem, on Dec. 9, 2018. Saleh Barghouti was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during an attempt to apprehend him, during which other terrorists from the attack were taken into custody; Asem Barghouti – who also participated in the Givat Assaf shooting attack on Dec. 13, 2018, in which 2 were murdered - was arrested on Jan. 8, 2019.
Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh - Hamas member who was serving a life term for recruiting and training terrorists, preparing explosives for suicide bombings, attempted murder, and possession of weapons. Died of cancer while being treated at the Israeli Soroka Hospital in April 2013.
Danial Abu Hamama – Terrorist and Tanzim (Fatah terror faction) member who took part in shooting attacks targeting the Gilo and Har Homa neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Abu Hamama was killed in an exchange of gunfire while resisting arrest by Israeli forces on June 23, 2006.
Karim Younes - Israeli Arab terrorist who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980 together with his cousin Maher Younes. Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012. Younes is serving a 40-year sentence. In May 2017 Younes was appointed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Fatah Central Committee. Younes was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2023.
Nael and Fakhri Barghouti – Palestinian terrorists who murdered an Israeli army officer in January 1978, near Ramallah. Both were sentenced to life but were released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. Nael Barghouti was arrested again in 2014 for violating the terms of his release by offering Hamas to serve as its minister of prisoners' affairs, and is serving a life sentence plus an additional 18 years.
Mahmoud Darwish is considered the Palestinian national poet. He published over 30 volumes of poetry and 8 books of prose and has won numerous awards. He joined the Israeli Communist Party in 1961 and the terrorist organization PLO in 1973, becoming a member of the PLO Executive Committee in 1987. He left the PLO in 1993 because it signed the Oslo Accords with Israel. Many in Israel see his poetry as inciting hate and violence. One poem he wrote in 1988 at the height of the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel in which approximately 200 Israelis were murdered (the first Intifada, 1987-1993) calls to Israelis: “Take your portion of our blood - and be gone… Live wherever you like, but do not live among us… Die wherever you like, but do not die among us… Leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds, everything, and leave the memories of memory.” In 1964, he wrote a poem entitled "ID Card" in which he said: "I do not hate people, And I do not steal from anyone, But if I starve I will eat my oppressors' flesh; Beware, beware of my starving, And my rage." He also wrote “Silence for the Sake of Gaza” in 1973, which many see as glorifying terror: “She wraps explosives around her waist and blows herself up. It is not a death, and not a suicide. It is Gaza's way of declaring she is worthy of life.” His defenders have claimed that Israel misinterprets his poetry and that he sought reconciliation with Israel. One wrote in 2017: “Darwish arranged meetings between Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals, and published essays on their discussions. He was optimistic that, through mutual understanding, the two sides could eventually reconcile.” [https://www.bcalnoor.org/]
Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.
George Habash - Founder of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000- 2005 (the Intifada).
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.
Sheikh Izz A-Din Al-Qassam was an influential Islamic preacher in British Mandate Palestine during the 1930s. He led a Muslim terror group. The Hamas terror wing is named after him – the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.
Fahran Al-Sa'adi - Arab terrorist during the British Mandate in Palestine. He rebelled against the British Mandate, participated in the 1929 riots - during which over 100 Jews were murdered, and then spent 3 years in a British prison. After his release, he joined the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ military wing), leading them after the death of Izz A-Din Al-Qassam in 1935. He led an attack against a bus on the Nablus-Tulkarem road in which 3 Jews were removed from the bus and shot, 2 murdered and 1 wounded, on April 15, 1936. The British arrested Al-Sa'adi in 1937 and sentenced him to death, and he was executed on Nov. 27, 1937.
Muhammad Al-Aswad "The Guevara of Gaza" - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member who was killed in a confrontation with Israeli soldiers in Gaza in March 1973.
Mahmoud Nakhleh – 16-year-old Palestinian rioter who was killed while participating in confrontations with Israeli soldiers near Ramallah on Dec. 14, 2018.
Muhammad Al-Tous - Palestinian terrorist and Fatah member who was the commander of a terrorist cell that attacked 5 civilian buses in September 1985, wounding 16 passengers. He also issued the command to murder Zalman Abolnik in March 1984 and Meir Ben Yair and Michal Cohen in July 1985, and took part in the murder of Mordechai Suissa and Edna Harari in October 1985. Al-Tous is serving life in prison.
Walid Daqqa - Israeli Arab member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He is serving a life sentence for being part of the squad that kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.
Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa – 23-year-old Palestinian terrorist who shot and murdered 2 of his Israeli coworkers - Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel, a 28-year-old mother of an 18-month-old infant, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three - in a factory in the Barkan Industrial Zone near Ariel on Oct. 7, 2018. Na'alwa fled the scene, but was located on Dec. 13, 2018 in Nablus and shot and killed in a shootout. Israel partially demolished Na'alwa's house as a deterrent measure on Dec. 17, 2018.The Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' military wing) claimed responsibility for the attack. Until this attack, the Barkan Industrial Zone had been an example of coexistence with Israelis and Palestinians working together.
Jayel Al-Arja – Palestinian terrorist and head of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Latin America who was involved in the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 on June 27,1976, whose passengers were freed in Israel’s Operation Entebbe. Al-Arja was killed during the attack.
Mahmoud and Nasser Abu Sorour – Palestinian terrorists who participated in planning and carrying out the assassination of Israeli security agent Haim Nachmani on Jan. 3, 1993, in Jerusalem. Each is serving life in prison.