The PA connection to the 1929 murder of 130 Jews
Today marks 90 years since the Hebron Massacre of 67 Jews. Rampaging Arabs also murdered Jews in Jerusalem and Tzefat. In total, in the course of just one week, Arabs murdered 130 Jews.
While the massacre took place in 1929, over 60 years before its creation, the Palestinian Authority has wholeheartedly adopted the event, glorifying three of its participants and perpetuating the spark that ignited the massacre.
In the aftermath of the massacres, British mandate forces arrested and prosecuted dozens of Arabs. While most of the death sentences handed down were commuted to life imprisonment, three Arabs who, according to a report by the British government to the League of Nations, "committed particularly brutal murders at Safad and Hebron" were put to death on June 17, 1930.
Every year the PA marks the execution of these three murderers - Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir.
In June this year, on the 89th anniversary of their execution, PA TV marked the execution of "the three heroes" and used the opportunity to add that they have become "a legend of self-sacrifice for the homeland" and that "souls that have been sacrificed for their country will not die." In this manner, the PA constantly reinforces its message that dying while carrying out an act of terrorism is an outcome that guarantees that the souls of the terrorists do not die.
Official PA TV newsreader: "Eighty-nine years and the wound still bleeds every day, and the words still echo during stormy emotions over the execution of the three heroes - Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir... The three Martyrs were executed by the [British] Mandate authorities on the pretext of their participation in the 'Al-Buraq rebellion' protests, which broke out when the Jews organized a large demonstration for what they called 'the anniversary of the destruction of Solomon's Temple' and the next day they held an additional demonstration through the streets of Jerusalem until they reached the Al-Buraq Wall and there they read their hymns in a highly provocative manner to which the proud souls are not accustomed. The Palestinians came out - and among them the three Martyrs too... Songs have commemorated the three Martyrs and turned them into a legend of self-sacrifice for the homeland, and have emphasized that the souls that have been sacrificed for their country will not die."
Official PA TV News, June 17, 2019
In 2016, a spokesman for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party even went as far as demanding that Britain should "submit an official and public apology to our people... and to the families of the Palestinian Martyrs (Shahids) who were executed in cold blood by the British Mandate forces on June 17, 1930".
He also called "to include the names of the heroes of the Al-Buraq revolution in the Martyrs' list of the national Palestinian prisoners' movement, because their cause contains the uniqueness of the Palestinian historical narrative and it holds within it the fragrance of the experience of a remarkable Palestinian struggle and the historical story of our people since the British Mandate. Likewise, he emphasized that the eternal national event of the death as Martyrs of the three heroic prisoners should be noted in order to remind Britain and the world of the tragedy of our people and its expulsion by force from its lands." [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 30, 2016]
The PA and Palestinians refer to the massacre as the Al-Buraq revolution. The PA justifies the murder of 130 Jews saying that it was in response to Jews marking the fast of the 9th of the Jewish month of Av - the day on which both Jewish Temples were destroyed - by singing the Jewish national anthem at the Western Wall. The PA refers to Western Wall as the Al-Buraq wall.
This year too, the PA instigated and initiated violence, in rejection of 'Jews' right to visit the Temple Mount on the 9th of Av.
The three murderers are today an integral part of the Palestinian terror glorification, and Palestinians refer to them in their songs.
Singer Raed Kabha: "From Acre Prison is one of the most famous songs written by popular poet Nouh Ibrahim, who was a prisoner in the Acre Prison several years after the hanging of the three heroes (i.e., murderers Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir), which perpetuated the memory of the heroes and became an epic in the popular literature and a famous national song.
'From Acre Prison went forth the funeral
Of Muhammad Jamjoum and Fuad Hijazi.
Take revenge for them, my people,
Against the [British] High Commissioner and his people.'"Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 5, 2017
It would appear that in the 90 years that have passed since the massacre very little has changed. Palestinians still consider the murderers of Jews as heroes to be emulated and the Temple Mount is still used as a rallying call for violence against Jews.
Below are a sample of additional PA and Fatah references to the murderers and their hero status, just in the last few years:
2019
Headline: "89 years since the execution of the Al-Buraq Rebellion heroes Jamjoum, Hijazi, and Al-Zir"
"Yesterday, Monday [June 17, 2019], was the 89th anniversary of the execution of the three Martyrs of the Al-Buraq Rebellion - Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir - by the British Mandate authorities.
The story of the three heroes began after the British police arrested a group of young Palestinians following the outbreak of the Al-Buraq Rebellion. The rebellion broke out when the Jews held a large protest on Aug. 14, 1929 for what they call 'the anniversary of the destruction of Solomon's Temple'
The following day, Friday, [August] 16... the Muslims, including the three Martyrs, came in masses to defend the Al-Buraq Wall because the Jews intended to take control of it, and clashes broke out in most parts of Palestine.
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 18, 2019
Headline: "The anniversary of the execution of the Al-Buraq Rebellion heroes still dwells in the hearts of our people"
"Even though 89 years have passed since the execution of the Al-Buraq Rebellion heroes Ataa Al-Zir and Muhammad Jamjoum from Hebron and Fuad Hijazi from Safed in the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel)... by the British Mandate forces, the memory of this group's execution still dwells in the hearts of all of the Palestinian people...
Muhammad Walid Al-Zir Al-Husseini (69), the grandson of heroic Martyr Ataa Al-Zir, told the story to [the official PA news agency] WAFA as he heard it from his mother: My grandfather shattered his handcuffs and went to the noose with his head held high, happy over the Martyrdom-death (Shahada) for Palestine and its holy sites, unafraid of death.'"
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 18, 2019
At a summer camp for kids named "I am a Palestinian," a poster on a wall shows a list with the names of 10 prominent Palestinians on it. Among presidents and poets are the three 1929 massacre murderers and several other terrorist murderers, including Dalal Mughrabi and Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin
Names on poster:
1. [Former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat
2. [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas
3. Atta Al-Zir
4. Muhammad Jamjoum
5. Fuad Hijazi (Al-Zir, Jamjoum, and Hijazi were murderers from the 1929 Hebron Massacre and accompanying riots -Ed.)
6. Ahmed Yassin (i.e., founder of the Hamas terror organization)
7. Mahmoud Darwish (i.e., Palestinian poet)
8. Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children)
9. Ibrahim Touqan (i.e., Palestinian poet)
10. Fadwa Touqan (i.e., Palestinian poet)
Posted text: "The summer camps are a factory for talent."Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, July 14, 2019
2018
Headline: "Fatah: Hijazi, Al-Zir, and Jamjoum are an example for the people that does not kneel"
"On the 88th anniversary of the execution of the three heroes Muhammad Jamjoum, Ataa Al-Zir, and Fuad Hijazi ... the Fatah Movement said that they are heroes who rejected humiliation. It added that they defended the Arab identity of Palestine, and specifically of Jerusalem and the Islamic Al-Buraq Wall and they resisted the Judaization, the taking control, and the attempts to forge history.
Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council member and Official [Fatah] Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi emphasized that these three heroes were and will remain a symbol of pride, honor, and greatness, and will remain an example for the Palestinian people that only kneels before the One and Only [Allah]."
Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), June 17, 2018
In an interview on PA TV with Palestinian painter in Jordan Mahmoud Boulis about his paintings on the suffering of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause, pictures of the three murderers were included alongside other terrorists such as Dalal Mughrabi who led the murder of 37, 12 of them children; Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf), head of the Black September terror organization; George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization; Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir), head of the PLO terror organization's military wing who was responsible for the murder of 125; Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Hamas terror organization; Yahya Ayyash, the first Hamas bomb-maker; Wadi' Haddad, PFLP terrorist responsible for a number of airplane hijackings; senior Fatah leader Majed Abu Sharar; senior Fatah commander Saad Sayel; and former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
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Official Palestinian Authority TV, June 16, 2018
2017
Headline: "The anniversary of the deaths of the Martyrs (Shahids) of the Al-Buraq Rebellion: Jamjoum, Hijazi, and Al-Zir"
"Yesterday [June 17, 2017] was the 87th anniversary of the execution of the heroes of the Al-Buraq Rebellion, Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir, by the British Mandate authorities.
The British Mandate forces arrested Jamjoum, Hijazi, and Al-Zir together with a group of young Palestinians following the Al-Buraq Rebellion, which broke out when settlers demonstrated on Aug. 14, 1929, for what is called the Day of the Destruction of the Temple, and on Aug. 15 they held a procession in the streets of Jerusalem that reached the Al-Buraq Wall.At the time, the Mandate police (sic., court) sentenced 26 Palestinians who took part in defending the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., took part in the Massacre) to death. Later it lightened the sentences of 23 of them to life, but left the death sentence against Jamjoum, Hijazi, and Al-Zir in place...
The day before their execution, the three heroes wrote a letter in which was stated: 'Now, as we stand before the gates of eternity and give our souls for the holy homeland, precious Palestine, we ask of all Palestinians that our spilled blood and our souls - which will hover in the skies of this beloved land - not be forgotten. [We ask] to remember that we gave our souls and skulls of our own will, so that they will serve as a foundation for building the independence of our nation and its freedom. [We ask] that the nation continue to persevere in its unity and Jihad for the redemption of Palestine from the enemies, that it protect its lands and not sell even a handbreadth of them to the enemies, that its determination not be harmed or weakened as a result of the threats, and that it struggle until achieving victory.'"
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 18, 2017
In a post on the Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations, Tawfiq Tirawi added:
"Today is the anniversary of Red Tuesday - Martyrs (Shahids) Muhammad Jamjoum, Ataa Al-Zir, and Fuad Hijazi, who were executed in the Acre Prison yard, and were an icon of Martyrdom-death (Shahada) for freedom.
An era of sacrifices emphasizes that victory will undoubtedly come. A blessing of peace for the souls of the Martyrs of Red Tuesday, brought to those who are loftier than all of us, the honored lords."Facebook page of Tawfiq Tirawi, member of Fatah Central Committee, June 17, 2017
2016
Headline: "The execution of the heroes [Muhammad] Jamjoun, [Fuad] Hijazi, and [Ataa] Al-Zir - remembered forever"
"Yesterday, Friday [June 17, 2016], was the anniversary of the execution of the heroic Martyrs (Shahids) of the Al-Buraq rebellion Muhammad Jamjoun, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir, by the British Mandate authorities. On this date in 1930 these Martyrs were executed at the citadel prison in Acre, despite the Arab protests and condemnations.
The story of the three heroes began when British [Mandate] police forces arrested a group of young Palestinians after the Al-Buraq rebellion - the rebellion that began when the herds of settlers held a large demonstration on Sept. 14 (sic), 1929, in honor of 'the anniversary of the destruction of Solomon's Temple' as they call it. The day after, Sept. 15, they held a large and unprecedented demonstration in the streets of Jerusalem, until they reached the Al-Buraq Wall, and there they began to play the 'national Zionist anthem,' while cursing the Muslims.The next day, Sept. 16, was Prophet [Muhammad's] birthday. The Muslims - including the three heroes - came out in their masses to protect the Al-Buraq Wall, which the Jews planned on taking over, so that the confrontation between the Arabs and the Zionists was inevitable in the various Palestinian areas.
Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 18, 2016
Headline: "[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas] Zaki: The Martyrs (Shahids) [Muhammad] Jamjoum, [Fuad] Hijazi, and [Ataa] Al-Zir are an unprecedented example of courage and Martyrdom for Palestine"
"Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said that the fact that
the heroic Martyrs (Shahids) Muhammad Jamjoum, Fuad Hijazi, and Ataa Al-Zir competed among themselves to [be the first to] merit the honor of dying as Martyrs for Palestine is proof of their rare and unprecedented courage...In an interview today [June 18, 2016]...Zaki described the Martyrs Jamjoum, Hijazi, and Al-Zir as symbols of honor and heroism for all Arabs. He said that they taught a clear lesson regarding all that is related to the unity of the land and the homeland, and noted that the Palestinian people still make sure to mark the anniversary of the three Martyrs, who sacrificed themselves for the homeland and in order to defend their homeland Palestine."
Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, June 18, 2016