Top Fatah official calls for “escalation” so Israelis will “pay a heavy price every day”

Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki:

• "There is no avoiding an escalating policy on the ground with great momentum from the masses, which will not allow the occupiers to live routine lives. Their occupation of our land must have a heavy price, which they will pay every day"

• "If we [Fatah and Hamas] consolidate our ranks and unify our internal front... then we will certainly defeat our enemy, which is Israel."

Zaki in speech to Palestinian youth:

• "If this enemy [Israel] and America continue with their arrogance, then [our descendants will wave the flag] above Jaffa, the Negev, the Galilee, the Carmel, the Triangle, etc. Land that we don't restore - we are not worthy of it."

One of Fatah's top officials, Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, has called for Fatah-Hamas to unite in order to "defeat" Israel, the common "enemy":

"If we consolidate our ranks and unify our internal front we will begin to work with an open mind, will, and strategy that are undebatable, then we will certainly defeat our enemy, which is Israel."

[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 22, 2019]

In response to US Envoy Jason Greenblatt's statements at a UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East on July 23, 2019, that the West Bank is "disputed" and not "occupied" territory, Zaki called for escalation "on the ground" - implicitly calling for violence against Israelis - to "not allow the occupiers to live routine lives" but make them pay "a heavy price every day":

"There is no avoiding an escalating policy on the ground with great momentum from the masses, which will not allow the occupiers to live routine lives. Their occupation of our land must have a heavy price, which they will pay every day."

[Al-Dustour, Jordanian news website, Sept. 8, 2019]

Zaki also repeated two dangerous libels used by the PA to incite Palestinian violence, claiming that Israel is a "desecrator of holy sites" and is planning to destroy "Palestinian existence":

"Unity is the necessary path for those whose land is occupied and our basic enmity cannot be between us, but rather towards the occupier of the country and desecrator of holy sites, whose goal is to end the Palestinian existence in its country."

[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 22, 2019]

Zaki appealed to the Arab states to join the defense of the holy sites, threatening that Allah will punish them with defeat if they don't defend "Palestine." He also repeated yet another PA libel that the two blue stripes on Israel's flag is testimony of Israel's aspiration to create a Greater Israel between the two rivers, the Euphrates and the Nile: 

"We hope that the [Arab] brothers... will ask themselves where they stand regarding their holy sites and the fortress that is defending them from the aspirations of 'Israel' and its permanent motto - as is clear in its flag between the two blue stripes - 'From the Euphrates [River] to the Nile [River]'? Where do they [the Arabs] stand regarding the connections of brotherhood, blood, and shared fate? We say in a clear voice that those who turn their back on Palestine and Jerusalem will be defeated in the end, regardless of how great their capabilities may be. Whoever is for Palestine will triumph, because they are defending Allah's holy sites. Whoever is for Allah triumphs, while those who are against Him are defeated."

The libel that Israel wants to destroy Palestinians might very well be just a reflection of Zaki's and other Palestinian leaders' own dreams to destroy Israel. In a speech at a ceremony arranged by Fatah in Hebron for students who took the matriculation exams, Zaki threatened to obliterate all of Israel. He stated that unless Israel - the "enemy" - and the US stop "their arrogance," Palestinians will defeat all of Israel: 

Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: "Fatah is the path to the return... The flag will not be dropped. If we fail, our sons, grandsons, and daughters are the ones who will wave the flag. If in a situation of peace, then [they will wave it] above Jerusalem, the towers of its mosques, and its churches. But if this enemy [Israel] and America continue with their arrogance, then [our descendants will wave it] above Jaffa, the Negev, the Galilee, the Carmel, the Triangle, etc. Land that we don't restore - we are not worthy of it."

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Aug. 13, 2019]

Jaffa, the Negev, the Galilee, the Carmel, the Triangle are all places in Israel within the Green Line.

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that Zaki has a history of support for terror. He congratulated the parents of Omar Abu Laila who murdered 2 Israelis in March, 2019, wishing that "Allah reward them." Abbas sent Zaki as his representative to a ceremony honoring "heroic" terrorist prisoners, where Zaki appeared on stage together with several armed masked men. Zaki has also expressed the PA's long-term strategy: To destroy Israel in stages so that it will "come to an end." 

In the interview with Al-Dustour, a Jordanian news website, Zaki also mentioned another "weapon" the Palestinians have to defeat Israel and the Jews: "the demographic bomb":

"Our numbers in Palestine are greater than their numbers. Today we are surpassing them in terms of numbers, and we are adopting the demographic bomb to resolve [the conflict]"

[Al-Dustour, Jordanian news website, Sept. 8, 2019]

The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:

Excerpt of an interview with Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki -Ed. 

Headline: "Zaki: The Hashemite custody [of the Al-Aqsa Mosque] - an opening for supporting Jerusalem and its defense"

"US Envoy Jason] Greenblatt's statements [that the West Bank is "disputed" and not "occupied" territory] are an outdated Zionist dream that no longer has a place on the agenda of those with a clean conscience in this nation... Greenblatt must reexamine the pillars of the Zionist movement, which based its calculations on [the assumption] that Palestine is a land without a people for a people without a homeland. 

Even though we have been in an unusual situation for 100 years due to the policy of expulsion, Judaization, and mass graves, our numbers in Palestine are greater than their numbers. Today we are surpassing them in terms of numbers, and we are adopting the demographic bomb to resolve [the conflict]. He must remember what American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said in 1952: 'The old will die and the young will forget' (sic., PMW found no record of such a statement by Dulles). The old did not die, but rather they let their children teach the enemy lessons in struggle, and they brought down the barrier of fear against 'Israel' with rocks. It seems that Greenblatt does not see what is in front of him, and does not see the [UN] Security Council resolutions, the [UN] General Assembly resolutions, and all of the resolutions that have explicitly determined that the West Bank and Jerusalem are occupied land that must be withdrawn from. In order to thwart the American efforts, there is no avoiding an escalating policy on the ground with great momentum from the masses, which will not allow the occupiers to live routine lives. Their occupation of our land must have a heavy price, which they will pay every day...

We hope that the [Arab] brothers... will ask themselves where they stand regarding their holy sites and the fortress that is defending them from the aspirations of 'Israel' and its permanent motto - as is clear in its flag between the two blue stripes - 'From the Euphrates [River] to the Nile [River]'? Where do they [the Arabs] stand regarding the connections of brotherhood, blood, and shared fate? We say in a clear voice that those who turn their back on Palestine and Jerusalem will be defeated in the end, regardless of how great their capabilities may be. Whoever is for Palestine will triumph, because they are defending Allah's holy sites. Whoever is for Allah triumphs, while those who are against Him are defeated...

The Palestinian leadership... is still pressing the international community to stop the Israeli crimes in Jerusalem, in accordance with dozens of international decisions that have been made in the UN Security Council and General Assembly since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 about ending its aggressive policy, which includes Judaization and aspirations to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and establish the alleged Temple...

The [Fatah-Hamas] reconciliation requires a culture of coexistence and deepening the awareness of the value of joint efforts. I think that those who are dealing with a fascist and racist enemy like the Zionist entity do not need to create new enemies."

[Al-Dustour, Jordanian news website, Sept. 8, 2019]

At a UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East on July 23, 2019 in New York City, US Envoy Jason Greenblatt said:
"Many participants in this conversation continue to re-litigate the events of 1967, when Israel heroically acted to defend itself against a threat of its very existence.
Many would rather rail against the supposed evils of what they routinely call an "illegal occupation" than engage constructively on the disputes that characterize the conflict today. That's not a productive dialogue.
The dispute over the territory is a question that can only be resolved in the context of direct negotiations between the parties. And I am focused on how to get those parties back to that table.
I hope I have your support in that. Those who have weaponized the term "occupation" in order to criticize Israel are doing nothing to promote a resolution to this conflict. In fact, they are heavily undermining the chances for peace and the improvement of the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.
Both Israel and the Palestinians have asserted a claim to certain land. This is an unresolved dispute and it will only be through direct negotiations between the parties that we have a chance of resolving that dispute and achieving a comprehensive peace. Let us not lose sight of the fact that Israel has already conceded at least 88 percent of the territory captured by Israel in the defensive war it had no choice but to fight in 1967."

Headline: "Abbas Zaki: The leadership needs to understand that it is not leading sheep"

"Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said today (Sunday) [Sept. 22, 2019] that the Palestinian factions' initiative to end the [Fatah-Hamas] rift is a strong initiative that must be worked on as soon as possible...

He added: 'If we consolidate our ranks and unify our internal front we will begin to work with an open mind, will, and strategy that are undebatable, then we will certainly defeat our enemy, which is Israel.'

He emphasized that unity is the necessary path for those whose land is occupied and our basic enmity cannot be between us, but rather towards the occupier of the country and desecrator of holy sites, whose goal is to end the Palestinian existence in its country, which legislates racist laws, including the Jewish Nation-State Law."

[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 22, 2019]

Jewish Nation-State Law – law passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 19, 2018, which codifies in Israel's Basic Law that Israel is the home of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem its capital, and the Hebrew calendar its official calendar. It establishes Hebrew as the sole official language and grants Arabic a special status, and it recognizes Jewish and Israeli holidays, memorial days, and the Jewish Sabbath as national holidays and days of rest - while guaranteeing the right of all Israeli citizens and residents to celebrate their holidays and days of rest. The law, which passed with 62 in favor, 55 against, and 2 abstentions, has sparked controversy within Israeli society.