Fatah post: Rocket attacks on Israeli civilians are “legitimate means of self-defense”

Text posted on the official Fatah Facebook page, written by Secretary of Fatah’s Branch in Poland Khalil Nazzal

Posted text:

“Gaza, our bleeding loin

The world… is not ashamed to compare the Israeli war arsenal, which is mobilized to spread death in the besieged Gaza Strip, and the right of the oppressed to repel the strike against them by every legitimate means of self-defense available to them. Every time that Israel renews its aggression, the hypocritical politicians compete among themselves in demanding restraint from ‘all sides,’ as if the battle is being waged between two armies… while everyone understands that there is a set description for the successive wars against Gaza, which is: aggressive wars by a rogue state against a region that is being subjected to occupation and siege. And the demand for restraint from our people is actually a call to submit to the aggression, and to concede [the Palestinian people’s] legitimate right to self-defense by means that are guaranteed by international law – and this is a blatant bias in favor of the occupation, and encouragement for the occupation state to continue its aggressive policy…

What everyone needs to know is that the Israeli political and military leaderships cannot commit such a crime just because of their desire for killing – and this is undoubtedly an authentic characteristic of the Israeli leadership – and not because of their desire to have an uncalculated adventure… The enemy always has goals beyond just killing a commander on the ground, regardless of his role. We will not be exaggerating if we say that the elimination of the buds of an agreement over holding elections in Palestine is one of the goals that the enemy government is striving to realize through the new crime, because it knows that the end of the [Fatah-Hamas] rift and the strengthening of the foundations of the national legitimacy are the most effective way to strengthen the national position regarding our people’s demands…

The enemy’s superiority and ability to harm us disproportionately to our modest capabilities to respond is not to our people’s discredit, and if the balance of power was in our favor, we would put an end to the occupation and its evil. Therefore it is necessary to notice the danger in discourse that enlarges or exaggerates our people’s capabilities. For the exaggeration of the extent of the response to the occupation’s crimes does not help anyone.

And here there is no choice but to abandon the culture of disregard for our people’s lives – it is not just, not courageous, to compare the number of our Martyrs to the occurrences of anxiety among the settlers.

The intention here is not to downplay the effect of the measured response to the occupation's crimes (apparently referring to Islamic Jihad terror organization’s rocket barrage from Gaza following the assassination of its senior commander Baha Abu Al-Ata; see note below –Ed.), but rather to put it in its correct framework as an expression of our people's right to resistance by all means ‎(i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror)‎, without it serving the Israeli narrative being marketed throughout the world, which portrays the occupation entity as the victim of murderous attacks from 'the neighbor' Gaza."

Baha Abu Al-Ata – senior commander of the Islamic Jihad terror organization in Gaza who was responsible for most of the organization’s terror activity and planned numerous rocket, sniper, drone, and other attacks against Israel.Abu Al-Ata was assassinated in an Israeli targeted rocket strike on Nov. 12, 2019. In response to Israel’s assassination Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired over 450 rockets at Israel over a period of 48 hours until a ceasefire was reached on Nov. 14, 2019, which Islamic Jihad promptly breached by firing 5 more rockets.

The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.