Fatah holds rally with armed “military procession” on anniversary of Arafat’s death
Headline: "Marking the anniversary of the death as a Martyr of Yasser Arafat in the Deheisheh refugee camp"
"The Fatah Movement in the Deheisheh refugee camp organized a mass procession for the 14th anniversary of the death as a Martyr of [former PLO Chairman and PA] President Yasser Arafat, led by a military procession of dozens of Fatah members who wore keffiyehs (Arab headdress) and waved Palestinian flags and yellow [Fatah] flags. During the rally some shots were fired in the air. A crowd of Fatah members and representatives of the different forces and bodies participated in the mass procession, which passed through the streets of the camp and its alleys.
One of the masked young people directed a blessing to the soul of Martyr Yasser Arafat and all of the Martyrs with a megaphone. He emphasized that Fatah was and will remain the pillar of the revolution, and it is the one that is defending the national project until [the realization of] the return, the state, and self-determination.
He said: ‘Yasser Arafat always constituted the safety valve of Palestine and of its people on the path to freedom, independence, and achieving the full victory. His principles and heroic struggles will continue to be the sure path by whose light we will go. It is true that Yasser Arafat has left us in body, but his principles will remain clear to the eye and will define our path towards achieving all of our legal rights, and primarily the right of return, the state, and self-determination.’
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Mahmoud Abd Al-Nabi Al-Laham said that Martyr Yasser Arafat and Fatah’s message was always to adhere to the national unity and to continue to resist the occupation until achieving the Palestinian people’s goals and hopes for freedom, independence, and return. He emphasized the importance of loyalty to Martyr symbol Yasser Arafat’s blood and to the Palestinian people’s Martyrs, to continue to constantly resist the occupation and its settlers on the ground, and to strengthen the unity between the forces and factions of the PLO and the [Hamas-Fatah] reconciliation efforts.”
The pictures accompanying the article shows masked armed men, some in military uniforms, holding yellow Fatah flags.
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.