Fatah official: Abu Jihad was “the first bullet, the start of the revolution, a legend”

“The Palestinian Academy for Security Sciences held a ceremony yesterday [April 21, 2010] on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, with the participation of Fatah Central Committee member, Commissioner of NGOs and Chairman of the Academy’s board of trustees Tawfiq Tirawi and Fatah Central Committee member and Commissioner of Arab Relations Abbas Zaki… As the [Palestinian] Prisoner’s Day ceremony coincided with the anniversary of the Martyrdom (Istishhad) of Commander Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), Zaki spoke about the deceased commander. He described him as the first bullet, the start of the revolution, a legend, and a man impossible to describe in words. Zaki summarized Abu Jihad’s life of struggle from his childhood until his momentous death as a Martyr… He said: ‘He was the [most] extraordinary revolutionary and military commander. He was the politician as well as the academic who founded a Palestinian periodical in 1958. He was tolerant towards his people, and tough and terrifying to his enemies. He was the one who predicted the Stone Intifada (i.e., the first Palestinian wave of violence against Israel, 1988-1993), and he was the one who watered the [Palestinian] soil with his pure blood.’”