PA lauds Fatah’s terror history, glorifies mass murderers

As part of the celebrations of Abbas’ Fatah Movement’s 56th anniversary, official PA TV broadcast a short video lauding and emphasizing Fatah’s terror history. While Abbas is heard speaking about Fatah’s “achievements,” the filler shows pictures of terrorists and mass murderers who participated or planned the most lethal terror attacks against Israel: Arch-terrorist Abu Jihad who planned the murder of at least 125; Dalal Mughrabi who led the murder of 37 civilians, among them 12 children; and Salah Khalaf who headed the Black September terror organization that carried out the massacre of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972”:

In his message glorifying Fatah’s history, Abbas used the PA euphemism for terror that all Palestinians recognize, praising the Palestinian “struggle.” He also said that Fatah’s goal and creation was “in order to remove the historical injustice that befell it and erase the crimes that were committed against it.”

The PA repeatedly tells its people that Israel’s creation is a “historical injustice” and “crime.” For example, on the hundred-year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the Jewish people’s right to rebuild their state in the land of Israel, the PA, Fatah, and Abbas repeatedly exposed their ideology, which fundamentally denies Israel’s right to exist, referring to the Balfour Declaration and Israel’s creation as a ”historical injustice” and ”crime”:

Abbas: "We will submit a lawsuit against you in the international courts and in the courts in Britain... You committed a crime against the Palestinian people, and that is the Balfour Promise… Even worse is the content of the Balfour Promise, in which is stated: A national homeland for the Jews..."

[Abbas on Official PA TV News, April 11, 2017]

PA: “The Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) and its results that laid the foundations for the crime of the century in 1948 (i.e., Israel’s statehood)."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2017]

Fatah: “The most inhuman terrorist crime the British Regime made against Palestinians, by inviting and creating a Zionist illegal state.”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 27, 2017]

Having listened for years to Abbas, the PA, and Fatah complaining about the ultimate ”historical injustice” and ”crime” of the creation of the State of Israel, when Mahmoud Abbas reminds his people in 2021, that Fatah was created ”in order to remove the historical injustice that befell it and erase the crimes,” every Palestinian understands that he is talking about eliminating the state of Israel.

The following are Abbas’ words in the short PA TV video:

“The achievements of our [Fatah] Movement and our revolution over more than 50 years of giving, struggle, and sacrifice – we cannot count them in a speech or a book, for Fatah was and still is one of the most prominent milestones in modern Palestinian history. A model of resolve, defiance, patience, vitality, and firm will, not only at the national level but also at the global level. Fatah was born from the womb of our people’s suffering in order to remove the historical injustice that befell it and erase the crimes that were committed against it. By doing so it has become an example and source of inspiration for all the honorable people in our nation and the free people in the world. Fatah… will remain victorious.”

[Official PA TV, Dec. 29, 2020]

As Palestinian Media Watch has exposed, Fatah’s focus for 2021 remains terror and “armed struggle” and the PA and Fatah wish to highlight and maintain this aspect of Palestinian history to the population. Thus a PA official stressed the fact that Fatah is “the pioneer of the self-sacrificing operations and the convoys of Martyrs” – in other words: Fatah takes pride in having founded and played the central role in Palestinian terrorism, and also having sacrificed numerous “Martyrs” for the cause – i.e., including numerous terrorists who were killed during their attacks against Israel:

“Tubas and Northern Jordan Valley District Deputy Governor Ahmed Al-As’ad said: ‘Fatah is the one that brought about the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution, and it is the pioneer of the self-sacrificing operations (i.e., terror attacks) and the convoys of Martyrs,’ and he emphasized that Fatah is a sea of Martyrs…
Fatah [Tubas Branch] Secretary Mahmoud Sawafta said that Fatah brought about the outbreak of the revolution that shook the foundations of the world, and that it owns the battles and the self-sacrificing operations.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 1, 2021]

The Palestinians’ two most basic commitments that were prerequisites for the signing of the Oslo Accords were that they stop denying Israel’s right to exist and stop terror support, but more than two decades later, in 2021, they remain two prominent components of PA ideology and worldview.