Israel is committing a “holocaust,” according to PA daily op-ed praising Gaza rocket attacks
Excerpt of an op-ed by Mustafa Bakri
Headline: “The meaning of being Palestinian”
“O beloved Palestine, sleep has been stolen from my eyes for a number of days as the lowly ones (i.e., Israelis) bomb with thousands of rockets to harm my people, to kill my children, and to burn the women and the elderly. All the people are being thrown into a holocaust that the stories of history have not spoken about, but we are seeing it before our eyes! …
O Jerusalem, O city that spreads prophets, O the shortest path between earth and Heaven, O Jerusalem, it is a beacon of the religious commandments; O beautiful girl with burned fingers whose eyes are sad, O Jerusalem, O pearl of existence, remain the symbol of rejection and resolve against your Jewish Zionist enemies.
Your children will stand with exposed chests to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first direction of [Muslim] prayer and the third holiest mosque. The Palestinian women call ‘O Al-Aqsa Mosque,’ and the Gaza Strip that is standing firm, the direction of prayer of the Martyrs, is setting out on an operation, responding to the call, and firing rockets that are shaking the foundations of Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Rishon LeZion, Be’er Sheva, the Negev, the Gaza Envelope, and the like (i.e., Israeli cities and areas).
The Zionists are running to [bomb] shelters and are afraid of the flood; all the [Palestinian] people are coming out in an operation from the north to the south in the occupied Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel), young people who did not see the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) are coming out because they understand that their homeland is Palestine, all of Palestine, and that their grandparents left them the keys of their old homes…
Palestine, gentlemen, is not waste, Palestine is history, civilization, and holy sites; it is the mother of self-sacrifice that only gives birth to heroes. The scent of the Martyrs’ blood on the land is purer than the whole world’s perfumes; it is a flower among thorns that is sacrificing its most precious sons for the sake of the approaching tomorrow.”
This op-ed was published during ongoing violent Arab riots in Jerusalem and other mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel, and while Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli population centers.
2021 violent Palestinian riots and Hamas rockets - On May 10, 2021, the terror organization Hamas launched numerous rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers. Over a period of 10 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 3,500 rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis, and 3 foreign nationals (1 Indian caregiver and 2 Thai foreign laborers) and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure. The Israeli army also confronted terror activity in the West Bank, and was deployed to maintain order in Israeli cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population, where Israeli Arabs violently rioted and attacked Jews with guns, knives, and firebombs, killing 1 Israeli. In return, Jews started attacking Arabs and Arab businesses as well. Hamas’ launching of rockets followed weeks of violent Arab riots in Jerusalem. The PA’s ostensible pretexts for the wave of Arab violence were PA elections being prevented in Jerusalem; Israeli security barricades at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City to prevent disturbances (which were later removed following violent riots); and the planned eviction of several Arab families illegally living in properties in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem owned by Jews who were expelled in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.