Senior Fatah official supports Hamas rockets “that put Israel in bomb shelters”
Abbas Zaki: Islamic Jihad “taught the enemy an important lesson”
While it was the terror organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad that fired over 4,300 rockets into Israel in the May 2021 war, Fatah officials are openly expressing their support for the rocket attacks. Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, for example, expressed his admiration on different occasions, “blessing the rockets” that forced Israelis to “hide” in bomb shelters:
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “Blessings to the rockets that placed Hamas- that put Israel on alert or put them in bomb shelters. They caused [Israelis] to hide.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, May 30, 2021]
Similarly, Zaki stated that the Palestinian “victory” was achieved partly thanks to “those in the Gaza Strip who subdued the Israeli generals and sent them to bomb shelters.” [SHMS News Agency, June 8, 2021]
At an event commemorating former Islamic Jihad Movement Secretary-General Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, the Fatah official expressed his support for the rocket barrages on Israeli cities through which Islamic Jihad’s military wing “taught the enemy an important lesson”:
“Fatah Movement Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations] Abbas Zaki… said: ‘The thing I most wish for on this sad anniversary is that the late Shalah would have been among us, so that he could have seen with his own eyes the prominence of the Jerusalem Brigades (i.e., Islamic Jihad’s military wing), which taught the enemy an important lesson, especially with their development in the field of military operations.’”
[SHMS News Agency, June 6, 2021]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Abbas Zaki is open to using violence and terror against Israel and at times even advocates it. In the following two interviews, he called to “shake Israel's foundations” and seek Martyrdom-death:
An-Najah Broadcasting Channel host: “Mr. Abbas [Zaki], what if Israel firmly refuses to submit to the American or European pressures and insists on [PA] elections not being held in Jerusalem?”
Abbas Zaki: “We must put our house in order and shake the foundations of Israel.”
Host: “How?”
Abbas Zaki: “Necessity permits that which is forbidden.”[An-Najah Broadcasting Channel, YouTube, Dec. 12, 2019]
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: "We [in the Palestinian leadership] want a vigorous Arab situation that is moving away from normalization [with Israel] and depends on the fact that [we] have an army in the occupied land. The popular resistance will amaze the world, as we are content with Martyrdom. We want to die as we did at Karameh."
[Official PA TV, Nov. 26, 2019]
The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." https://palwatch.org/page/9276
The Karameh battle, or Al-Karameh - On March 21, 1968, Israeli army forces attacked the town of Karameh in Jordan, where Fatah terrorists had been launching attacks on Israel. Although Israel prevailed militarily, Arafat used the event for propaganda purposes, declaring the battle a great victory that erased the disgrace of the 1967 Six Day War defeat.
Abbas Zaki also serves as Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Headline: “Abbas Zaki on the anniversary of Ramadan Shalah’s death: If only you were among us, O loyal one to our cause”
“Fatah Movement Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations] Abbas Zaki praised the virtues of former Islamic Jihad Movement Secretary-General Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, whose death was a loss for the Arab and Islamic nation…Zaki said this in an interview with the SHMS News agency for the first anniversary of the death of Dr. Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, which took place today, June 6, 2021. But what gladdens Zaki’s heart is the fact that the late Shalah left behind an army of fighters, resistance members, and commanders who have adhered to his ideology of resistance as part of the conflict with the Israeli enemy.
He said: ‘The thing I most wish for on this sad anniversary is that the late Shalah would have been among us, so that he could have seen with his own eyes the prominence of the Jerusalem Brigades (i.e., Islamic Jihad’s military wing), which taught the enemy an important lesson, especially with their development in the field of military operations’ (refers to Islamic Jihad rocket barrages on Israeli cities; see note below -Ed.)…
Zaki noted that Islamic Jihad is distinguished from other movements thanks to the great ones [Islamic Jihad founder] Fathi Shaqaqi, Ramadan Shalah, and currently [Islamic Jihad Secretary-General] Ziyad Al-Nakhalah.”
[SHMS News Agency, June 6, 2021]
Fathi Shaqaqi - Founder of the terror organization Islamic Jihad, which has carried out more than 1,000 terror attacks, murdering and wounding hundreds of Israeli civilians. Shaqaqi was killed in 1995 in an operation attributed to Israel but for which Israel never took responsibility.
“Fatah Movement Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations] Abbas Zaki… called on the faction leaders to preserve the victory that was achieved thanks to those who rose up (the verb “rose up” is from the same root as “intifada” -Ed.) from among the residents of the 1948 [lands] (i.e., Israeli Arabs, refers to violent Arab riots; see note below), those who defended the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood [of Jerusalem], the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Al-Bustan and Batn Al-Hawa neighborhoods in Jerusalem (i.e., in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem) and in the West Bank, and those in the Gaza Strip who subdued the Israeli generals and sent them to [bomb] shelters.”
[SHMS News Agency, June 8, 2021]
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “[Former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat [is the one] who told the Americans ‘no’ at Camp David, the one who stood firm in all the battles and said: ‘Millions of Martyrs are marching to Jerusalem.’ …Let none of you think that there is a Palestinian from his mother’s womb who could reduce Arafat’s value or harm him. Even if there are spies who are attempting to slander [the name] of someone who is better, more complete, and purer in struggle – that is another matter. We here in the town of Sa’ir, the town of the Martyrs, congratulate all the factions and forces. We are not alone. Fatah’s power is in that it accompanied all 13 Martyrs…
Therefore, beware of strife, beware of mischief, which in Sa’ir and other places want to turn this unity into conflict. Woe to you if you attack any faction or any person who speaks Arabic. Yasser Arafat’s enemy is Israel. Yasser Arafat’s enemies are not Palestinians – don’t let them fool you…
We say today: … Blessings to the rockets that placed Hamas- that put Israel on alert or put them in [bomb] shelters. They caused [Israel] to hide… Blessings to those who fought and are working right now in all the areas to defend the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of Jerusalem], in order to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque (refers to violent Arab riots -Ed.).”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, May 30, 2021]
Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for "raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas' spokesman told Palestinians "the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas' political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.