Abbas was the person to kick-start Fatah's terrorism in 1965, states PA daily
Excerpt of an editorial by the official PA daily, in response to a call by Israeli Arab intellectuals from Haifa University to dismiss PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
“There are a number of kinds of opportunism, and the ugliest of them is the opportunism of intellectuals with an absurd statement ignoring reality and its national, political, and social affairs, which while dealing with these issues – and particularly the political ones – remains [a statement] for which payment is received. It is not hard to discover this when you look at the places it comes from, which are busy in disseminating a discourse of incitement against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas…
Of course, we will not forget – just as the opportunistic intellectuals are not forgetting – that the discourse of incitement is originally Israeli, since former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and extremist right-winger Avigdor Liberman defined President Mahmoud Abbas as ‘a diplomatic terrorist.’ …
Since President Mahmoud Abbas was found to be one who is maintaining the spark of the Palestinian national liberation enterprise, adhering to the principles, and preserving the commitment to the Martyrs and prisoners… the discourse of incitement has frantically increased against him. And not only this; an increase of the political pressure and a tightening of the economic blockade on the PA in order to harm the president’s positions and his policy has also accompanied this. This became clear in a most aggressive manner when Israel robbed the Palestinian tax money, on the pretext that the sums from it are being paid as salaries to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners, whom the occupation state defines as terrorists (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.)! But President Mahmoud Abbas’ response to this robbery and its pretext was: ‘Even if we are left with only one penny, it will be given to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners.’
The opportunistic intellectuals are forgetting all of this, and even before that they are forgetting the history of President Mahmoud Abbas in the paths of Palestinian national struggle, and even his role in tipping the scales in favor of armed struggle at the first Fatah Central Committee meeting. This led to the outbreak of the modern Palestinian revolution, with the explosive that blew up the Eilabun tunnel at the start of 1965 (i.e., the bombing of Israel’s National Water Carrier).
But the realistic question is whether these intellectuals have the memory of a fish? Are they really forgetting all of this while inciting against President Mahmoud Abbas? …
It is not a matter of forgetfulness for them; since first signs have begun to appear on the horizon today of a return to the paths of a political solution to the Palestinian problem on the basis of the international institutions’ decisions, they are attempting to enable the rivals of the Palestinian national legal government to take control of these paths.”
Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Bombing of Israel's National Water Carrier - On Jan. 1, 1965, Palestinian terrorists attempted to bomb Israel's National Water Carrier. This was the first attack against Israel carried out by Fatah. Fatah refers to the attack as the “Intilaqa”, meaning “the Launch” of Fatah.