Terrorists are “the best” of the Palestinians "and the pioneers of resistance," states PA daily
Excerpt of a column by Fathi Al-Bis, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Bullying that will not succeed”
“The news agencies quoted [Israeli] Channel 12, which reported that the Israeli [Jerusalem] District Court decided to fine the PA 1 million [Israeli] shekels for the heirs of two Jewish women who were on a ship that was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1985 (sic., as was reported the court ordered the PLO, not the PFLP, to pay the estates of terror victims Sophie Chasser and Anna Schneider)…
As a correction, the PFLP was not connected to the operation (i.e., terror attack). The point is the hijacking of the Achille Lauro ship, an operation that was carried out by four members of the [PLO member organization] Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) on Oct. 7, 1985 (see note below -Ed.)…
The details are many, but what is important is that the PLO condemned the operation and intervened in negotiations to end it, in coordination with Egypt and the Arab League (sic., the court determined the PLO was involved in the attack)…
The operation had many consequences. The US recognized the PLO after it (sic., the UN General Assembly, not the US, recognized the PLO on Oct. 14, 1974), the hijackers were imprisoned in Italy and were released later on, compensation was paid for the killing of American Jew [Leon Klinghoffer], and the case was closed together with many similar cases when the [1993] Oslo Accords were signed…
The occupation state is determined to demonize the Palestinian fighters, regardless of their [political] affiliation, and to label their struggle for freedom and the liberation of their homeland as terror. This is while the world is increasingly recognizing that they are the victims of the occupation and the racist state. It is rummaging in the history of our people’s resistance and mixing the PLO’s responsibility to lead the activity for liberation with every act that is carried out by forces or states that are often hostile to the PLO, in order to justify the seizure of Palestinian money…
It is deducting from this money that belongs to the Palestinian people any sum that it determines (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.). It determined how much the PLO pays the families of the Martyrs, the wounded, and the Palestinian prisoners, and it takes control of this sum out of what it collects [for the PA]. This is on the pretext that the PLO thus sponsors terror, as they put it, while the Palestinians say that these people are the best of them and the pioneers of the resistance to the occupation.
The Palestinians will not submit to this bullying and will not submit to the decisions of the occupation’s courts, foremost among them the recent decision. This decision holds the PLO and PA responsible for an act that has already become done and over with and which happened 36 years ago, for the benefit of the heirs of two Jewish women who were on the Achille Lauro who had no damage caused to them and who lived until recently (sic., the two sued for psychological injuries due to the terror hijacking). This is while no one demands an accounting from the occupation state for the murder of thousands of Palestinians in cold blood, without them having done any kind of resistance activity.”
Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) – A terror organization and member of the PLO. The PLF is headed by Secretary-General Wasel Abu Yusuf who is also a member of the PLO Executive Committee. The PLF has been responsible for numerous terror attacks, including the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, in which one Jewish hostage in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot, and then thrown overboard. The US has listed the PLF as a terror organization.
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.