PA Daily praises "martyr-seeking" terrorist prisoner responsible for the murder of 20 people
Headline: “Prisoner Thabet Merdawi began his 20th year in prison”
“Prisoner Thabet Azmi Suleiman Merdawi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of 20 people), 46, from the town of Arraba south of Jenin, began his 20th consecutive year in the occupation’s prison yesterday [April 5, 2021].
Director of the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club in Jenin Muntasir Sammour noted that prisoner Merdawi is one of the heroes of the Jenin battle (refers to battle when terrorists attacked Israeli soldiers during Operation Defensive Shield; see note below -Ed.), and that he was arrested after his ammunition ran out and after he was wounded by two bullets – one in the hip and one in the arm. He bled for hours, and then the occupation soldiers broke into the site and arrested him (sic., Merdawi turned himself in to Israeli security forces). A number of years after he was arrested, the occupation sentenced him to 21 life sentences and another 40 years, on charges of planning and carrying out a series of Martyrdom-seeking operations (i.e., suicide bombings) that left dozens dead and wounded in the ranks of the occupation soldiers (sic., the attacks targeted civilian areas).”
Thabet Merdawi - Palestinian terrorist and leading member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin who planned at least 9 terror attacks that murdered 20 Israelis and wounded 150 in 2001-2002: Binyamina train station suicide bombing (July 16, 2001, 2 murdered), Kibbutz Shluhot suicide bombing (Oct. 7, 2001, 1 murdered), Hadera Market shooting attack (Oct. 28, 2001, 4 murdered), Wadi Ara suicide bombings (Nov. 29, 2001, 3 murdered, and March 20, 2002, 5 murdered), Afula central bus station suicide bombing (March 5, 2002, 1 murdered). Merdawi turned himself in to Israeli security forces on April 11, 2002, during the Israeli military operation Defensive Shield. Merdawi is serving 21 life sentences and an additional 40 years.
Jenin – refugee camp north of Nablus that was a major hotbed of terrorism in the PA terror campaign 2000-2005 (the second Intifada). To reduce the attacks, Israeli forces entered Jenin on April 3, 2002, to conduct searches as part of Operation Defensive Shield, which was carried out to destroy the terror infrastructure in the West Bank, and several days of intense fighting against Palestinian terrorists in booby-trapped houses ensued. While the PA claimed that the Israeli forces committed a “massacre” and killed hundreds of civilians, a UN report refuted these claims, confirming that 52 Palestinians were killed in the battle of which the majority were terrorists. 23 Israeli soldiers were also killed in the fighting.