For International Womens' Day, PA remembers the "central" Palestinian women: Suicide bombers, plane hijackers and murderers
Headline: “The Palestinian women”
“Deputy Chairman of the Retired Palestinian [PA] Army Personnel in Lebanon [Organization] Faisal Abu Mustafa describes [the Palestinian women] as ‘a role model in all arenas and fields.’
Abu Mustafa commented on the status of women in Palestinian society historically and said: ‘This is documented in the archives. The gates of knowledge were open to them, especially in the cities. In Palestine there were private schools for young women and colleges that trained female teachers and educators. The Palestinian women integrated in the social, political, and economic affairs at an early stage. Even in the rural areas, the women and men went hand in hand.’
He noted: ‘This is the nature of the pluralist Palestinian society, which no one can deny… If we go back to the start of the struggle with the Zionist movement, the Palestinian women had a central and direct role.They carried weapons and dealt with transferring them, and also transferring messages between the battlefronts. They took care of the self-sacrificing fighters and even gave them medical treatment.’
Abu Mustafa continued: ‘[Former PLO Chairman and PA] President Yasser Arafat strengthened the women’s role, and there were prominent names in the Palestinian struggle’s history such as female fighter Theresa Halsa, Rima Issa [Tannous] (i.e., terrorist plane hijackers), Shadia Abu Ghazaleh (i.e., terrorist bombmaker), Reem Riyashi (i.e., suicide bomber, murdered 4), Fatima Al-Najjar (i.e., suicide bomber, wounded 3), Ayyat Al-Akhras (i.e., suicide bomber, murdered 2), Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children), Laila Khaled (i.e., terrorist plane hijacker, involved in murder of 1), Martyr Zakiya Shammout (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1) who gave birth to her son in the occupation’s prison, and other women who sacrificed themselves to defend Palestine.’ …
He added: ‘Currently the Palestinian women are in all fields of activity and are excelling in their work. Among them are doctors, engineers, and poets. They have reached important positions in many states and not just in Palestine. They have penetrated the gates of the American Congress, the Israeli Parliament, and many international organizations and institutions.’”
Hijacking of Sabena Flight 571
Reem Riyashi – Palestinian female suicide bomber who carried out a suicide attack at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Jan. 14, 2004, murdering 3 soldiers and one civilian.
Fatima Al-Najjar – 57-year-old female Palestinian terrorist and Hamas suicide bomber who approached Israeli soldiers to attack them near Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 23, 2006. When she did not stop when they ordered her to, they realized she was a terrorist given intel they had about an impending attack and threw a grenade at her that apparently detonated her bomb belt. Al-Najjar was killed in the blast and three soldiers were wounded.