"The path to the last battle will remain open" - Abbas calls to “escalate the resistance with all its forms,” reports PA Daily

Excerpt of an editorial published two days in a row by the official PA daily

The editorial focuses on PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ seech on May 12, 2021, in which he commented on violent Arab riots in Israel and Hamas rocket attacks and said: “We have had enough, leave us alone, get off our chests, get off our chests. We will remain a bone in your throats” -Ed.

Headline: “Leave us alone”

“[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ statement] ‘We have had enough, leave us alone’ has only one meaning: Our people with all its forces and factions will never be silent about the existence of the occupation, and will not allow its crimes to pass without a response and without just punishment for the sake of the just resolution. What this means, in the clearest manner, is that the resistance to the occupation and its settlers in all its forms (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) and with all its legitimate means will escalate…

The last battle may be very near, if we heed the united call of Jerusalem and if we come out against the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip in one united national activity. The last battle is the battle of all the patriots, the battle of unity, friendship, and mutual help. This is the battle of the independent national decision, such that no interference by external forces could suppress this battle for the occupation, as they suppressed the 1936 rebellion (i.e., the lethal 1936-1939 Arab Revolt), when the Arab leaders believed ‘the good will of friendly Britain’ and demanded that the rebels stop the rebellion against the British Mandate!!!

When we say interference by external forces, we do not mean any Arab, regional, or international activity to stop the violent Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip; this is activity that we appreciate…

Our call to resist external interference whose goals are suspicious is fundamentally a call to all the Palestinian factions not to contribute to nipping the historic and decisive moment in the bud through considerations of narrow interests, so that the path to the last battle will remain open.”

This editorial was published during violent Arab riots in Jerusalem and other mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel, and while Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli population centers. 

2021 violent Palestinian riots and Hamas rockets - On May 10, 2021, the terror organization Hamas launched numerous rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers. Over a period of 10 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 3,500 rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis, and 3 foreign nationals (1 Indian caregiver and 2 Thai foreign laborers) and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure. The Israeli army also confronted terror activity in the West Bank, and was deployed to maintain order in Israeli cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population, where Israeli Arabs violently rioted and attacked Jews with guns, knives, and firebombs, killing 1 Israeli. In return, Jews started attacking Arabs and Arab businesses as well. Hamas’ launching of rockets followed weeks of violent Arab riots in Jerusalem. The PA’s ostensible pretexts for the wave of Arab violence were PA elections being prevented in Jerusalem; Israeli security barricades at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City to prevent disturbances (which were later removed following violent riots); and the planned eviction of several Arab families illegally living in properties in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem owned by Jews who were expelled in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.

The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.