PA incited riots and terror during Ramadan, using PA libel that Al-Aqsa is being “desecrated” by Jews
Terror promotion by PA and Fatah officials during the month of Ramadan:
“Now there is no time for talk. Now is the time only for actions to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque
“Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the Jews” – prayer broadcast by official PA TV
“Come to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque… and to defend it against the [Jewish] extremists and their aspirations to violate its sanctity” – PA Jerusalem District to Palestinians
“We won’t lower the rifle, the stone, nor any [other] means of resistance to the occupation” – Fatah official
The above statements and many more were all made by PA and Fatah officials and/or broadcast to the Palestinian people via official PA media during the month of Ramadan. This way the PA encouraged violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding plazas as well as elsewhere, including within Israel. These calls for violence were heeded by terrorists who attacked and murdered Israelis, rioted violently, and shot at Israeli security forces.
Two weeks into Ramadan, the PA Jerusalem District called on Palestinians “to come to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque… and to defend it against the [Jewish] extremists and their aspirations to violate its sanctity”:
“In a statement, the [PA] Jerusalem district called on our people to strengthen the internal front and realize unity as a sign of honor for the mountains of sacrifices that our people has made and is still making. It called to come to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to carry out Ribat there (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic), and to defend it against the [Jewish] extremists and their aspirations to violate its sanctity… It also emphasized that freedom is right around the corner and that our people that is standing firm will sacrifice everything for the sake of Allah.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2022]
A week later, an imam leading an evening prayer at a mosque in Jenin echoed this, calling on Allah to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the Jews”:
Prayer for Ramadan by unnamed Imam: “Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the Jews, and grant us the prayer of the secure and the tranquil there.”
[Official PA TV, April 23, 2022]
A few days later, a Fatah official vowed that Fatah, the ruling party in the PA led by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, “won’t lower the rifle, the stone, nor any [other] means of resistance to the occupation”:
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Wafa Zakarneh: “It is natural that the Fatah Movement, its masses, its members, and its staff – young people, the elderly, and women – will stand against the occupation, and that they will stand alongside the families of the Martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners. It is also natural that we in Fatah won’t lower the flag... and won’t lower the rifle, the stone, nor any [other] means of resistance to the occupation, because the occupation only understands the language of force.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, April 27, 2022]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Palestinian teens seek death as “Martyrs” following these calls, and that the PA/Fatah praises and supports terrorists who succeed in murdering Israelis. Thus PMW exposed that PA Chairman Abbas sent “condolences” to the family of the terrorist who murdered 3 Israelis in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, while a Fatah spokesman said that the recent murder of 3 other Israelis in the Israeli town of Elad was a “heroic action.”
The three statements above are just a few of numerous similar statements made by PA and Fatah officials during Ramadan. The following are additional examples:
Jews desecrate the holy sites:
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi posted on Facebook that Palestinians “are waging the battle of protecting the Noble Jerusalem Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and its plazas, which the occupation is desecrating by turning them into a military base and a platform for settlers who do not hesitate to desecrate the site’s honor and sanctity.” He further added that “the battle over the holy sites will be long, and that its resistance continues with full force to thwart these [Israeli] plots.” [Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, April 18, 2022]
Terror is allowed – Palestinians must come to the defense of Al-Aqsa
As PMW has documented, the PA continuously urges Palestinians to take to violence using a euphemism for terror, calling it “popular resistance” or referring to “resistance with all means” – a term 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. So too was the term used during Ramadan.
One Fatah official “promised” the use of violence in defense of Al-Aqsa “with all means”:
Fatah Salfit Branch Secretary Abd Al-Sattar Awwad: “We promise our Palestinian people and our Arab and Islamic nation that we’ll continue to stand firm, to be firm, and to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in all ways and with all means of defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
[Official PA TV News, May 2, 2022]
Another Fatah official urged Palestinians to come and “stop” Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and “defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” He stressed that “Now there is no time for talk. Now is the time only for actions”:
Fatah Jerusalem Branch Secretary Shadi Mattour: “Now there is no time for talk. Now is the time only for actions to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque. These break-ins [by settlers] must stop. These break-ins are not tourism. These break-ins establish a right of the mob of settler herds inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Whoever wants to resist the occupation must stop these break-ins. These break-ins and their continuation are what is causing tension inside the holy city [of Jerusalem]. Whoever seeks stability needs to stop the settlers who are breaking in and harming our holy sites.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, April 17, 2022]
Official Fatah Spokesperson Hussein Hamayel directly called to spread the “popular resistance”:
Official Fatah Spokesperson Hussein Hamayel: “There was a decision by Fatah that was disseminated to all the members of Fatah, according to which the confrontation with the occupation will not be limited to Jenin such that Jenin will remain alone… in this way the popular resistance spread. Our people must carry out the matter in practice, to confront the occupation forces and the settlers everywhere they are, as the situation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque now demands real action by every Palestinian of the Palestinian national action factions without exception.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, April 17, 2022]
PMW has documented that the PA leadership made a decision to call for more “popular resistance” - a PA euphemism for terror attacks like shootings, stabbings, and car rammings – and that Abbas even urged to “initiate it.” Fatah official later endorsed the murder of Israeli civilians as an expression of what the PA leadership wanted.
Likewise, Fatah’s Central Committee called on Palestinians to come to “defend” the mosque:
“The [Fatah] Central Committee emphasized that we must mobilize our people’s energies to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the cities, and the villages… As part of its call to intensify the popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), the central committee emphasized the need for all the Palestinians to join the stand against the existing [Israeli] aggression.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2022]
A host on official PA TV described the alleged danger the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in according to the PA libel, referring to the violent Palestinian rioters there as “heroic in defending” it:
Official PA TV host: We are in the [Ramadan] month of fasting, but the masses are heroic in defending [Al-Aqsa]… Why do the Jews do this every year? Why do they attack the Al-Aqsa Mosque and then retreat? … They have short-term goals and final goals. The final goal is destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque and building the alleged Temple. What is the short-term goal? The goal is to enter [the site] gradually to gain international sympathy. At the beginning they pray a Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) prayer, afterwards a silent prayer. Afterwards what did they bring? They brought sacrifices to slaughter them. [They say] “If we see that the Muslims are silent, we’ll finish the job.”
[Official PA TV, Refreshed, April 28, 2022]
Similarly, the PA Ministry of Religious Affairs warned Palestinians that Israel seeks to ignite “a religious war” and wants to
“The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs said that the general violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the desecration of the Southern Mosque (i.e., the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself)… along with harming the peaceful Muslim worshippers inside it (sic., refers to violent Arab rioters on the Temple Mount), are a push towards a religious war. The ministry added: ‘What the occupation government committed comes as a realization of its settler outlook that strives to take control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque with all its plazas, structures, and mosques, and in order to satisfy the settlers who are working day and night to take control over it and carry out their Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) rituals that call to offer sacrifices in order to establish their alleged Temple.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2022]
Only Muslims have a right to the Al-Aqsa Mosque while Jews shouldn’t visit the Temple Mount
Further inciting and seeking to enrage Palestinians, top religious figures of the PA repeated the claim that “the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right for Muslims only,” thereby supporting the notion that Jews “invade” and “break in” to the mosque plaza when they visit the Temple Mount - the holiest place in Judaism:
“[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right for Muslims only, supervision of the mosque’s affairs is an exclusive right of the Islamic Waqf, and the occupation and its tools have no right to interfere in its affairs under any conditions whatsoever.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 21, 2022]
Abbas’ advisor specifically singled out Jews when specifying that no one but Muslims have the right to the Islamic mosque. Al-Habbash said this in response to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett having said that Jews could visit the Temple Mount (but not pray there as the status quo determines):
“[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic mosque only to which non-Muslims have no right – not the Jews nor anyone else.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 17, 2022]
Al-Habbash added that “our people will defend Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the height of determination for the sake of justice and to defend the honor.” He further stated that “this occupation will pass from our city and from our Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 17, 2022]
Joining Al-Habbash was the PA’s Grand Mufti, who also called for the defense of the mosque:
“[PA] Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories Sheikh Muhammad Hussein emphasized in the Friday sermon that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is part of our faith, and we must defend it.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 30, 2022]
“[PA] Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Muhammad Hussein called on the Arabs and Muslims to defend the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the plots that are being woven against it…
In a statement, Sheikh Hussein called for the help of the Arab and Islamic nations in order to defend… the Al-Aqsa Mosque…
He called on everyone who is able to come to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to stay within it and defend it… Sheikh Hussein explained that these acts by the occupation authorities constitute a declaration of all-out religious war, whose results are difficult to imagine.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 19, 2022]
But not only top religious figures repeated this, so did PA PM Muhammad Shtayyeh who stressed that “the Al-Aqsa Mosque with all its territory is the property and right of the Muslims”:
“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh emphasized that the Al-Aqsa Mosque with all its territory is the property and right of the Muslims, and that it cannot be divided under any circumstances.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 18, 2022]
Advisor to PA Chairman Abbas on Jerusalem Affairs Ahmed Al-Ruweidi also repeated the PA “fact” that “only Muslims have a right to the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” stressing the need “to defend” it against the establishment of “the alleged Temple.” This is a repetition of another PA libel – that Israel seeks to destroy the mosque in order to build Solomon’s Temple:
Advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Jerusalem Affairs Ahmed Al-Ruweidi: “Only the Muslims have a right to this [Al-Aqsa] Mosque. No one can share it. It’s our natural right to defend our blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. If not for those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict) whom the occupation attacked today, the Al-Aqsa Mosque would be divided and the alleged Temple would be established.”
[Official PA TV News, April 23, 2022]
The following are longer excerpts of some of the statements cited above and additional information on some of the speakers:
The prayer by the unnamed Imam asking Allah to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the Jews” was broadcast from the Uthman ibn Affan Mosque in Jenin.
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Wafa Zakarneh made the statement above after Palestinian terrorists had opened fire on Israeli security forces who were conducting arrests in Bruqin west of Ariel, causing the forces to return fire and kill one of them.
Text posted on the Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi
Posted text: “‘They are in Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) until Judgement Day’
In the Ribat of continuously staying in the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque, our people are waging the battle of protecting the Noble Jerusalem Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and its plazas, which the occupation is desecrating by turning them into a military base and a platform for settlers who do not hesitate to desecrate the site’s honor and sanctity (refers to Arab riots on the Temple Mount and Israeli efforts to restore order -Ed.).
Ribat is a weapon that our people added to its resistance at a significant and decisive stage of standing against the plot to impose a division according to areas and times [at the Al-Aqsa Mosque] like at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron.
It is now known that the occupation’s goal in using religious claims is to seek legitimacy for its presence in every possible way, while it does not completely understand the spiritual and national symbolism that Jerusalem represents for our people, which understands that the battle over the holy sites will be long, and that its resistance continues with full force to thwart these plots.
Jerusalem is Palestine and there is no Palestine without Jerusalem.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, April 18, 2022]
"Division according to areas and times"
Headline: “The [Fatah] Central Committee emphasized that we must mobilize our people’s energies to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the cities, and the villages”
“The Fatah Movement Central Committee held an emergency meeting in Ramallah yesterday, Thursday [April 14, 2022], in order to discuss the developments on the ground in light of the fact that the Israeli occupation is continuing its war against our people, harming innocents, and dragging the region into dangerous cycles [of violence] that will lead to tragic results that are not being taken into account.
The central committee saluted the Martyrs of Palestine, the prisoners’ movement, the brave wounded, and all our people for their heroic resolve and their insistence on resisting the aggression and rejecting the injustice. The committee emphasized that in the month in which our people is marking the anniversary of the deaths of the late Martyrs, the colleagues of eternal [former PLO Chairman and PA President] Yasser Arafat – [Khalil Al-Wazir] ‘Abu Jihad’ (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 125), Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar (i.e., commander of operations of Black September terror organization), Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser (i.e., senior members of Black September) – and Abd Al-Qader Al-Husseini (i.e., Arab commander in the 1948 war), and the 20th anniversary of the arrest of [Fatah] Central Committee member Marwan Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, orchestrated three attacks in which 5 were murdered)… the willpower of our Palestinian people is a clear continuation of the message of Fatah that leads the national project, the brave commanders, and all our people that is standing firm…
In addition, as part of its call to intensify the popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), the central committee emphasized the need for all the Palestinians to join the stand against the existing [Israeli] aggression.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2022]
Peaceful\popular uprising/resistance
Headline: “Shtayyeh: The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the right of the Muslims, and it cannot be divided under any circumstances”
“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh emphasized that the Al-Aqsa Mosque with all its territory is the property and right of the Muslims, and that it cannot be divided under any circumstances.
In a statement to [the official PA] radio [station] The Voice of Palestine, Shtayyeh said that the extremist government of [Israeli Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett wants to export its internal crisis at the expense of our people by doubling [the pace of] the settlement enterprise, attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, murder, and siege, in order to impose a division of the blessed mosque [between Jews and Muslims] according to areas and times.
On a different matter, Shtayyeh emphasized that the Palestinian prisoners’ cause is at the top of the priorities of the [PA] leadership and [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, and that [the leadership] will not abandon a single male or female prisoner, despite all the pressures that are being exerted on it.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 18, 2022]
Headline: “Al-Habbash: The Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic mosque only”
“[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic mosque only to which non-Muslims have no right – not the Jews nor anyone else.
In a statement he issued this evening, Sunday [April 17, 2022], Al-Habbash emphasized that the [Israeli] government of settlers in the occupation state is adding fuel to the fire and attempting in all ways to cause an explosion of the situation in Jerusalem, out of a desire to impose a new situation on the Jerusalem Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount). This situation includes a division [of the mosque between Jews and Muslims] according to times and areas and a change of the status quo, in order to serve the process of Judaization and the plans to empty the holy city [of Jerusalem] of the Palestinians, its original owners and residents.
He emphasized that our people will defend Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the height of determination for the sake of justice and to defend the honor. He also said that the occupation’s plans will fail as they have failed in the past, and that this occupation will pass from our city and from our Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In response to statements issued by the office of [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, according to which Jews will be permitted to visit the Noble Sanctuary and carry out Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) prayers there (sic., Jews were not given permission to pray at the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism), Al-Habbash emphasized that these statements constitute insistence on causing an escalation and a continuation of aggression in order to commit additional crimes against those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) and the worshippers at the Jerusalem Noble Sanctuary.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 17, 2022]
Headline: “Extensive condemnation of the occupation’s invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and calls to provide international protection to our people”
“The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs said that the general violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the desecration of the Southern Mosque (i.e., the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself), the breaking of its windows, and entering it with shoes, along with harming the peaceful Muslim worshippers inside it (sic., refers to violent Arab rioters on the Temple Mount), are a push towards a religious war. The ministry added: ‘What the occupation government committed comes as a realization of its settler outlook that strives to take control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque with all its plazas, structures, and mosques, and in order to satisfy the settlers who are working day and night to take control over it and carry out their Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) rituals that call to offer sacrifices in order to establish their alleged Temple, which all the antiquities committees have denied its existence in the borders of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sic., an abundance of archaeological evidence proves Jewish history in Jerusalem, including the Jewish Temples).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2022]
Headline: “The [PA] Grand Mufti calls on the Arabs and Muslims to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the occupation’s brutality”
“[PA] Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Muhammad Hussein called on the Arabs and Muslims to defend the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the plots that are being woven against it…
In a statement, Sheikh Hussein called for the help of the Arab and Islamic nations in order to defend… the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is groaning under the yoke of occupation and injustice, due to the occupation’s attacks on the worshippers within it, the destruction of property in the Southern Mosque (i.e., the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself), and the arrest of dozens of our people (refers to Arab riots on the Temple Mount and Israeli efforts to restore order -Ed.)…
He held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the consequences of the continuation of these crimes and violations against our defenseless people, its land, and its holy sites.
The mufti called on the Arab and Islamic peoples and the people of honor in the world to intervene to stop the recurring and escalating attacks against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque…
He called on everyone who is able to come to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to stay within it and defend it. He also held the occupation authorities responsible for the results of these despicable attacks, which increase and fan the flames of hatred in the region.
Sheikh Hussein explained that these acts by the occupation authorities constitute a declaration of all-out religious war, whose results are difficult to imagine.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 19, 2022]