PLO’s female role models on Palestinian Women’s Day: 2 murderers, 2 hijackers, and a bomber
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr: “We have many examples of Palestinian women – Fatima Barnawi (i.e., terrorist, placed bomb in movie theater), the first female Palestinian prisoner. We have Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37), the commander of the coastal squad. We have Zakariya (sic., Zakiya) Shammout (i.e., terrorist, involved in murder of 1). We have Lina Al-Nabulsi. We have Theresa Halsa (i.e., terrorist hijacker, involved in killing of 1). We have Laila Khaled (i.e., terrorist hijacker, involved in murder of 1), and many other female prisoners and Martyrs throughout the homeland.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Oct. 24, 2022]
Posted text on Facebook page: “Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr’s speech on the sidelines of the activity to support the prisoners for Palestinian National Women’s Day.”
Fatima Barnawi – Palestinian female terrorist who placed a bomb in a movie theater in Jerusalem in 1967. The bomb failed to explode. She was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 1977 after serving 10 years. In 2015, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas honored Barnawi with the Military Star of Honor.
Dalal Mughrabi – female Palestinian terrorist who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.
Zakiya Shammout – Palestinian terrorist involved in several attacks including the placing of a bomb in the Afula market on Oct. 6, 1969, murdering 1 and injuring dozens. Shammout was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in a prisoner exchange deal in 1983 and deported to Algeria. She died in 2014.
Lina Al-Nabulsi – high school student who was apparently shot and killed by an Israeli soldier at a demonstration in Nablus on May 15, 1976, according to Palestinian sources. PMW has not been able to determine the exact circumstances surrounding her death.
Theresa Halsa – 17-year-old female Israeli Arab terrorist and a member of the Black September terror organization, a secret branch of Fatah, who participated in the hijacking of Sabena flight 571 from Vienna to Tel Aviv in May 1972. When the plane landed in Israel, the terrorists demanded the release of 315 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. Israel mounted a rescue operation led by Ehud Barak (who later served as Israeli Prime Minister), in which Benjamin Netanyahu (who also later served as Israeli Prime Minister) participated. During the rescue the two male hijackers, Ali Taha Abu Snina and Abed Al-Aziz Atrash, were killed, and one passenger, 22-year-old Miriam Anderson, was also killed accidentally. The two female hijackers, Rima Tannous and Theresa Halsa, were captured and sentenced to life imprisonment – Halsa for 220 years. They were released in November 1983 in a prisoner exchange. Halsa was expelled to Jordan where she lived until she died of cancer on March 28, 2020.
Laila Khaled - Palestinian terrorist and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who participated in the hijacking of TWA flight 840 from Rome to Athens on Aug. 29, 1969 and the hijacking of El Al flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York on Sept. 6, 1970. The second hijacking was averted by the pilot and security personnel on board. They shot Khaled’s accomplice, Patrick Argüello, who had murdered one of the flight attendants. Khaled was overpowered and the plane landed in London, where Khaled was handed over and held by British police until she was exchanged on Oct. 1, 1970 for hostages held by the PFLP.