Palestinian columnist calls rocks and Molotov cocktails “peaceful resistance”
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
“[UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland] commented on ‘the killing of 4 Israeli civilians and an Israeli security worker and the wounding of 22 civilians and 20 security forces [members], including 5 women, by Palestinians in shooting and stabbing operations, confrontations, and the throwing of rocks or Molotov cocktails’ (sic., see note below for actual quote by Wennesland). We turn attention to the main points in which the UN coordinator deviated from international law. First, it is forbidden under any circumstances to compare the victim to the executioner. Second, the Israeli general security members are murderous soldiers who carry out violence and killing against the members of the Palestinian people. Third, the women he noted are female soldiers in the Israeli death army, and noting the gender here is meant to incite against the Palestinian people, and not just for the sake of description. Fourth, the Palestinian people’s right of resistance, as was previously stated, is anchored in international law in order to defend what is included in [UN] Resolution 3236 (sic., see note below). Fifth, it is forbidden under any circumstances to relate to throwing rocks or Molotov cocktails at the soldiers of Israeli colonialism – who are armed with weapons, tanks, armored vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, missiles, planes, and all the weapons of death – as ‘lethal weapons,’ because they are the simplest means of self-defense and are included as part of the means of peaceful popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror).”
Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul is also a former PLO Central Council member.
In a briefing of the UN Security Council on Oct. 28, 2022, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said: “In all, two Israeli security forces personnel were killed, and 25 Israeli civilians, including five women and three children, and 13 Israeli security forces personnel were injured by Palestinians in shooting and ramming attacks, clashes, the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails, and other incidents.” Wennesland’s comments apparently referred to the month of October 2022.
UN Resolution 3236 - PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."
The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." https://palwatch.org/page/9276