Fatah: 80-year-old Israeli woman murdered in rocket attack against Rehovot was “a settler”
- The PA says all of Israel is an "occupation" and all Israelis are "settlers."
During Israel’s recent confrontation with the Islamic Jihad terror organization and others in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian terrorists fired over 1,000 rockets at Israel. 80-year-old female Israeli civilian Inga Avramyan was murdered in such an attack, when a rocket directly hit her apartment building in the Israeli city of Rehovot, 30 km south of Tel Aviv.
According to Fatah, Inga was “a settler” and Rehovot is “a settlement”:
Official PA TV reporter in Gaza: “The occupation has gotten what it wanted, because these rockets hit one of the settlers’ houses with a direct strike, and the Hebrew media is reporting on the death of a settler.”
[Official PA TV, May 11, 2023]
Fatah posted a video and text showing damage to “the settlement of Rehovot south of Tel Aviv” caused by the rockets fired by the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip:
Posted text: “The destruction created as a result of the resistance’s rocket striking the settlement of Rehovot south of Tel Aviv”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 11, 2023]
Another video posted by Fatah shows rockets fired at Israeli civilian population centers, including “the settlement Rehovot”:
Posted text: “The moment of launching rockets at the settlement of Rehovot (i.e., an Israeli city)”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 11, 2023]
Rehovot has been a part of the State of Israel since its creation. It is located 14 km from the Mediterranean coast, 30 km south of Tel Aviv. While the entire international community recognizes Rehovot as an Israeli city not a part of any negotiations, the PA and Fatah, which do not recognize Israel's right to exist in any borders, define Rehovot as a "settlement" in “occupied Palestine.”
Another city that has never been included in any negotiations is Ashdod, one of Israel’s coastal cities, 40 km south of Tel Aviv and 30 km north of the Gaza Strip. Fatah also defined Israelis from Ashdod seeking cover from terrorist rockets from Gaza, as “settlers”:
Posted text: “Israeli settlers fleeing upon hearing the [rocket] siren in Ashdod (i.e., an Israeli city).”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 10, 2023]
Reporting on the rocket attacks from Gaza, Fatah posted yet another video, pointing out that they targeted “the Gaza Envelope settlements.” The Gaza Envelope is the populated area of Israel near the Gaza Strip border.
Posted text: “Scenes from the Gaza Envelope settlements after they were attacked by rocket barrages”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 11, 2023]
Posted text: “Consecutive rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip towards the settlements and the occupied lands.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 10, 2023]
Posted text: “Rocket barrages launched from the Gaza Strip towards the occupied cities.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 10, 2023]
What is seen in these reports is fundamental to Israel-Palestinian relations, and the reason there is no progress to peace, is that for the PA and Fatah, not just Hamas, all of Israel is one large illegitimate “settlement” and all Israelis are “settlers.”
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah always side with terrorists against Israel. This time was no exception. The official PA daily glorified the Gazan terrorists, while Fatah called for “cooperation with the forces”:
“In light of the resolution, willpower, and heroism of our people and its fighters, we bow in honor and admiration before the great sacrifice, legendary defiance, and adherence to the land and the right that are being illustrated by our people and our heroes in the Gaza Strip…
Fatah, with all its parts and leadership bodies, calls to strengthen the unity of the struggle on the ground… Fatah also emphasizes its participation and firmness in the arenas of confrontation… Fatah calls on its members to cooperate with our people’s forces and masses in response to the aggression and in defense of the Palestinian blood and right.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 14, 2023]
For decades, PMW has exposed that the Palestinians view all of the State of Israel as “occupied Palestine.”
2023 Operation Shield and Arrow – Israeli counter-terror operation against the Islamic Jihad terror organization in the Gaza Strip, in response to Islamic Jihad rocket attacks targeting Israel and particularly on May 2, 2023, when over 100 rockets were fired at Israel. Israel’s operation began on May 9, 2023, when Israel killed senior Islamic Jihad officials Khalil Al-Bahtini, Tareq Izz Al-Din, and Jihad Al-Ghannam together with 10 others, primarily their relatives, in targeted airstrikes. The terrorists were involved in the previous rocket attacks and were actively planning terror attacks in the West Bank. During Israel's operation, Islamic Jihad launched over 1,000 rockets, murdering 80-year-old female Israeli civilian Inga Avramyan and a 34-year-old Palestinian laborer from the Gaza Strip working in Israel. Approximately 20% of the rockets fell short within the Gaza Strip, killing at least 4 Palestinians. Israel attacked Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure and later in the operation also killed Islamic Jihad officials Ayed Al-Husseini, who was Al-Bahtini's replacement as commander of operations; Ali Ghali, commander of Islamic Jihad's rocket force; and Ghali's deputy Ahmed Abu Daqqa. An Egyptian mediated ceasefire was announced on May 13, 2023.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above and additional posts misrepresenting cities in Israel “settlements”:
Headline: “The Fatah Central Committee: The occupation’s attempts to create a political division will be thwarted by our people’s determination for the unity of the struggle”
“Yesterday [May 13, 2023,] the Fatah Movement Central Committee held an emergency meeting… and issued the following statement: ‘… In light of the resolution, willpower, and heroism of our people and its fighters, we bow in honor and admiration before the great sacrifice, legendary defiance, and adherence to the land and the right that are being illustrated by our people and our heroes in the Gaza Strip and in every city, refugee camp, and village that is standing against the aggression in the West Bank of resistance and resolve.
Fatah, with all its parts and leadership bodies, calls to strengthen the unity of the struggle on the ground against this criminal and uncontrolled behavior that the [Israeli] government of violence and crimes is carrying out against our people and its cause (refers to 2023 Operation Shield and Arrow; see note below -Ed.). Fatah also emphasizes its participation and firmness in the arenas of confrontation in order to defeat the occupation and its bloody path, and to achieve the Palestinian right to freedom, a state, and independence. Fatah calls on its members to cooperate with our people’s forces and masses in response to the aggression and in defense of the Palestinian blood and right…
The occupation’s attempts to carry out a political and geographical separation and separate one city from the other and between one faction and another will be thwarted through our people’s determination and insistence on the unity of the struggle, the goal, and on the ground. Fatah, alongside the loyalists from among our living forces and our people’s masses, cannot be silent in light of this separation and criminal targeting of the Islamic Jihad Movement and its commanders in the heroic Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian blood that is being spilled on the altar of freedom requires us to build true national unity as part of one struggle plan, whose agenda and decisions will be purely Palestinian and will not serve anything but the Palestinian interest for freedom, a state, and defeating the occupation.
Fatah’s hand will remain outstretched to all the hands that fight for Palestine and its freedom.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 14, 2023]
Posted text: “One of the rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip towards the settlements in the occupied lands.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 10, 2023]
Posted text: “Hebrew sources: A male settler (sic., a female Israeli civilian) was killed in the settlement of Eshkol (sic., the Israeli city of Rehovot) after the resistance fired rockets.”
[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, May 11, 2023]
“Male settler” refers to Gazan terrorists murdering 80-year-old female Israeli civilian Inga Avramyan in a rocket attack on Rehovot, an Israeli city south of Tel Aviv -Ed.
Official PA TV reporter in Gaza: “It appears that on everything concerning dragging the resistance in the southern [districts] (i.e., the Gaza Strip) into a response, the occupation has gotten what it wanted, because these rockets hit one of the settlers’ houses with a direct strike, and the Hebrew media is reporting on the death of a male settler.”
[Official PA TV, May 11, 2023]
Excerpt of a column by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “An additional round of aggression and the question is until when”
“The positions that the Palestinian people’s political leadership, and foremost among it [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, are working to penetrate are stronger than [the occupation’s] military positions and its Iron Dome that is located on the land of our occupied homeland Palestine.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 14, 2023]