Fatah: Terrorists are “our national identity”; Marwan Barghouti is our “leader”
Fatah, the Palestinian Authority's ruling party, glorified imprisoned terrorists and "Martyrs" as a sacred component of Palestinian national identity.
The Fatah Revolutionary Council's 13th session, held at the PA presidential headquarters in Ramallah, was titled "Freedom for Leader Marwan Barghouti and All the Prisoners." Barghouti is serving five life sentences for orchestrating three attacks in which five were murdered during the 2000-2005 PA terror campaign (second Intifada). By naming the session after Barghouti, Fatah elevated a murderer as a role model and "national leader."
At the session, the Revolutionary Council "emphasized the continuation of the popular resistance on the ground and its escalation." "Popular resistance" is Mahmoud Abbas' term for lone Palestinian attacks, including murder, carried out against Israelis independently and without direction from a central authority. In the same breath, Fatah "reemphasized its principled stance" on preserving "the rights and dignity" of the families of "the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded," i.e., the terrorists, calling this "an authentic part of our national identity," and describing it as a "trust" and a "sacred issue."
"The Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council decided to hold the Eighth Fatah Conference on May 14, [2026]... At the end of its 13th session – which took place over two days at the [PA] presidential headquarters in Ramallah under the title… "Freedom for Leader Marwan Barghouti and All The Prisoners"… the council emphasized the continuation of the popular resistance on the ground and its escalation… Fatah reemphasized its principled stance on preserving the rights and dignity of the families of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded, as this constitutes an authentic part of our national identity. It also said that this matter is a trust deposited with Fatah, and that they are currently working swiftly to find the appropriate national formula to put an end to any ambiguity on this sacred issue."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 11, 2026]
The Palestinian Authority may try to market itself abroad as "revitalized" and ready to govern Gaza. However, its ruling party tells its own public that terror—or "popular resistance"— remains policy, that escalation is the goal, and that those who achieve Martyrdom or are imprisoned for their acts are placed on a pedestal as "an authentic part of our national identity."