Fatah calls terror a “national duty;” terrorists are role models
Fatah holds special ceremony to honor terrorists with life sentences
Ramallah governor sends "blessings of honor and pride to all our men and women behind bars"
The Palestinian Authority's officials heap praise on terrorists, hold them up as models of national loyalty, and portray their imprisonment as proof of noble sacrifice. Its ruling party, Fatah, turns defending and honoring them into a national duty at the forefront of its agenda.
At a ceremony honoring families of terrorists serving life sentences, Fatah's branch secretary in Nablus elevated the prisoners into national exemplars and pledged Fatah's enduring allegiance:
"The national prisoners' movement constitutes a noble chapter in the history of the Palestinian struggle and a living testament to the extent of the sacrifices our people made for their freedom, honor, and independence...
Fatah will remain on the front line of defending the prisoners' cause and won't abandon its national and fighting responsibility toward them and their families… Honoring the families of the prisoners serving life sentences is not just a celebratory event, but a national stance that expresses loyalty to those who sacrificed their lives for freedom."
[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Oct. 15, 2026]
After meeting a relative of Maslama Thabet, who participated in the kidnapping and murder of Etgar Zeituni and Motti Dayan in 2001, Ramallah District Governor Laila Ghannam presented the murderer and his family as embodiments of Palestinian virtue:
"I am proud of Akrama (i.e., relative of Maslama Thabet) and this family that has embodied the most noble meanings of belonging and loyalty to Palestine. Through him, I convey a blessing of pride and resoluteness to the fighting prisoner Maslama Thabet and to all our prisoners in the occupation's prison cells who stand facing the yoke with unbreakable willpower and untiring determination."
[Ramallah District Governor Dr. Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, Oct. 21, 2026]
The same day, Ghannam celebrated receiving released prisoner Saad Al-Din Jaber, who placed a large explosive device at the Biankini pub in Jerusalem in 2001 in an attack thwarted by café owner Dina Dagan. Ghannam praised Jaber as an example of perseverance deserving a future commensurate with his supposed sacrifice:
"I was delighted to receive released prisoner Saad Jaber… Our prisoners, and among them those who have been released… carry within their hearts an uncompromising determination to restore their natural lives and build a future worthy of their sacrifice…
I… convey through him the best of the blessings of honor and pride to all our men and women behind bars."
[Ramallah District Governor Dr. Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, Oct. 21, 2026]
The PA, which is too often viewed by the West as a moderate Palestinian alternative worthy of governance, turns participation in kidnapping, murder, and bombing into a record of sacrifice worthy of admiration, and the terrorists are elevated into examples of loyalty and determination that Palestinians are taught to emulate.