PA officials and Israeli Arab MP respond to Sharon's death
PA and Fatah officials and Israeli Arab MPs
on Sharon's death
PA official Rajoub: "Sharon is a murderer,
responsible for the murder of Arafat"
Fatah Central Committee member Abu Al-Einein about Sharon:
"a war criminal and a murderer"
Fatah posted picture of Arafat dancing
at "the announcement of Sharon's death"
PA TV posted cartoon of Arafat in Heaven
saying to Sharon: "We are the living, you are the dead"
Israeli Arab MP: "Put war criminal Sharon on trial,
on Sharon's death
PA official Rajoub: "Sharon is a murderer,
responsible for the murder of Arafat"
Fatah Central Committee member Abu Al-Einein about Sharon:
"a war criminal and a murderer"
Fatah posted picture of Arafat dancing
at "the announcement of Sharon's death"
PA TV posted cartoon of Arafat in Heaven
saying to Sharon: "We are the living, you are the dead"
Israeli Arab MP: "Put war criminal Sharon on trial,
even if he is dead!"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Upon the news of the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Fatah movement posted on one of its official Facebook pages a picture of Arafat dancing and the text: "An official announcement of the death of Ariel Sharon."
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page,"
Jan. 11, 2014]
Jan. 11, 2014]
Official Palestinian Authority TV decided to post a cartoon showing Arafat as a Martyr in Heaven saying to Sharon:
"We are the living, and you are the dead!"
[Official PA TV's Facebook page "Palestine TV," Jan. 12, 2014]
In a news report, PA TV stated that Sharon had "committed massacres" and that "he defiled the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the year 2000," referring to Sharon's walk on the Temple Mount, which Arafat then used as an excuse to launch the PA terror campaign from 2000-2005 (the Intifada). Senior PA official Jibril Rajoub stated that Sharon "committed crimes against the Palestinian people," "established the official terror network against our people," and that "he is a murderer and responsible for the murder of deceased leader Yasser Arafat."
Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein similarly called Sharon "a war criminal and a murderer," describing "his final crime" as "the murder of Yasser Arafat."
The Israeli Arab party Hadash announced that "war criminal and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is dead" on its official Facebook page. Elsewhere on its Facebook page the party referred to Sharon as "murderer." The party also posted a cartoon of Sharon walking down to Hell, dragging iron balls behind him that are chained to his feet and labeled "Deir Yassin," "Qibya," "Sabra," and "Shatila." [Hadash's official Arabic Facebook page, posted Jan. 11, 2014]
Israeli Arab Member of Parliament Dr. Jamal Zahalka, posted on his Facebook page, the following demand:
"Put war criminal Sharon on trial, even if he is dead!"
He accused Sharon of having committed "crimes against humanity," and suggested "show trials in absentia" for Sharon and other "war criminals" who cannot be tried in order "to expose Zionism's shame and its crimes, of which Sharon was one of the conspicuous figures who committed and represented them." [Israeli MP Jamal Zahalka's Facebook page, Jan. 12, 2014] The following is a longer excerpt of the interviews with Rajoub and Abu Al-Einein as reported in the official PA daily:
"The Palestinians hastened to welcome the news of Sharon's death. Deputy-Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub told [news] agency [Agence] France-Presse: 'Sharon committed crimes against the Palestinian people and he is a murderer and responsible for the murder of deceased leader Yasser Arafat.' He added: 'We wished for him to be put on trial before the [International] Criminal Court in The Hague for his crimes against the Palestinian people and its leaders.'
Rajoub continued: 'Sharon established the official terror network against our people and he is the hero of Israel's state terrorism crimes in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.' In addition, he said that he [Ariel Sharon] 'is responsible for the murder of Arafat, of Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] Abu Ali Mustafa and of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as well as for the murder attempt on Khaled Mashaal, head of the Political Bureau of Hamas and on many Palestinian and Arab leaders.'
Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein, who was a PLO military commander in 1982, said: 'Sharon is a war criminal and a murderer and was directly involved in a number of massacres carried out against the Palestinians, beginning with the massacres at Deir Yassin and Qibya, continuing with the Sabra and Shatila massacre and ending with his final crime, which is the murder of Yasser Arafat.'
Abu Al-Einein added: 'I wished for the day to come on which we would put Sharon on trial before an international court but now he is dead. I'm not sorry for his death and the death of murderers and criminals like him, whose crimes still live on today in our blood.' Abu Al-Einein noted that despite Sharon's death, 'it is the victim's right to continue to work towards putting his murderer on trial, even if he is already dead.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2014]
Note: Jibril Rajoub was sentenced to life in prison in 1970 for throwing a grenade at an Israeli army truck. He was released in 1985, when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine succeeded in releasing 1,150 prisoners in exchange for three Israeli hostages. Today, Jibril Rajoub is Deputy-Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee. He is also Head of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, and Chairman of the Olympic Committee.
Sabra and Shatila are Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. In 1982 during the first Lebanon War, a massacre at Sabra and Shatila was committed against Muslims by Christian Phalangists in Lebanon. The PA has a longstanding policy of falsely accusing Israel of committing the massacre or actively helping to carry it out.
Abu Ali Mustafa - Secretary-General of the terror organization "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" (PLFP). The PFLP, which rejected the Oslo Accords (1993), has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000-2005 (the Intifada).
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - Founder and former head of the terrorist organization Hamas. The Hamas movement is responsible for numerous terror attacks and the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Excerpt from PA TV News report on Sharon's death:
Official PA TV News reported that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had died, and added: "He committed massacres against our people after 1948 (i.e., the Israeli War of Independence) and the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and he defiled the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the year 2000, setting off the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) during which he committed numerous acts of slaughter, the most egregious being the massacre that took place in the Jenin refugee camp."
[Official PA TV, Jan. 11, 2014]
Excerpt from Israeli Arab Member of Parliament Jamal Zahalka's post on his Facebook page:
Headline: "Put war criminal Sharon on trial, even if he is dead!"
"Sharon's death, eight years after he was clinically dead (i.e., in a coma), is an opportunity to emphasize that we must prosecute and bring war criminals to trial in international courts. If this is not possible, as in Sharon's case, we must conduct a show trial with them in absentia, in which detailed charges of their crimes against humanity will be presented. This [should be done] to expose Zionism's shame and its crimes. Sharon was one of the conspicuous figures who committed and represented them... Sharon is dead, but the criminal policy he adopted still exists. Moreover, it is Israel's official and operative policy."
[Israeli Arab MP Jamal Zahalka's Facebook page, Jan. 12, 2014]