Fatah calls for return to the rifle
Fatah calls for return to the rifle
Fatah official:
"We have not cast down the rifle... the rifle is here, and it can burst forth at any moment"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
At a ceremony in support of PA Chairman Abbas in Jericho Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi reiterated Fatah's adherence to the use of weapons as "one of the methods of struggle." Shouting that "the rifle is here, and it can burst forth at any moment," Tirawi stated that the rifle "will burst forth from this [current] leadership... and if we are no longer alive... [from] our sons, our young lions."Click to view
Similarly, a cartoon posted by Fatah on Facebook called for the return to armed struggle. It showed a small boy pulling the hand of a man carrying a rifle and dressed in a military uniform and wearing a traditional Palestinian headscarf. The child says to the armed man:
"We have missed you, come back."
[Facebook, Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission, March 11, 2014]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Fatah frequently uses Facebook to promote violence and glorify terrorist murderers. The following is a longer excerpt of Tawfiq Tirawi's declaration that Fatah will return to the rifle:
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi:
"A national enterprise cannot succeed without the National Liberation Movement, Fatah. We in this movement have not cast down the rifle and have not let go of the rifle. The rifle is here! The method of struggle we are adopting now (i.e., negotiations) is [only] one of the methods of struggle. But the rifle is here, and it can burst forth at any moment, with a new method and a new leadership. It will burst forth from this [current] leadership if we remain alive, because we are its people; and if we are no longer alive, [then] our sons, our young lions and you will be its people. Revolution until victory, until victory, until victory."
"A national enterprise cannot succeed without the National Liberation Movement, Fatah. We in this movement have not cast down the rifle and have not let go of the rifle. The rifle is here! The method of struggle we are adopting now (i.e., negotiations) is [only] one of the methods of struggle. But the rifle is here, and it can burst forth at any moment, with a new method and a new leadership. It will burst forth from this [current] leadership if we remain alive, because we are its people; and if we are no longer alive, [then] our sons, our young lions and you will be its people. Revolution until victory, until victory, until victory."
[Official PA TV Live, March 17, 2014]
Click to see additional statements promoting violence by Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi.