• Arabs are “Allah’s hand,” when attacking Jews in Jerusalem

• Fatah turns Jerusalem confrontations into religious war

• Fatah leader: Whoever doesn’t participate in the “battle to defend ‎Jerusalem… is a mute devil”‎

Arabs attacking Jews in Jerusalem are “Allah’s hand.” This message was Abbas’ ‎Fatah Movement’s response following days of violent Arab riots in Jerusalem, ‎which Fatah seems intent on turning into a religious war.  ‎

In two posts on its official Facebook page, Fatah declared the Arabs committing the violence to ‎be “Allah’s hand”:‎

Posted text with image above: “We are Allah’s hand that will restore ‎Jerusalem’s status
‎#There_will_be_no_[PA]elections_without_Jerusalem
‎[Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture”‎

Text on image: “The Fatah Movement‎
The Commission of Information and Culture
We are Allah’s hand that will restore Jerusalem’s status”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, ‎April 26, 2021]‎

Text at bottom of image: “We are Allah’s hand that strikes every usurper ‎and everyone who carries out normalization [with Israel]”‎

Posted text: “We are Allah’s hand that strikes every usurper and everyone ‎who carries out normalization [with Israel]‎
‎#There_are_no_[PA]elections_without_Jerusalem‎
‎[Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture”‎

[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture,  April 28, 2021]‎

Another Fatah leader stressing the religious value of the confrontations, was Fatah ‎Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi who wrote that supporting the rioters and ‎participating in the riots is a religious “obligatory personal commandment” (fard ayn) ‎‎- one of the highest religious obligations in Islam: ‎

‎“Fatah Movement Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi said that the ‎resistance of the residents of Jerusalem to the occupation is a holy battle ‎that they are fighting alone, and he considered supporting them, coming ‎to them, and participating with them in the battle to defend Jerusalem ‎and the holy sites an obligatory personal commandment (fard ayn), and ‎whoever shirks this is a mute devil who, with his silence and passivity, ‎allows the occupation to tyrannically rule the Palestinian residents of ‎Jerusalem, the holy city, and the holy sites.”‎

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, April 25, 2021]‎

Tirawi further called the rioters Jerusalem’s “purehearted protectors” and its “true ‎defenders,” and repeated one of the PA’s excuses for the violence, claiming Israel ‎is “Judaizing” Jerusalem, “making it Israeli,” and “preventing its original residents ‎from enjoying freedom of worship” during the Ramadan.‎

Tirawi called on the “Palestinian forces and factions” to honor their duties toward ‎Jerusalem and called on all Arabs and Muslims to “act to save the holy city from the ‎clutches of the occupation and its colonialist occupying racist policy”:‎

‎“[Tirawi] demanded first of all that the Palestinian forces and factions fulfill ‎their obligations towards Jerusalem, the capital, and he demanded that the ‎Arabs and Muslims act to save the holy city from the clutches of the ‎occupation and its colonialist occupying racist policy, whose goal is to expel ‎the Palestinian residents, empty the city of its people, and fully complete its ‎Judaization.”‎

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi,  April 25, 2021]‎

The following is a longer excerpt of the text posted by Fatah Central Committee ‎member Tawfiq Tirawi:‎

Posted text: “A statement from the office of [Fatah Central Committee member] Maj. ‎Gen. Tawfiq Tirawi regarding the occupation’s severe escalation in Jerusalem
Jerusalem and [Arab] residents of Jerusalem: the capital and its purehearted ‎protectors
Ramallah – Palestine, April 24, 2021‎

Fatah Movement Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi issued a statement ‎today, Saturday [April 25, 2021], regarding the occupation’s dangerous escalation ‎in Jerusalem and the systematic harming of the holy sites and Jerusalem ‎residents. This is alongside the blatant attack against the Palestinian sites and ‎people through a colonialist policy that seeks to Judaize the city, make it Israeli, and ‎prevent its original residents from enjoying freedom of worship during the exalted ‎‎[Muslim fasting] month [of Ramadan]…‎

Tirawi said that the occupation government is sponsoring the invasions of the ‎settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, organizing them, and providing them with ‎defense and protection to enable their acts of aggression, which are expressed ‎by defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque and providing legal authorization for the entry ‎of the settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, as preparation for its division and ‎for full control over its management, and in order to enable the Jewish religious ‎extremists to begin carrying out their plans that seek to expropriate [the Al-‎Aqsa Mosque] and build the alleged Temple in its place, while exploiting the ‎world’s preoccupation with its affairs, in the shadow of the fracture in the Arab ‎position (refers to peace agreements signed between Israel and Arab states; see ‎note below -Ed.).‎

Tirawi expressed appreciation for our people, the residents of Jerusalem, standing ‎against this escalation and coming out against it by refusing to clear the streets ‎bordering the gates of the Old City, despite the attacks with stun grenades, tear gas, ‎gunfire, batons, and mounted units against the young people of Jerusalem who ‎remained in the neighborhoods, streets, and alleys and confronted the ‎occupation forces in defense of their national and personal honor, and for the ‎sake of their holy capital on behalf of all the Palestinians, the factions, the ‎political parties, and the movements, and on behalf of all the Arabs and Muslims, ‎and this is despite the fact that they alone are the protectors of the holy city and ‎its true defenders.‎

Tirawi noted that the occupation’s escalation against Jerusalem and the residents ‎of Jerusalem expresses a deep crisis in the occupation government…‎

Tirawi said that the resistance of the residents of Jerusalem to the occupation ‎is a holy battle that they are fighting alone, and he considered supporting them, ‎coming to them, and participating with them in the battle to defend Jerusalem and ‎the holy sites an obligatory personal commandment (fard ayn), and whoever ‎shirks this is a mute devil who, with his silence and passivity, allows the ‎occupation to tyrannically rule the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, the holy ‎city, and the holy sites. He demanded first of all that the Palestinian forces and ‎factions fulfill their obligations towards Jerusalem, the capital, and he demanded ‎that the Arabs and Muslims act to save the holy city from the clutches of the ‎occupation and its colonialist occupying racist policy, whose goal is to expel the ‎Palestinian residents, empty the city of its people, and fully complete its ‎Judaization.”‎

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, April 25, 2021]‎

Tawfiq Tirawi also serves as Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations.‎

The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as an integral part of ‎the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, they vilify any presence of Jews on the mount as an ‎‎”invasion.” It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some ‎sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the ‎Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of ‎violence by Palestinians.‎

Israel-UAE peace agreement (Abraham Accords) – an agreement normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was announced on Aug. 13, 2020, under the mediation of US President Donald Trump. Pursuant to the agreement, the countries will discuss bilateral cooperation on a number of topics. In exchange for the agreement, Israel agreed to suspend its previously announced plans to apply Israel’s civilian law to parts of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley as per the Trump peace plan. The US announced that “Muslims throughout the world who wish to come in peace to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, will now be able to fly to Tel Aviv through Abu Dhabi to do so and will be welcomed.”