• DFLP: ”We recall the glorious list of the thousands of Martyrs who sacrificed their lives and their blood under the flag of Palestine, the flag of the DFLP”

• Fatah spokesman: Fatah “lit its torch to illuminate the path to independence and soaked its path in the blood of its leaders… the path has not yet reached its end… the real victory will be achieved when our land is liberated”

While the Biden administration is planning to reopen the PLO offices in Washington DC, one of the PLO member factions – the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terror organization – is openly glorifying its bloody terror attacks as “acts of heroism.”

In a statement issued by the DFLP terror organization on its anniversary earlier this month, the organization listed with “pride, admiration, and esteem” its lethal terror attacks over the decades – among them the massacre of 26 Israelis, including 22 children. DFLP vowed to “continue… to provide our people and its political forces with the blood of the heroes.” The terror organization further took pride in the “glorious list of the thousands of Martyrs who sacrificed their lives and their blood under the flag of Palestine.” [Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 3, 2021]

In its terror glorifying statement, the DFLP stressed its affiliation with the PLO, stating that the DFLP “always marches and advances in the national ranks under the flag of the PLO, the sole legal representative of our heroic people and its national project.” The organization then listed several of its “heroic operations” – i.e., lethal terror attacks – among them what is known in Israel as the Maalot Massacre, in which DFLP terrorists infiltrated Israel from Lebanon and took students and teachers hostages at the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma’alot on May 15, 1974. When Israeli forces attempted to rescue the hostages, the terrorists attacked the hostages with guns and grenades, murdering 22 children and 4 adults.

[legalinsurrecction.com]

The DFLP further mentioned attacks in which a total of 12 Israelis were murdered and almost 100 wounded, and also praised the two intifadas – Palestinian terror waves in which more than 1,300 Israelis were murdered.

An official spokesman of the allegedly “moderate” Fatah Movement – also a member of the PLO – spoke in similar terms about Fatah’s contributions to the “liberation of Palestine”:

“Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council member [and Official Fatah Spokesman] Osama Al-Qawasmi said that Fatah, which lit its torch to illuminate the path to independence and soaked its path in the blood of its leaders even before the blood of its fighters, will not abandon its responsibility or its commitments… Al-Qawasmi added in a statement that the path has not yet reached its end, and that the real victory will be achieved when our land is liberated, the settlements are dismantled, the refugees return, and the independent state whose capital is Jerusalem is established.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 3, 2021]

Al-Qawasmi explained that “when Fatah participates in its battles, it turns the bodies of its members into fire before the enemy” and mentioned several battles with Israel, among them the second intifada, in which 1,100 Israelis were murdered in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Fatah’s spokesman added that it is “Fatah’s custom [to engage in] popular resistance… and we do not forget that this resistance has pained the enemy, and in its framework the best of [Fatah’s] young people have died.”

Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, is a US designated terror organization. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is the head of both Fatah and the PLO. The Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) are also members of the PLO and are US designated terror organizations.

These statements by member factions of the PLO, together with the PA/PLO’s constant incentivizing of violence and terror through the Pay-for-Slay rewards to terrorists, and the ongoing glorification of murderers of Israelis as documented by Palestinian Media Watch ought to raise a blood red flag for the Biden administration when considering reopening the PLO office in Washington DC.

The following is the statement issued by the DFLP and the statement by Fatah’s spokesman:

Headline: “On the national day for the Martyrs of the [Democratic] Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] (DFLP), the DFLP: We paved the national project with blood, and we will fight to realize it with blood”

“On the national day of the Martyrs of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which occurs on June 4 every year, the DFLP issued a statement in which it said: … ‘On this lofty day, the national day of the Martyrs of the DFLP, we recall the glorious list of the thousands of Martyrs who sacrificed their lives and their blood under the flag of Palestine, the flag of the DFLP, and the flag of its military units and its public organizations inside Palestine and on its borders from Jordan, the Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon. [They did this] in defense of the revolution, the PLO, and the refugee camps, in the great Beirut battle of 1982, in the great (first) Intifada (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993) and the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered), and in all the national battles, in a way that serves our people’s interests and its rights and the position of the DFLP that always marches and advances in the national ranks under the flag of the PLO, the sole legal representative of our heroic people and its national project. [It is] a project that was and will continue to be an honor for the DFLP to provide our people and its political forces with the blood of the heroes, the Martyrs of the heroic operations of Ma’alot (i.e., Ma’alot massacre, 26 murdered including 22 children), Beit Shean (i.e., terror attack, 4 murdered), the first Jerusalem operation (i.e., the Jaffa street bombing, 7 murdered), the second Jerusalem operation (i.e., shooting attack, 1 murdered), Land Day (see note below -Ed.), and all the operations that history recorded in the list of acts of heroism with all the words of pride, admiration, and esteem.’”

[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 3, 2021]

The DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) has carried out numerous terror attacks, including the Ma’alot massacre in which 22 schoolchildren and 4 adults were murdered (May 15, 1974), the Avivim school bus massacre, in which 9 children and 3 adults were murdered (May 22, 1970), the Kiryat Shmona massacre (18 murdered, April 11, 1974), the Beit Shean attack (4 murdered, Nov. 19, 1974), the Jaffa street bombing in Jerusalem (7 murdered, Nov. 13, 1975) the Tiberias bombing (2 high school students murdered, May 15, 1979), the Night of the Gliders (in which two terrorists infiltrated Israel from Lebanon using hang gliders, murdering 6 Israeli soldiers on Nov. 25, 1987), and the Geha junction suicide bombing near Tel Aviv (4 murdered, Dec. 25, 2003.) The DFLP has participated in and claimed responsibility for dozens of other terror attacks.

The first Intifada – Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel 1987-1993, approximately 200 Israelis murdered

The second Intifada – PA terror campaign (2000-2005) in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered.

Ma’alot massacre – terror attack committed by terrorists who were members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) on May 15, 1974. The terrorists took hostages at the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma’alot. When Israeli forces tried to rescue the hostages, the terrorists attacked the hostages with guns and grenades, murdering 22 children and 4 adults

Beit Shean attack – three terrorists from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) infiltrated Israel from Jordan and entered an apartment building in Beit Shean where they murdered 4 Israelis and injured more than 20 on Nov. 19, 1974. The terrorists were killed by Israeli special forces during the attack.

1975 DFLP Jaffa Road bombing – a terror attack in which Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terrorists murdered 7 Israelis and wounded over 40 others with an explosive hidden in a porter’s luggage cart on Jaffa Road in central Jerusalem, on Nov. 13, 1975. A second hidden bomb was found and defused.

1984 DFLP Jaffa Road/King George intersection shooting attack – a terror attack in which Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terrorists murdered 1 and wounded over 50 by shooting and throwing grenades at the intersection between Jaffa Road and King George Street in Jerusalem on April 2, 1984.

Land Day – annual commemoration of the general strike and demonstrations organized by Israeli Arab residents of the Galilee on March 30, 1976 to protest the Israeli government’s decision to expropriate land in the Galilee for security and building purposes, which it later implemented. During the protests, demonstrators burnt tires, blocked roads, and threw rocks and firebombs. Six demonstrators were shot and killed by the Israeli army and police. Israeli Arabs and Palestinians consider Land Day a national day.

Headline: “Al-Qawasmi: Fatah will not renege on the promise and oath of the Martyrs”
“Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council member [and Official Fatah Spokesman] Osama Al-Qawasmi said that Fatah, which lit its torch to illuminate the path to independence and soaked its path in the blood of its leaders even before the blood of its fighters, will not abandon its responsibility or its commitments…

Al-Qawasmi added in a statement that the path has not yet reached its end, and that the real victory will be achieved when our land is liberated, the settlements are dismantled, the refugees return, and the independent state whose capital is Jerusalem is established…

He explained that when Fatah participates in its battles, it turns the bodies of its members into fire before the enemy, and Jenin is witness to this (refers to 2002 terror battle; see note below -Ed.), as are Beirut, Gaza, Nablus, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He added that the world saw the battle of the [Western Wall] Tunnel [Intifada] and the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered) for the sake of the holy sites. He also said that it is Fatah’s custom [to engage in] popular resistance, whose significance must not be diminished, and we do not forget that this resistance has pained the enemy, and in its framework the best of its young people have died.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 3, 2021]

The terms “peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance” are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, ‎Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: “We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is.” https://palwatch.org/page/9276

Jenin – refugee camp north of Nablus that was a major hotbed of terrorism in the PA terror campaign 2000-2005 (the second Intifada). To reduce the attacks, Israeli forces entered Jenin on April 3, 2002, to conduct searches as part of Operation Defensive Shield, which was carried out to destroy the terror infrastructure in the West Bank, and several days of intense fighting against Palestinian terrorists in booby-trapped houses ensued. While the PA claimed that the Israeli forces committed a “massacre” and killed hundreds of civilians, a UN report refuted these claims, confirming that 52 Palestinians were killed in the battle of which the majority were terrorists. 23 Israeli soldiers were also killed in the fighting.

The Western Wall Tunnel Intifada – Three days of PA terror attacks on Israeli civilians and military in September 1996, to protest Israel’s opening an excavated tunnel adjacent to the base of the Temple Mount. The tunnel is an underground continuation of what is exposed today of the Western Wall. The terror was led by Arafat’s security services.