• Abbas reveres terrorists: “Blessings to the Martyrs, the prisoners, the wounded”

• Abbas lauds participants in violent Arab riots: “Blessings to all the members of our people who supported the Jerusalem uprising”

Fatah is calling for “expansion of the confrontation” with Israel. That was the message coming out of a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the head of Fatah. The council also stressed Fatah’s involvement in violence, using the PA euphemism “popular resistance” – a term Palestinian Media Watch has proved is used by PA leaders at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves:

“The Fatah Revolutionary Council… also emphasized… the involvement of all the [Fatah] Movement frameworks in the popular resistance in all places, and the expansion of the confrontation with the settler colonialism in all districts.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25, 2021]

Opening the meeting of the Revolutionary Council, Abbas emphasized the message that terror is legitimate and terrorists are heroic. Doling out his “blessings,” he first singled out groups that are notoriously known to be comprised of terrorists – “the Martyrs, the prisoners, the wounded.” Then he addressed the rest of the Palestinian people, again stressing the value of “fighting.” He rounded this off by specifically lauding “all the members of our people who supported the Jerusalem uprising” – a clear reference to the violence and riots that started in April and continued into the recent war in May, when terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and even Fatah fired over 4,300 rockets at Israel:

Abbas: “Blessings to the Martyrs, the prisoners, the wounded, the masses of our people that is standing firm in Jerusalem, our state’s eternal capital. Blessings to our people in the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of Jerusalem], in the Silwan [neighborhood of Jerusalem], and in all the streets, neighborhoods, and alleys of Jerusalem. Blessings to those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) who are standing firm in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, and to all those who are defending our Islamic and Christian holy sites. Blessings to our fighting people in Beita, which has become a model and an icon of popular resistance, and on whose land Martyrs have fallen…

Blessings to all the members of our people who supported the Jerusalem uprising in our villages, our cities, and our refugee camps.’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 22, 2021]

As PMW has exposed, Abbas defined as “peaceful popular uprising” 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 were wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: “We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is.” At the time Abbas said this, 14 Israelis had already been murdered.

The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:

Headline: “The Fatah Revolutionary Council emphasized the involvement of all the frameworks in the popular resistance and the expansion of the confrontation with the settler colonialism”

“At the end of the eighth session of its meetings that were held in Ramallah under the headline ‘Jerusalem is our capital and the symbol of our identity and our people’s freedom,’ the Fatah Revolutionary Council emphasized that Jerusalem will remain our eternal capital and the national compass, and for its sake the Palestinian Arab people is uniting. It also emphasized the continuation of the national dialogue to end the [Fatah-Hamas] rift and achieve the political and geographic unity of the homeland, the involvement of all the [Fatah] Movement frameworks in the popular resistance in all places, and the expansion of the confrontation with the settler colonialism in all districts (refers to ongoing violent Arab riots; see note below -Ed.).”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25, 2021]

“Led by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council opened the discussions yesterday [June 21, 2021] of its eighth session [entitled] ‘Jerusalem is our capital and the symbol of our identity and our people’s freedom.’ …

The following is the text of President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the beginning of the Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting:

‘Blessings to the Martyrs, the prisoners, the wounded, the masses of our people that is standing firm in Jerusalem, our state’s eternal capital. Blessings to our people in the Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of Jerusalem], in the Silwan [neighborhood of Jerusalem], and in all the streets, neighborhoods, and alleys of Jerusalem. Blessings to those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) who are standing firm in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, and to all those who are defending our Islamic and Christian holy sites. Blessings to our fighting people in Beita, which has become a model and an icon of popular resistance, and on whose land Martyrs have fallen…

Blessings to all the members of our people who supported the Jerusalem uprising (refers to violent Arab riots and Hamas rocket barrages; see note below -Ed.) in our villages, our cities, and our refugee camps.’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 22, 2021]

Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for “raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas’ spokesman told Palestinians “the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas’ political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.