PMW Bulletin
Jan. 27, 2015

Veneration of the rifle, adherence to the "armed struggle" still prominent
in Abbas' Fatah

"Fatah - We have not taken up the olive branch in order to throw down the
rifle"
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", Jan. 21, 2015]
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=13824

by Nan Jacques Zilberdik
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

On a poster showing an olive branch, a white dove, a rifle and a bullet,
Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party stated that
it has not "thrown down the rifle" :

"Fatah - We have not taken up the olive branch in order to throw down the
rifle. We have taken up the olive branch in order to give the land of the
olive trees its identity back. Let all those who lose their way know that
Fatah will remain the beacon of the [Palestinian] cause."

[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," Jan. 21, 2015]

To further legitimize its continued commitment to the armed struggle, Fatah
quoted Mahmoud Abbas in another Facebook post, showing that he is an
advocate of armed struggle:

Text on poster of Abbas: "I am not one to surrender. When Fatah launched the
armed struggle, we were nine members. Four of us supported the armed
struggle, and four opposed it. My vote tipped the scales in favor of the
armed struggle. But everything in its time."
"Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine"
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," Jan. 16 and 22, 2015]

Abbas' phrase "everything in its time" alludes to the PA policy of
alternating between the use of terror and diplomacy, whichever the PA deems
the most beneficial at any given time.

Fatah and its senior officials often reiterate their adherence to the armed
struggle. Recently, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki "emphasized
that it is the right of the Palestinian people to use all forms of
resistance, including armed struggle." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 5, 2015]
Fatah also continues to express its veneration for the rifle, as documented
by Palestinian Media Watch. Fatah does this extensively on Facebook using
visuals, as in the following examples:

A poster marking Fatah's 50th anniversary shows a large bullet, and a masked
man armed with a rifle inside the bullet's tip. The text in Arabic and

English repeats Fatah's slogan "Revolution until victory" and additional
text says: "For Palestine - the nation and the land." [Facebook page of
Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Dec. 28, 2014] This picture also
appears as the profile picture of the official Facebook page of Fatah's
Information and Culture Commission.

Posted text: "We, Fatah members, were and continue to be the closest to the
trigger of the rifle."

Text on image: "Fatah - the first stone and the first bullet."
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page,"
Jan. 24, 2015]

To emphasize the praiseworthiness of the armed struggle, Fatah also honored
one of the planners of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich
Olympics in 1972."Yours is the greatness of men and the pride of heroes, for
you fell as a Martyr while fighting," Abbas' movement wrote, honoring Ali
Hassan Salameh, "the Red Prince," who was a commander of operations of the
Black September terror group. In the same post on Facebook, Fatah praised
itself as "the ongoing revolution and the torch of the armed struggle."
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", Jan. 21, 2015]

PMW staff extend their deepest sympathies to PMW director Itamar Marcus on
the passing of his mother, Hadassah (Dassie) Marcus z"l

The following are longer excerpts of some of the items mentioned above:

Text on image: "Martyr (Shahid) Commander Ali Hassan Salameh, the Red
Prince, the commander and the founder; on the 36th anniversary of [his
death], his memory will remain forever in our hearts. Fatah - the ongoing
revolution and the torch of the armed struggle."
Posted text: "Red Prince, yours is the greatness of men and the pride of
heroes, for you fell as a Martyr while fighting."
[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page", Jan. 21, 2015]

Ali Hassan Salameh - Commander of operations of the Black September terror
group. He planned many terror attacks, including the attack on the Israeli
team at the Munich Olympics in 1972, in which 11 Israeli athletes were
murdered.

Headline: "Jericho Marks 50th anniversary of the launch of the Palestinian
revolution"
"The masses of the Jericho and [Jordan] Valley district marked the 50th
anniversary of the launch of the Palestinian revolution with a mass
celebration yesterday [Jan. 4, 2014] at the residence of the District
Governor of the Jericho and [Jordan] Valley district...
Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki... emphasized that it is the right
of the Palestinian people to use all forms of resistance, including armed
struggle. [He added that] at this difficult and sensitive stage, we have
succeeded, through our popular resistance and our diplomacy, in isolating
Israel, which has become a liability for its allies."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 5, 2015]
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