Fatah Abbas

There is nothing that Fatah could do that would cause the mainstream media to stop describing it as 'moderate:'

The Palestinian Authority has asked Israel to hand over the remains of Dalal Mughrabi, the Palestinian woman who led the March 11, 1978 coastal road attack in which 36 people were murdered and 71 wounded.

Israel is planning to deliver Mughrabi's remains, together with those of scores of Palestinians and Lebanese, to Hizbullah in the context of the new prisoner exchange between the two sides.

The PA said in its request that it wanted to "honor" Mughrabi by holding a big funeral for her in Ramallah.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official closely associated with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, described Mughrabi, whose family originally came from Jaffa, as a "the first Palestinian woman to carry out one of the most courageous operations in Israel." He claimed that in her will, Mughrabi, who belonged to Fatah, had asked her family to see to it that she was buried in "Palestine."

"We want to turn Dalal's funeral into a national wedding, a major celebration," the Fatah official said. "The operation she carried out off the shores of her hometown of Jaffa was heroic and exemplary. She will always be remembered as a symbol for the Palestinian women's struggle."

Even if Israel refuses to deliver her remains to the PA in Ramallah, Fatah officials said they were planning to hold big celebrations throughout the West Bank to coincide with her funeral in Lebanon.

Ahmed also praised Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar for carrying out another terror attack in Israel one year after the 1978 carnage. He described Kuntar as a "stubborn and firm fighter in the ranks of the Lebanese resistance who led a very courageous operation."

Since its inception, the PA has honored Mughrabi by naming many schools and various institutions after her.

An article published in Thursday's edition of the PA-funded Al-Hayat Al-Jadedda newspaper hailed Mughrabi as a "living legend and a wonderful example for all women."

The article criticized Hizbullah for agreeing to bury Mughrabi in Lebanon and not in the Palestinian territories. It said that someone like her deserved to be buried next to Yasser Arafat's grave in Ramallah.

Think this is atypical? Click here for overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

In innumerable ways, the Palestinian Authority demonstrates that it is an organized criminal and terrorist entity encamped at Israel's side, for which democracies have no defense. It is obvious that many more official PA police cars are stolen and Israel turns a blind eye.

Senior Wanted PA Police Officer Caught with New Stolen Mitsubishi Pajero

Maariv correspondents Avi Ashkenazi and Yuval Goren reported in today's edition that Israeli Border Police forces with the assistance of vehicle tracking from Ituran, detained a senior police officer in the PA, a relative of Marwan Barghouti, as he was driving his family to a wedding in an Israeli 2008 Mitsubishi Pajero that had been stolen a week earlier in Caesarea.

The PA police officer had been on the wanted list of the ISS (Shabak) for a
long time.

"The jeep that was stolen in Caesarea was transferred to Ramallah and upgraded and turned into a Palestinian police car," said the representative from Ituran. "They put on PA Police license plates, installed a communications system, a siren and blue [police] lights."

Who could have imagined that Condaleeza Rice's idea of deploying US-backed Fatah anti-terror forces in Jenin would result in terror flourishing there?

On Sunday, top Israeli defense officials and IDF officers slammed two American-backed initiatives to deploy additional Palestinian forces in the West Bank, saying they are allowing terrorism to flourish. Defense officials say that since 600 PA soldiers trained by U.S. defense contractors in Jordan were allowed to deploy in Jenin last month, there has been an increase in terrorist activity in the city. On Sunday, a 20-kg. bomb detonated next to an IDF force in Jenin without causing any casualties. Terror suspects arrested by PA forces were usually released in a few days or just hours later, one defense official said. Weapons provided by the U.S. to the PA are finding their way to Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin as well as in Nablus, a top officer in the IDF Central Command said. In addition, terrorists have infiltrated the ranks of the PA police and military.

The fact that Fatah security forces have been responsible for producing a great deal of the violence has been documented here for years.

And again:

Two Israeli security guards were found shot to death at a factory in a small city east of the Mediterranean coastline city of Netanya Friday morning.

The community of Nitzanei Oz is also almost adjacent to the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Tulkarm, to where security forces speculate the murderer(s) escaped following the shooting.

The two victims were identified as Shimon Mizrachi, 53, of Bat Hefer, and Eli Muserman, 51, of Alfei Menashe.

Around 7 AM Friday morning, the local Magen David Adom emergency services dispatcher received a report of gunshot injuries in the northern area of the town's industrial zone, the area closest to Tulkarm. When its crew arrived on the scene, the paramedics discovered that the two victims were already dead.

Security forces immediately threw a dragnet around the area in an attempt to capture the murderer. IDF forces entered Tulkarm to search for the terrorists as well. Islamic Jihad later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel Radio reported today that two 'previously unknown groups' claimed credit for the attacks. One of those is a branch of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which recently secured amnesty deals (including another yesterday) with Israel for its members in exchange for a promise of good behavior.

Sources said the terrorists planned a mass murder at the factory, located in the city’s Nitzanei Shalom [Buds of Peace] industrial zone. After murdering the two men, however - one of whose guns was found in his car, instead of on his person - the terrorist entered the building only to discover that he was alone, as all the workers were on vacation for the Passover holiday.

The Yesha Council (Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria) stated, "It is no coincidence that the attack occurred just a day after Israel announces it willingness to pardon more terrorists... These concessions and gestures tell our enemies that terrorism pays off... Palestinian terrorism must be defeated, not negotiated with."

Security sources said it is believed the terrorists came from Tulkarm, which the Israeli government transferred to PA control within the framework of the Oslo Accords.

On August 1, 2002, Shani Ladni, a truck driver who frequented the same industrial zone, was murdered there by terrorists. The attack was enabled by the Defense Ministry's removal of a curfew around Tulkarm as a confidence-building gesture to the PA shortly beforehand.

The Nitzanei Shalom Industrial Park was one of nine industrial zones established in 1995 to help provide work for Arabs in Judea and Samaria.

This last sentence doesn't make sense, because economics are supposed to be the root cause of terror.

Here is an interesting point about Israel's controversial security fence from another account:

The gunmen had initially intended to infiltrate Israel but returned to the industrial complex after they were unable to penetrate the security barrier, Army Radio reported.

The State Department conspicuously omitted the Palestinian Authority from its March 13 report on anti-Semitism around the world.

The report did note that Hamas, which rules Gaza, treats the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion as fact, denies the Holocaust, and broadcasts hateful TV shows aimed at children.

But the PA under Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the West Bank, managed to escape blame for the anti-Semitism that it promotes with no less energy.

The American Jewish Committee released a study showing the PA's schoolbooks characterize Jews in "hateful" and "derogatory" language, cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a legitimate source of historical information, and omit any mention of the Holocaust.

The State Department report did mention that in the 1990s, Holocaust denial became commonplace in popular media in the PA - without any acknowledgment that most of the "popular media" is government-controlled.

No mention that the leader of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, wrote two books of Holocaust-denial (including his doctoral thesis).

Fatah has been watching the war crimes of missiles raining down on Israeli civilians from Hamas-controlled Gaza for many months. Now that Israel is striking back at the Hamas they claim to be at war with, moderate Mahmoud Abbas is quick to opine on the belated Israeli incursion:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas labeled Israel's actions to counter the constant firing of rockets into the Gaza Strip "worse than the Holocaust."

Abbas said that Israel's response to the continuous bombardment of western Negev towns by Palestinian terrorists was too severe, saying that its operations which have left at least 80 Palestinians dead on Saturday were unacceptable retaliation to the firing of rockets.

The Fatah head was not the only Palestinian leader to be associating the military maneuvers with the Holocaust - exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal described the operations as "the real Holocaust" on Saturday afternoon.

"Israeli actions in Gaza since Wednesday is the real Holocaust," Mashaal told reporters in Damascus, where he lives in exile.

No mention of the fact that Abbas himself wrote his doctoral thesis and another book denying the Holocaust. Here is PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia echoing Abbas' talking points, calling the Israeli action a "genocide":

Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after 35 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed in pitched battles between Israeli troops and rocket squads that escalated sharply.

Israeli troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, went after militants who bombarded southern Israeli communities near Gaza with rockets and mortars. The 35 deaths pushed the Palestinian death toll to 65 since fighting flared Wednesday. More than half of those killed were civilians.

The spike in violence came as Israel was threatening to launch a broad invasion of Gaza, and just days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to arrive in the region on her latest peacekeeping mission.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

“I think it will be suspended,” Qureia said. “What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide,” Qureia added. “We can’t bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn’t led the peace process any credibility.”

Mahmoud Abbas continues to follow the playbook of his mentor of forty years, Yassir Arafat--talk peace in English and 'armed resistance' (synonymous with terror) in Arabic. Only this time, he threw in some bragging about how the PLO trained Hizballah in its leadership of all the other 'resistance' groups. This confirms what IRIS has been saying for years--that the Global Jihad is an allied force:

PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that he does not rule out returning to the path of armed “resistance” against Israel and took pride in the fact that he had been the first to fire on Israel and that his organization had trained Hizbullah.

In an interview with the Jordanian daily al-Dustur, Abbas said that he was opposed to an armed struggle against Israel - for the time being.

“At this present juncture, I am opposed to armed struggle because we cannot succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different,” he said.

The PA president also expressed pride both in himself and in his organization, Fatah, for trailblazing the path of resistance.

“I had the honor of firing the first shot in 1965 and of being the one who taught resistance to many in the region and around the world; what it’s like; when it is effective and when it isn’t effective; its uses, and what serious, authentic and influential resistance is,” Abbas said.

“It is common knowledge when and how resistance is detrimental and when it is well timed,” he added. “We (Fatah) had the honor of leading the resistance and we taught resistance to everyone, including Hizbullah, who trained in our military camps.”

More evidence that Mahmoud Abbas has always been a fervent advocate of terrorism in Arabic, while spouting platitudes of peace in English. Like his mentor Yassir Arafat, he crosses his fingers when speaking to international reporters:

Newspapers of the Palestinian Authority, controlled by Mahmoud Abbas, say the Dimona murderers were "holy martyrs."

A 73-year-old new immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lyubov Razdolskaya, was murdered in the Dimona suicide attack this Monday, and her husband was critically wounded and is still fighting for his life. The two of them were theoretical physicists who made a significant contribution to particle physics in Ben Gurion University. Over 40 other people were also wounded in the attack.

The descriptions by the PA's official newspapers starkly contrast with official statements by PA leaders that condemned the Dimona attack. Hours after the Monday afternoon attack, Abbas condemned it and added that he also condemns IDF counter-terrorism actions.

However, Palestinian Media Watch reports on a number of quotes in official PA organs showing that in actuality, the terrorists are glorified in PA culture and government. The official news report in Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda read, "The executors of the operation died as martyrs... An Israeli was killed and 11 were wounded in the operation in the Dimona commercial center."

The headline in another PA newspaper Al-Ayam read, "Dimona: An Israeli Woman was Killed in a Bomb Operation in the Commercial Center; the Two Perpetrators Died as Martyrs." Similarly, the PA newspaper Al-Quds ran the story as, "Two Martyrs and a Killed Israeli Woman in a Bomb Operation in Dimona."

PMW notes that the term "martyr" places the terrorists on the highest level in Islam - a far cry from the formal criticism expressed by Abbas. A "martyr" is also looked upon as a hero and a model to imitate, especially among the youth.

PMW concludes, "It is true that terrorists have always been called martyrs, but the significance of the latest reports is that in the midst of the renewal of a peace process, the terrorists continue to receive the supreme badge of honor by the Palestinian Authority itself."

Arguably the most humiliating incident in the Palestinian/Israeli peace accords has been Joseph's Tomb and the yeshiva that was housed on the site. The Oslo Accords placed the site under Israeli control, but Ehud Barak unilaterally withdrew after securing a Palestinian agreement to defend the site and insure freedom of access and Jewish worship. Instead, as the IDF was withdrawing from the site, Palestinian forces opened fire and one Israeli border policemen bled to death as IDF commanders fruitlessly negotiated with Palestinian security for an extended period to permit Israel to return to gather its wounded.

Later a Palestinian mob engaged in an orgy of destruction of the site, accompanied by Palestinian security forces. Multiple desecrations of the site ensued, and finally the Palestinian Authority turned the site into a mosque, as is traditional in the Muslim World regarding captured holy sites.

Minister Natan Sharansky was aptly quoted at the time, fruitlessly attempting to lobby Israel's Foreign Ministry to simply publish the photos of the atrocity:

If we would have razed the gravesite of one of the founders of Islam, billions of Muslims would have taken to the streets. It's inconceivable that the world should not know about this travesty.

Years later, Ehud Olmert has today asked the Palestinian Authority to restore the site:

Israel will ask the Palestinian Authority to repair Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, it was announced Sunday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he had instructed Defense Minister Ehud Barak to act toward the reconstruction and restoration of the tomb and that the issue would be brought up in an upcoming meeting between Olmert and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

Olmert made the announcement in a letter to a Samaria residents' committee that asked the prime minister to act on the issue in light of the poor conditions of the tomb and its compound.

Olmert wrote that "Joseph the Righteous symbolizes coping with crises out of faith and the ability to turn every situation into a tool which enables us to progress."

Olmert has a different conception of progress than most.

The Palestinian group most active in terror has been the one Israel and the West are plying with arms and money:

Some of the gunmen who participated in Friday's shooting attack near Hebron belong to Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, Fatah activists in the West Bank have confirmed. They said the attack was carried out jointly by Fatah and Islamic Jihad. The attack shows that several armed Fatah groups continue to operate in the West Bank despite statements by top PA officials to the effect that most of these groups had been dismantled. Although many members of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, have in recent months handed over their weapons to the PA security forces in return for jobs and salaries, dozens of Fatah gunmen are still refusing to follow suit.

The PA's plan to dismantle all the Fatah-affiliated militias in the West Bank is still far from achieving its goal. Shortly after PA Interior Minister al-Yahya announced Saturday that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades had ceased to exist, the group responded by distributing thousands of leaflets throughout the West Bank scoffing at the claim and vowing to continue the armed struggle against Israel.

Meanwhile, the insinuations of Haaretz and the Palestinian Authority that the victims were either Jewish terrorists or criminals has been laid to rest now that a victim's father and the third member of the hiking party who escaped unharmed have spoken out:

The sole survivor of Friday's terror attack on hikers near Hebron, Naama Ohion, is a first-year law student. She told friends that the hike was to have ended at the springs in Wadi Iskha, where there is a cave hundreds of meters long with numerous levels. According to one theory, the cave served as a hideout for the second-century CE rebel against Rome, Bar Kokhba. Amihai, who served for a year with Hebrew University's Cave Research Unit, knew the cave and wanted to show his friends.

Why were the hikers in such a dangerous area of the West Bank? That's where the heart of Jewish history is.

In what may be the understatement of the year, the Jerusalem Post reports:

Military: Not first instance that an official in the PA security forces is involved in terrorist activity.

Had this terrorist not been killed, he likely would have served in President Bush's security detail in his upcoming visit.

IDF troops killed one of former PA prime minister Ahmed Qurei's bodyguards, the military said Friday morning.

On Thursday, Qurei, known also as Abu Ala, head of the Palestinian negotiation team, participated in talks held in Jerusalem in which Prime Minister Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas met for their first meeting since last month's Annapolis conference.

Palestinian sources reported that IDF troops operating south of Ramallah in the town of Bituniya shot and killed Muatassem a-Shariff, a Fatah operative and a Presidential Guard member. Eye witnesses said a-Shariff was shot while after opening fire while trying to escape IDF troops who came to his house in order to arrest him....

Several weeks ago, just prior to the Annapolis conference, Ido Zoldan was killed by terrorists later revealed to be Palestinian policemen from a force sanctioned by Israel.

Seven other terrorists were killed yesterday by the IDF without a single civilian casualty.

Not that this should come as a surprise, but a longtime Arafat aide admitted that Black September was actually founded by Yassir Arafat. The financier of Black September's Munich massacre, of course, was none other than Mahmoud Abbas.

Now that Abbas has collected pledges for over eight billion dollars for his 'moderate' government, Fatah has resumed blatant recruitment of jihad terrorists:

A Palestinian Authority TV mainstay is back on the screen, with the Virgins of Paradise reminding would-be suicide bomber terrorist shahids (martyrs) of the reward that awaits them when they die fighting the Jews.

Palestinian Media Watch alerted the public this week to the return of the program, which has been broadcast regularly over the past month after a hiatus of more than a year. The constant reruns may signal the need to increase motivation among PA Arab men to join the terrorist ranks and donate their lives to fighting Israelis.

The music video depicts a lovely Arab woman being shot in the chest, as she runs forward to greet a PA terrorist being released by IDF soldiers on the other side of a barbed wire fence.

The young woman is next seen dressed in a white robe dancing with other similar maidens in a shining pool of water, while her grief-stricken lover hunches over her tomb in the night, grim determination in his eyes.

The terrorist is then seen getting up and being shot in the back by Israeli soldiers as he is running from the gravesite. The scene flashes to the dancing maidens, including his love welcoming him, presumably to Paradise in reward for his Shahada (Death for Allah).

This scenario is based on Islamic traditions described in the Muslim holy book, the Koran (Suras 42, 44, 52, 56 and others) which states that a man who dies as a martyr is rewarded with eternal Paradise and 70 virgins upon his arrival.

To view the video, click here

Last week Israel gave Fatah two million bullets, following the recent Israeli transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to Fatah along with the pardon of hundreds of imprisoned and fugitive Fatah terrorists.

It doesn't seem to have helped in Israel's War on Terror:

Palestinian policemen were behind the shooting attack last week which killed Ido Zoldan, a 29 year-old father of two from the settlement of Shavei Shomron, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Sunday night.

Zoldan was killed last Monday night - the day before the Annapolis summit began - when shots were fired at his car as he drove past the Palestinian village of al-Punduk.

The three members of the cell were Palestinian policemen and members of the Palestinian National Security Force, which Israel and the United States have been investing in as part of the international effort to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah government.

Defense officials said that the weapon used in the attack was not supplied to the Palestinians by Israel since it did not belong to the official Palestinian security forces.

The shooters admitted that the weapons were given to them by Fadi Jama, another member of the Palestinian National Security Force. Given that Israel supplies that group with money, it is not inconceivable that Israeli money was used to buy non-Israeli weapons.

The officials said however that the IDF expected the political echelon to rethink its policy of strengthening Abbas while his policemen were involved in terrorism.

The IDF thinks too simplistically. Clearly these were rogue, anti-peace policemen who must have wanted to sully Fatah's peaceful reputation, so the sophisticated response should be to shower the PA with more money, weapons and anti-terrorism training. Today, Israel is beginning the release of 429 more Palestinian terrorists, but don't worry. They signed a promise to refrain from attacks in the future.

Update: Here's how we know the news was held until after Annapolis:

Israeli security officials knew Zoldan was murdered by PA policemen, because two of the three terrorists who shot him to death were arrested the next day in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation.

The information was withheld until after the Annapolis summit, however, and only cleared for publication after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned from signing a joint declaration with PA Chairman, and acknowledged Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Zoldan was shot to death by the three terrorists at approximately 11:30 pm near the PA-controlled Arab village of Funduk, near Kedumim.