Masked students hold a military display (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
Overview
- January 1, 2018, was the 53rd anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement. Various events were held in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip to mark the day. Among the participating institutions were universities and colleges in Judea and Samaria. Events at academic institutions were mainly organized by Fatah student movements, which held marches and demonstrations, and put on presentations.
- The pictures below document the events held at Bir Zeit University, one of the most prominent institutions of higher learning in the Palestinian Authority (PA). Many of its graduates have filled positions in the Palestinian leadership in Judea and Samaria, including high-level Fatah and Hamas terrorist operatives (for example, Marwan Barghouti in Fatah and Yahya Ayash in Hamas). This bulletin also includes pictures from an event held at the University College for Educational Science in Ramallah (where the next generation of PA school teachers is being educated).
- The Fatah movement, on which the PA is founded, integrated unambiguous themes into events marking the anniversary, among them the glorification of shaheeds who died in suicide bombing and mass “self-sacrifice” attacks,[1] and encouragement for suicide bombing attacks. They are another example of the depth of the “shaheed culture” on which generations of PA youngsters have been educated. The “shaheed culture” has also been assimilated by the Palestinian and Fatah leadership, not only by terrorist organizations, such as Hamas.[2]
Adolescents and university students, the target groups for Fatah’s terrorist messages in academic institutions, are those who in recent years have spearheaded the riots against the Israeli security forces and form the hard core of operatives who carry out terrorist attacks (as part of Palestinian popular terrorism, what the PA calls “popular resistance”). Holding clearly military events in academic institutions encouraging suicide bombing attacks sends the Fatah and PA message that carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel is legitimate and desirable, contradicting the “peaceful messages” sent to the international community.[3]
The ceremony at Bir Zeit University
- On January 3, 2018, the Shabiba, Fatah’s student movement at Bir Zeit University held a ceremony marking the anniversary of the movement’s founding. The Shabiba posted many pictures of the event to its Facebook page. They included a march of masked students holding Fatah flags; some of the students were in uniform and wore bullet-proof vests. On the back of the vests was the Arabic inscription,”units of the shaheed Ra’ed al-Karmi.”[4] Some of the marchers were dressed as suicide bombers, wearing white shrouds and explosive belts, and held copies of the Qur’an (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
Masked operators wearing white shrouds and explosive belts. Each of them held a copy of the Qur’an (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
- One of the events was a presentation of students pretending to be “IDF soldiers” shooting at demonstrating Palestinians. Later a “funeral” was held for a demonstrator killed by IDF fire. (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
- During the ceremony signs were held claiming that Jerusalem is Palestinian and showing solidarity with the prisoners. There were also signs with pictures of Yasser Arafat and his famous quote, “A million shaheeds are marching to Jerusalem.” There were signs with pictures of Yusuf al-Shaib, the Fatah coordinator of student activities at Bir Zeit University, detained by the IDF on December 16, 2017.
Signs held at the march: at the right is a picture of Yusuf al-Shaib, the Fatah coordinator of student activities at Bir Zeit University, detained by the IDF on December 16, 2017. At the left is a picture of Yasser Arafat; the Arabic reads “A million shaheeds are marching to Jerusalem” (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
Pictures of Yasser Arafat (right), and George Habash (left) the founder of the notorious terrorist organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Arabic reads, “No peace and no coexistence with Zionism” (Facebook page of the Fatah student movement at Bir Zeit University, January 3, 2018).
The University College for Educational Science in Ramallah
- On January 4, 2018, the Fatah student movement and the student association at the University College for Educational Science in Ramallah held a military display to mark the 53rd anniversary of Fatah’s founding. The college educates the next generation of Palestinian school teachers. The students wore masks, military uniforms and bullet-proof vests. The pictures of the event are from the official Fatah Facebook page.
Fatah military display at the University College for Educational Science in Ramallah (official Fatah Facebook page, January 4, 2018).
[1] For further information, about glorifying shaheeds as part of Fatah anniversary events, see the January 4, 2018 bulletin, "The Culture of Palestinian Shaheeds: On the anniversary of Fatah's founding, the movement's official Facebook page commemorated five female Fatah terrorists involved in deadly suicide bombing and "self-sacrifice" attacks." ↑
[2] Popular terrorism is legitimized by Fatah and the PA, and was again authorized by the Seventh Fatah Conference in Ramallah (November 29 – December 4, 2016). ↑
[3] At a press conference in the White House, Mahmoud Abbas said, "We are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace" (Wafa, May 3, 2017). ↑
[4] Ra'ed al-Karmi was a senior Fatah operative in the Tulkarm region. He was involved in planning and carrying out dozens of terrorist attacks in which many Israelis were killed and injured. He was under the direct command of Marwan Barghouti, and was sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of five people. Ra'ed al-Karmi was killed on January 14, 2002, during the second intifada. Israel was accused by the Palestinians of his killing. After his death, Marwan Barghouti was directly involved in a revenge terrorist attack in which an Israeli civilian was killed on the road from Jerusalem to Modi'in (January 15, 2002). ↑
