Israel Matzav

Fatah's reaction to Monday's suicide bombing in Eilat

On Monday, a suicide bomber murdered three Israelis and critically wounded two others in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat. The bomber was sent by Islamic Jihad and 'moderate' 'Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

As I reported earlier this evening, the United States is considering stepping up and expanding its aid to Abu Mazen to enable him to defeat Hamas. The thinking is that since Abu Mazen is 'moderate,' if his group wins out, he will be able to make 'peace' with Israel.

In light of these reports, I thought it would be interesting to look at Fatah's reaction to Monday's bombing. I'm sure you all heard that 'moderate' 'Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen unequivocably condemned the attack and promised to fight the terrorists who carried it out. Nope. That would destroy the 'unity' of the 'Palestinian people.' So what did he do? Michael Widlanski has been observing and translating the 'Palestinian' media for years. Here's what he says they did:

In response to the attack, Fatah-owned media outlets were jubilant. “Three Israelis were killed in an operation whose agent was heroically martyred [istash-hada] in the resort of Eilat,” reported the Fatah newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, which is controlled by Abbas and his aides.

The paper showed a picture of the bomber, Muhammad Faisal Al-Siksik, labeling him as a “shahid,” a martyr. In addition, Abbas’s media prominently featured a statement by Islamic Jihad, which carried out the bombing with the help of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of the Fatah organization, that the attack on Eilat “was the natural result” of Israeli occupation.

Terrorists from Islamic Jihad also made it clear that in carrying out the attack they were explicitly fulfilling Abbas’s request that the Palestinians stop fighting each other and start aiming their weapons against Israel. “Our rifles, all our rifles are being aimed at the enemy,” declared a masked spokesman for Islamic Jihad shortly after the attack. "This operation, which was carried out by the heroes of the resistance in Um Ar-Rashrash, in the lands of 1948,” ” declared the Jihad statement, using the old Arabic name for Eilat, and stressing that the attacks on Israeli “occupation” also meant attacks on Israeli territory held before the 1967 war.

The statement echoed Abbas’s call, two weeks ago, for Palestinian unity and for attacking Israeli “occupation” instead of “brother” Palestinians. “Let a thousand flowers bloom, and let our rifles, all our rifles, all our rifles, be aimed at the Occupation,” declared Abbas in a public rally that was aired on Palestinian television and radio on January 11, but his words were largely ignored by the Western press and diplomatic corps.

Abbas, who heads the PLO, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, did not issue a clear condemnation of the attack, though some Israeli media and diplomats reported that he had. Only several days later did Voice of Palestine radio issue a minor report stating that one of Abbas’s aides, Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, had said that the Palestinian leadership opposed attacks on civilians. Nonetheless, neither Abbas nor Abdul-Rahman appeared on radio or television to make the statement themselves.

Maybe someone wants to send a link to Condi Rice?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:43 AM