Did Fatah’s military wing just declare war on Israel?

By Nan Jacques Zilberdik, PMW   | Jan 31, 2023

The military wing of Abbas’ Fatah Movement, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, announces “an open war”:

• “We will continue the resistance, we will continue our heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks), until removing the occupier from our land. This is an open war, and tomorrow Tel Aviv will declare mourning”
• “We the brigades… announce the escalation of the military activity… This is a comprehensive and open war”
• “We swear that we will make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear… we will turn wherever they are into a fiery hell”
• “Let them prepare for the fire of rage and for the storm of the brigades, Fatah is coming to them, and not one of them will get out of it safely.
  Taste the rage of the brigades – this is an open war – this is an open war, see you have been warned”
• “The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – when they speak, they act, when they promise, they carry it out, and when they strike, they cause pain”

Terror organization PFLP on murder of 7 in Jerusalem:

• “May the arms that carried out this operation be blessed… May this group of Jihad fighters be blessed… May this resistance be blessed… which has turned the night of the Zionists into day, and into lava erupting before the oppressor”

Following the two terror attacks in Jerusalem last weekend, in which 6 Israeli civilians and 1 Ukrainian citizen were murdered and others were wounded, Fatah’s branch in Bethlehem posted an announcement allegedly by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the military wing of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah. In the announcement, the Brigades vow to escalate the attacks against Israelis into an “open war” everywhere – including Tel Aviv:

“A statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine, Fatah’s military wing

We will continue the resistance, we will continue our heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks), until removing the occupier from our land. This is an open war, and tomorrow Tel Aviv will declare mourning…

We the brigades… announce the escalation of the military activity, and a continuation of landing our blows on the occupation and its settlers and on all its interests and institutions, at the checkpoints, in the settlements sitting on stolen land, and in the heart of the Zionist entity. This is a comprehensive and open war, as our leadership announced in Jenin.”

[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Jan. 29, 2023]

In the announcement the Brigades called on all its members to “join the battle,” in which they vow to “make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear” and “turn wherever they are into a fiery hell.” It addressed Israelis saying “you have been warned,” and added that the Brigades always “carry out” their threats:

“We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades… call on all our fighters and all the brigades’ units, the factions of Palestinian honor, brothers in arms, blood, and struggle, to enter this battle.

We swear that we will make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear, we will do to them as they do, and we will turn wherever they are into a fiery hell.

Let them prepare for the fire of rage and for the storm of the brigades, Fatah is coming to them, and not one of them will get out of it safely.

Taste the rage of the brigades – this is an open war – this is an open war, see you have been warned

Blood for blood, killing for killing…

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – when they speak, they act, when they promise, they carry it out, and when they strike, they cause pain

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine

Jan. 29, 2023”

PMW has not been able to verify whether the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades are indeed behind the announcement, but Fatah’s branch in Bethlehem certainly supports its content by spreading it.

The mention of an announcement by “our leadership in Jenin” refers to a statement exposed by Palestinian Media Watch from the secretary of Fatah’s Jenin branch, Ata Abu Rmeileh, who said that “the war has begun in Palestine, all of Palestine”:

Other reactions to the two terror attacks in Jerusalem included praise by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which called the murders a “daring heroic operation.” The PFLP referred to the terrorists as “heroes of blessed Jerusalem [who] shattered the Zionist security theory,” adding:

“May the arms that carried out this operation be blessed… May this group of Jihad fighters be blessed, whom Allah knew them to be sincere, brave, and determined to triumph and take revenge. May this resistance be blessed, which is insisting on avenging the blood of our people, and which has turned the night of the Zionists into day, and into lava erupting before the oppressor… Our resistance is continuing in order to defend our people, thwart the enemy’s plans, humiliate the Zionists to the dirt, and cause them to think 1,000 times before they harm our people and its resistance.”

[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, Jan. 27, 2023]

The terror organization the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also had praise for the murderous attack outside a synagogue in Jerusalem, adding that the “heroic operation” heralds “a new stage” of more terror:

“[DFLP] congratulated the masses of the Palestinian people over the heroic operation…  in the heart of occupied Jerusalem, which was carried out by a heroic resistance member and caused the deaths of 8 settlers (sic., 6 Israelis and 1 Ukrainian national were murdered) and the wounding of a number of others, some of them still in critical condition.

The DFLP emphasized that this heroic operation constitutes the start of a new stage in the comprehensive popular resistance.”

[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, Jan. 27, 2023]

Following a gun battle in Jenin in which 8 Palestinian terrorists and one civilian were killed when terrorists opened fire at Israeli soldiers who were there to carry out a counter-terror operation, Fatah’s branch in Hebron also called for “confrontation with the Zionist enemy in every part of our land where they set foot” – i.e., more terror everywhere:

Posted text: “#Important_announcement

Our heroic people is raging and mourning over the souls of our Martyrs and in response to the criminal Zionist escalation at Jenin’s brave refugee camp

The Fatah Movement’s northern Hebron branch calls on you to [carry out] comprehensive and general protection and confrontation with the Zionist enemy in every part of our land where they set foot

Glory to the Martyrs

Revolution until victory”

CONTINUE