RUTHFULLY YOURS

The war in the Gaza Strip, which erupted after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, is not limited to Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group. Other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are involved in the fighting against Israeli troops. Those groups also participated in the October 7 massacre. They include Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah faction headed by none other than the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.

It should come as no surprise that PIJ took part in the October 7 massacre, as well as countless other terrorist attacks on Israel. Like Hamas, PIJ is an Iran-backed Islamist terrorist organization that aims to destroy Israel. Similar to Hamas, over the past few decades, PIJ has carried out thousands of terrorist assaults against Israelis, including shootings, suicide bombings, firing rockets into Israel, as well as stabbings and car-rammings.

The involvement of terrorists from Abbas’s Fatah faction in the October 7 slaughter and terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, however, may surprise some people. Many in the West consider Fatah, which dominates the PA, to be a “moderate” party that wants to live in peace and harmony with Israel. This rumor may have come about because we have been told many times by Palestinian officials that Fatah’s armed wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was dismantled (at least in the West Bank).

Earlier this month, Abu Mohammed, the official spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, revealed that the group’s fighters participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip, saying:

“On October 7, our heroes in the brave unit participated in the invasion of the colonies [kibbutzes, residential communities and towns] surrounding Gaza and the [Israeli military] bases known as the Gaza Division, and together with our brothers in the Palestinian struggle organizations captured many Zionists, some of them were transferred to us and some are still in our hands,”

Abu Mohammed also disclosed that members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are currently participating in the fighting against the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and have carried out more than 470 “military missions” since October 7.

In November 2023, Fatah released a video in which terrorists from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are seen participating in, and bragging about, their role in the October 7 massacre of Israelis.

The video was publicized on the day of the carnage, with the faces of the Fatah terrorists blurred and their voices muffled to hide their identities. The video opens by showing Fatah terrorists firing Kalashnikov rifles at an Israeli kibbutz. Screams of “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is Greatest!”) are heard in the background.

A Fatah terrorist then presents captured Israeli military equipment and says:

“We have plundered from them… Today we broke into the military post Nahal Oz [Note: It is a civilian kibbutz] and we hit what we hit, we took as plunder what we took, and we killed soldiers and stepped on their heads.”

Another Fatah terrorist continues to brag about his group’s participation in the slaughter:

“Allahu Akbar and praise Allah… From the heart of these temporary [Israeli] settlements, Allah willing, we had a prominent and clear role.”

The video carries the logo of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which consists of two rifles and this quote from the Quran:

“So fight them [the infidels) and Allah will punish them at your hands, put them to shame, help you overcome them, and soothe the hearts of the believers.” (Quran 9:14)

In the past few months, Fatah’s terrorist group has also been posting videos of its members allegedly attacking Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In another recent video, Fatah claimed responsibility for a “sniper operation” against Israeli soldiers in Jabalya refugee camp, a stronghold of Hamas and PIJ in the Gaza Strip. The Fatah terrorists said that they used a Hamas-manufactured rifle called Al-Ghoul to target the Israeli soldiers. The video is clear evidence that Abbas’s Fatah loyalists have been working in coordination with Hamas.

In still another video, on May 22, Fatah’s official X account posted a tweet about the killing of two of its members while they were shooting at Israeli soldiers from a rooftop:

“Scenes from violent clashes waged by fighters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement, in Jabalaya camp against the Israeli occupation army. We withhold the names of the martyrs until another time.”

In the West Bank, members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have also been boasting about their involvement in many terrorist attacks against Israelis, especially recently. On May 26, the group posted a video of its terrorists reportedly shooting at an Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

“As a result of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades’ prominent attacks and boldness of their operatives, they have become iconic role models for young Palestinians,” the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center noted in a report on October 30, 2022. “Their status has recently risen vis-à-vis the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.”

The report pointed out that senior Fatah officials have publicly endorsed the terrorist group. It quoted one of them, Jamal Hawil, as saying:

“When [terrorist] operations were carried out and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility, the members of Fatah’s Central Committee [key decision-making body] praised the martyrs and often went to the mourning tents to offer condolences.

“Despite their ambivalence, the heads of Fatah and the PA have often shown reverence for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades’ shaheeds [martyrs]… For example, when on February 8, 2022, three [Fatah] operatives were killed [by Israeli security forces], senior PA and Fatah figures declared them heroes of the Palestinian people. Mahmoud Abbas was particularly outspoken in a telephone conversation with the people who had come to the mourning tent. The tent was visited by [former] PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other senior PA figures, who came to offer condolences [over the death of the Fatah terrorists].”

Between 2021 and 2022, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorists carried out several attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Israel. Among them:

• On March 29, 2022, a Palestinian armed with an M-16 assault rifle went to the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak driving a vehicle with Israeli license plates. He parked the vehicle and entered, then exited, an apartment house. He walked to a nearby street and shot at windows, then shot and killed two men standing near a grocery store. He then walked to the end of the block, turned the corner, shot at a man pushing a baby carriage, and finally ran down another street where he came upon two mounted policemen who had been dispatched to the site. In the subsequent exchange of fire, one of the policemen and the terrorist were killed. Five Israelis were murdered, four civilians and one policeman. The shooter was Dia Hamarsheh, born in the village of Ya’bad, southwest of Jenin, in 1995. His family is affiliated with Fatah.
• On April 7, 2022, a Palestinian armed with a handgun went to a pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv and shot at patrons sitting outside. He murdered two and mortally wounded one, who died in hospital. Six others were wounded. The terrorist was Raed Fathi Hazem, 29, from the Jenin refugee camp. He had been endorsed by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as one of its “fighters.”

That Fatah participated in the October 7 massacre and other terrorist attacks shows that there is really little if no distinction between Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, and Hamas. It also demonstrates why, after Hamas is removed from power, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority absolutely cannot be trusted to rule the Gaza Strip. Both Fatah and Hamas continue to engage in terrorism and are outspokenly proud of their attacks on Jews. Fatah and Hamas seem, in fact, to be competing to prove to the Palestinians who is carrying out more terrorist attacks against Israel.

So long as Abbas and Fatah are producing and arming terrorists, all plans by the Biden administration to “revitalize” the Palestinian Authority are worthless. If the Biden administration is sincere about reforming the PA, it ought to begin by insisting that Abbas disband his own terrorist organization and stop endorsing terrorists and compensating them with monthly payments. Until then, handing over the Gaza Strip to Abbas and his Fatah terrorists would be a monstrous mistake.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.