The Israeli Palestinian Conflict

With the increase of terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria in recent months and the intensive counterterrorism activities of the Israeli security forces, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the PA have increased its glorification of the fatalities (primarily operatives of Fatah and the PA security forces) and adopted a policy of full solidarity with their families, including terrorists killed while attacking Israelis and in clashes with Israeli security forces. Senior PA and Fatah figures declare them heroes and have been strongly critical of Israel for killing them. Many of them, including PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh and Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO's Executive Committee and responsible for relations with Israel, customarily visit the mourning tents and offer their condolences to the terrorists' families. The PA and Fatah hold formal military-style funerals which are attended by operatives of the PA security forces and senior PA and Fatah figures; Their objective is apparently to gain the sympathy and support of the Palestinian people and to prove that neither the PA nor Fatah has abandoned the path of "resistance." Read more...

During the last few months an increasing number of "brigades" have appeared in Judea and Samaria, military-terrorist networks calling themselves al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (AAMB). Although the AAMB are usually affiliated with Fatah, today it is the generic name for armed squads of Palestinian terrorists, most of which operate independently and have neither a central leadership nor an established structural hierarchy. Fatah and the PA are ambivalent, publicly claiming to promote the so-called "unarmed popular resistance," while the AAMB publicly promote armed "resistance" [terrorist attacks] and a "military option”. Read more...