The military-terrorist wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad published books by terrorist activists imprisoned in Israel

Overview

• At the beginning of January 2023 the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military-terrorist wing, issued a book called The Bus Is Burning, apparently written by Hassan Salameh, former Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades commander, who is currently serving 46 consecutive life sentences in Israeli prisons. The book is about milestones in his life and the suicide bombing attacks he orchestrated after the death of and Yahya Ayash (“the engineer”). The book, which was first published in 2016 as Holy Vengeance, was edited with the addition of pictures, information about the shaheeds, a new foreword written by Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, and a preface allegedly written by imprisoned Hassan Salameh.
• At the end of December 2022 a book about Bassem al-Sa’adi was published. Al-Sa’adi is a high-ranking Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative who was detained in Jenin in August 2022, whose detention led to Operation Breaking Dawn. The book, A Spark from the Light of the Path, is about milestones in his life, his ideology and memoirs from jail. It was published by the PIJ-affiliated Muhjat al-Quds (“soul of Jerusalem”) Institution in the Gaza Strip, which operates for the prisoners, families of prisoners, the wounded and families of shaheeds. The book was written by Asri Fayad from the Jenin refugee camp, and it was launched simultaneously there and in the Gaza Strip.
• The books were apparently published as part of inculcating the Palestinian public with the shaheed culture, which glorifies the terrorists and their attacks. Fostering the memory of terrorists who were killed or imprisoned and turning them into role models is a familiar, permanent aspect of the Palestinian legacy. The shaheed culture is shared by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah, Hamas, PIJ and other terrorist organizations. Their leaderships customarily glorify the names and actions of terrorists who carried out spectacular attacks, especially deadly mass-casualty suicide bombing attacks, and encourage others to follow in their footsteps. Special attention is paid to educating the younger generation of Palestinians to become shaheeds. In that way they provide public justification for the attacks and attackers and contribute to increasing the motivation of young Palestinians to become shaheeds and attack Israelis.
• Publishing books written by prisoners is also a way of defying Israel. The Israeli Prison Service announced it had begun an investigation and stated it combatted attempts by security prisoners to smuggle written material out of the jails. The Service also stated that if they found proof prisoners were connected to the publication of a book, they would be severely punished (Israeli media and al-Quds, January 7, 2023). The Palestinian commission for prisoners’ affairs announced that the Israeli Prison Service’s threat to punish Hassan Salameh after this book was published was an expression of the helplessness of Israel (“the occupation”) and its fear of “the prisoners’ brilliant intellectual capabilities” [sic] (al-Istiqlal, January 6, 2023).
• Moreover, the publication of the two books almost simultaneously, in the wake of the violence in northern Samaria and the increase in the activities of the established and semi-established organizations in the region, may indicate a kind of competition between Hamas and the PIJ’s military wings to encourage terrorist attacks.

The Bus Is Burning, by Hassan Salameh

Publication

• On January 5, 2023, the 27th anniversary of the death of Yahya Ayash, the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades in Khan Yunis held a ceremony to launch the publication of The Bus Is Burning – Attacks of holy vengeance for the death of commander Yahya Ayash. The book was written by Hassan Abd al-Rahman Salameh, who was born in Khan Yunis and is serving consecutive life sentences in an Israeli jail. Present at the launching were commanders of Hamas’ military-terrorist wing, members of the Hamas leadership in Khan Yunis, Palestinian police commanders, local dignitaries and clan heads. Also present were Salameh’s parents. Three videos were shown chronicling the activities of Hassan Salameh and Yahya Ayash, including pictures of burned-out Israeli buses and body parts of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks (Palinfo, January 5, 2023). Ceremony participants received copies of the book (Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades website and al-Quds, January 5, 2023).

   
Launching the book in Khan Yunis (Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades website, January 5, 2023).

• The Bus Is Burning was represented as the second book written by Salameh, who has been imprisoned since 1997. However, an examination conducted by the ITIC found it was simply a second edition of his book entitled Attacks of Holy Vengeance for the Death of Commander Yahya Ayash, which related Ayash’ activities in Hamas and its military-terrorist wing. The current edition has been updated with pictures, information about the shaheeds and a new foreword written by Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, and a new introduction by Hassan Salameh written, apparently, from the Nafha Prison, where he is currently imprisoned.

• During the ceremony a note was read, allegedly written by Hassan Salameh from jail. He wrote that the book was launched on the anniversary of Yahya Ayash’ death, and claimed the “holy vengeance attacks” terrified Israel and “shook the country’s foundations.” He claimed that Muhammad Deif [head of Hamas’ military-terrorist wing] had instructed him to leave the Gaza Strip and carry out attacks [in Judea and Samaria]. Salameh ended the note with a salutation to the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades and the hope for a prisoner exchange deal in the near future that would return him to the “arena of jihad” [attacking Israel] (Palinfo, January 5, 2023).
• Speakers at the ceremony said the following:
  • Saleh al-‘Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, who spoke from abroad, where he lives permanently, claimed they were carefully planning the next round of fighting and a “new victory” which would lead to Israel’s expulsion from Judea and Samaria. He added that Hamas would not stop until the last of the prisoners had been released (Palinfo, January 5, 2023).
  • Salah al-Bardawil, a member of the Hamas’ political bureau, praised Hassan Salameh who, he claimed, had shown himself as a brave fighter “from childhood.” He added that the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades would work to release the prisoners and that Khan Yunis was waiting for Salameh to return (Palinfo, January 5, 2023).
  • A recording was played of Umm al-Baraa Ayash, Yahya Ayash’ widow, who claimed the memory of Yahya Ayash would remain alive and present forever. She added he had taught generations [of Palestinians] patience and stability for the sake of the Palestinian cause and caused the hearts of the Palestinians to swell [with joy and pride] because of the “brave attacks which terrified Israel” (Palinfo, January 5, 2023).

The book

• The Bus Is Burning begins with Salameh’s childhood. The first significant event was in 1987, when the first intifada began and Salameh, 16 years old at the time, joined Hamas. He boasts about Khan Yunis, his birthplace, praises the al-Imam al-Shaafi’i Mosque, which he says fashioned his character, and mentions the series of “jihad fighters” it spawned.
• The book includes information and pictures of three bombing attacks planned by Salameh: two on number 18 Jerusalem buses, a month apart, and one at a hitchhiking site in Ashqelon in 1996. A large part of the book is devoted to the activities of Yahya Ayash, “the engineer,” as well as other high-ranking Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades terrorists who were either killed or imprisoned in Israel. He also notes his transfer from the Gaza Strip to Judea and Samaria as a significant event in his life regarding terrorist activity. A long chapter is devoted to carrying out attacks, emphasizing collecting intelligence, planning and timing. In effect, the book is a users’ guide to terrorism. It also has pictures of various terrorist attacks carried out in Israel.
• A chapter is devoted to the circumstances of his detention on May 17, 1996, for which he blames Jibril al-Rajoub, who at the time was in charge of Palestinian preventive security in Judea and Samaria, “pursuing him everywhere,” especially in Hebron, and distributing his picture to preventive security operatives. Salameh claims even the IDF soldiers who manned the roadblocks in Judea and Samaria had his picture.

A Spark from the Light of the Path, the Fighting Sheikh, Bassem al-Sa’adi

• On December 17, 2022, about three weeks before the publication of Salameh’s book, the PIJ’s Muhjat al-Quds Institution for Shaheeds, Prisoners and the Wounded held a ceremony to launch the book, A Spark from the Light of the Path, the Fighting Sheikh, Bassem al-Sa’adi. The ceremony was held in the al-Jazeera Hotel on the Gaza coast on the 30^th anniversary of Israel’s expulsion of Palestinian terrorists to Marj al-Zahour in south Lebanon,^[1] and attended by members of leaderships of the PIJ, Hamas and other organizations.
• The book was written by Asri Fayad from the Jenin refugee camp. It is 236 pages long and has 11 chapters. It has two forewords, one written by Muhammad Jaradat and the other by Walid al-Hawdali,^[2] and an appendix of pictures documenting al-Sa’adi’s life (al-Quds, December 24. 2022; Ra’i al-Yawm, January 5, 2023). Although the book was apparently not written by al-Sa’adi but by Muhammad Fares Jaradat (Abu al-Ma’amun), at the ceremony launching the book in the Jenin refugee camp, one of its promoters claimed Bassem al-Sa’adi had proofread it several times, adding new information each time.
• The book is about Bassem al-Sa’adi and milestones in his life. An entire chapter is devoted to his “ninth detention” [August 1, 2022] after he had been free for two and a half years. He said the time of his freedom had been full of “important events,” among them Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 10 to 21, 2021) and several months later, the escape of the six prisoners from the Gilboa Prison (September 6, 2021). Al-Sa’adi claimed those two events ignited the Palestinian street, as did the creation of a hard core of “resistance fighters” [terrorist operatives] from the PIJ’s military wing in the Jenin refugee camp a few months previously. The “fighters,” he claimed, began clashing with the Israeli security forces every time they entered the city, the refugee camp or the neighboring villages.
• The hard core turned into the Jenin Battalion, which increased in size and strength, and grew as an organization which over time gained experience through continuing clashes with the Israeli security forces. It had sacrificed and continued to sacrifice shaheeds, wounded and prisoners, along with fighters from Fatah and Hamas.
•     Al-Sa’adi recounts the events of the night of August 1, 2022, when he was detained. He said he finally arrived at the Ofer Prison where he learned of the alert along the Gaza Strip border and the curfew imposed on the communities nearby. He also claimed that during his interrogation it became clear they wanted to detain him to get him out Judea and Samaria and did not want to take him into administrative detention to keep him from becoming a problem by going on a hunger strike. He claimed they had collected his interviews with satellite stations while he was free and the PIJ’s threats after he was detained, and turned them all into an indictment against him.

Book launching in the Gaza Strip

• Muhammad al-Shqaqi, Muhjat al-Quds spokesman, read a letter allegedly written by Bassem al-Sa’adi and claiming his wish was for his activities to serve as a “beacon for all jihad fighters.” He expressed condolences for all the fatalities of Operation Breaking Dawn, especially PIJ leaders Taysir al-Jaabari, Khaled Mansour and Ziyad al-Mudallal, and said he remembered all the shaheeds, with no exceptions, among them commanders Na’im al-Zubeidi, Muhammad al-Sa’adi from the Jenin Battalion, Ibrahim al-Nabulsi and Uday al-Tamimi (Muhjat al-Quds website, December 17, 2022).
• Speakers at the ceremony said the following:
  • Nafez Azzam, a member of the PIJ’s political bureau, noted the need for the Palestinians to become familiar with the biographies of their leaders while they were still alive. He said the Jenin refugee camp had become a symbol of the “resistance” [anti-Israeli terrorism] for the Palestinians and Bassem al-Sa’adi was an example for all. He noted the current “blessed uprising” [increase in terrorist attacks] in Judea and Samaria and claimed that Sheikh Bassem al-Sa’adi, shaheed Mahmoud Tawalbeh and shaheed Raad al-Karmi had all played an important part in “igniting the flame of resistance.”
  • Senior Hamas figure Dr. Muhammad al-Madhoun, speaking on behalf of the National and Islamic Forces, claimed that the life of Sheikh Bassem al-Sa’adi was a metaphor for the Palestinian people. He added that the Jenin refugee camp continued the legacy of the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades and Sheikh Bassem al-Sa’adi and was an example of action for “Palestine” and national unity at their best, by virtue of the people active at the time, headed by Bassem al-Sa’adi.
  • Sheikh Abdallah al-Shami, who was expelled to Marj al-Zahour along with Bassem al-Sa’adi, said they did not forget their expulsion, which had lasted for a year full of misery and pain. He claimed the PIJ and Hamas had become close at Marj al-Zahour because the situation united them and they also became closer to Hezbollah, which opened its bases to the Palestinians to train and provide them with everything they needed. He added that the Jenin Battalion in Jenin and the Lion’s Den in Nablus, as well as operatives in Tulkarm, Bethlehem and Hebron were writing the epic of jihad and the “resistance” [anti-Israeli terrorist attacks].

   
The ceremony. Right: The PIJ leadership (Muhjat al-Quds website, December 17, 2023).

 
Right: Nafez Azzam. Left: Abdallah al-Shami (Muhjat al-Quds website, December 17, 2023).

Book launching in the Jenin refugee camp

• On December 31, 2022, the book was launched in the Jenin refugee camp. Sheikh Khaled Jaradat (Abu Hadi) spoke on behalf of the PIJ and thanked both those responsible for organizing the ceremony and Muhjat al-Quds Institution which oversaw the publication of the book as well as of other books written by prisoners. He claimed Sheikh Bassem al-Sa’adi had many virtues rarely found together in one man, and possibly the idea of putting all his memories in one book did justice to the shaheeds from the Jenin refugee camp, and the history of the PIJ might not exist had it not been for Bassem al-Sa’adi.
• Muhammad Fares Jaradat (Abu al-Ma’amun), who wrote a foreword for the book, said the symbolism of Bassem al-Sa’adi and his “struggle” from the time he met Sheikh Khaled Jaradat and Fathi Shqaqi until Operation Breaking Dawn was a clear fingerprint in the staying power of the Jenin refugee camp in the ongoing revolution against Israel [sic].
• Senior Fatah figure Jamal Hawil said biographies are usually written when someone dies or leaves office because they are the mark a man leaves after him, but when they come from a leader who still head the ranks, fights and “struggles,” he was clearly determined to pass down his enormous life experience [sic]. Hawil also said that what made the book special was the transparency with which it raised the various issues (Paltoday, December 31, 2022).

   
Pictures from the ceremony in the Jenin refugee camp (Safa, December 31, 2022).

Appendix

Hassan Salameh

• Hassan Abd al-Rahman Salameh was born on August 9, 1971 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. During the first intifada, when he was 16 years old, he joined Hamas. He said of himself that he participated in many “activities” during the first intifada, for which he found himself in administrative detention six times. He was released from the last administrative detention in 1992 and began his activity in the ranks of the Islamic Storm, the framework that preceded the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades. In 1992 he was expelled from Israel to Marj al-Zahour in south Lebanon, where he received military training from Hezbollah and learned to make IEDs. Upon his return from Lebanon he was detained by the Palestinian security services and released seven months later. After Yahya Ayash was killed Muhammad Deif appointed him to carry out terrorist attacks to avenge his death and he was sent to Judea and Samaria.
• Salameh was responsible for orchestrating a series of terrorist attacks, among them two bombing attacks on number 18 buses in Jerusalem which killed 46 people and one at a hitchhiking site near Ashqelon which killed a soldier and wounded 36 people. In May 1996 he was detained in Hebron and tried by a military court. He was convicted and sentenced to 46 consecutive terms of life imprisonment and is currently serving his sentence in a prison in Israel.

Sheikh Bassem al-Sa’adi

• Bassem al-Sa’adi is a scion of a Palestinian clan, whose famous members include Sheikh Farhan al-Sa’adi, a judge at the trial of Izz al-Din Qassam, who was accused of igniting the Arab rebellion of 1936. The clan lived in the village of al-Mazar and moved to Jenin after Israel’s War of Independence, and its members live there today in the Jenin refugee camp.
• Bassem al-Sa’adi was born on December 23, 1960. After graduating from high school he went to Jordan to study accounting. He participated in the first intifada and joined the PIJ in May 1987. He headed the al-Ayman NGO, which provided support to the needy families of shaheeds, prisoners and wanted Palestinians. He was one of the Palestinians expelled by Israel to Marj al-Zahour in Lebanon in 1992.
• His operational activities against the IDF were prominent during Operation Defensive Shield (March 29 to May 10, 2002) in the Jenin refugee camp. He became famous because he hid from the Israeli security forces in a cellar for 15 years, and often escaped being detained or killed. He spent a total of 13 years in jail.
• His wife, Nawal Sayid Suleiman al-Sa’adi, was imprisoned in Israel for three years because of her husband’s activities. His sons, Abd al-Karim and Ibrahim, were operatives in the PIJ’s military-terrorist wing and killed by the IDF in 2002. His sons Izz al-Din, Suheib, Fathi and Yahya were detained by Israel for several years. His son Izz al-Din was seriously wounded at the beginning of the second intifada. His house in the Jenin refugee camp was attacked during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 (Palestine Online, August 1, 2022). On March 3, 2021, he was taken from his house for interrogation and later released. He claimed he was warned he would be detained if he became involved in political or social activities (al-Araby al-Jadeed, March 3, 2021). On August 1, 2022, he and his son-in-law, Ashraf al-Jada, were detained for involvement in terrorist activity (IDF spokesman and Ynet, August 2, 2022). His detention triggered Operation Breaking Dawn.

    
Right: Bassem al-Sa’adi (left) and his son-in-law, Ashraf al-Jada (Daffa_media Telegram channel of the PIJ in Judea and Samaria, August 1, 20220. Left: Weapons and money seized in Bassem al-Sa’adi’s house (IDF spokesman’s Twitter account, August 1, 2022).

The Muhjat al-Quds (“soul of Jerusalem”) Institution

• The institution was founded in the Gaza Strip in 2002 with the name Jamiat al-Rashoun al-Filistiniya. In September 2007 the name was changed to Muhjat al-Quds. It is registered with the ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip with the number 8040. The board of directors consists of seven members, appointed once every three years from among the association’s 25 members. Its stated objective is to help needy families (families of prisoners, shaheeds, the wounded and orphans) with material and financial aid. Among its sources of financing are the al-Quds Social Association for Human Development, the Commission for Acts of Charity, the Malaysian Iman Palestine Institution, the Islamic Aid Organization, the Bayt Filastin Association, the Charity Committee of the Ministry of Endowments (ministry of the interior in Gaza website, January 2014).

• The Institution is affiliated with the PIJ. Its current head is Jamil Alian, a member of the PIJ’s political bureau. Its website, Twitter account and Facebook page post pictures and information about terrorists and Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the organization. The Institution takes an active part in activities for the release of PIJ prisoners, including holding protest activities for the release of former hunger-striking prisoner Muhammad Allan.^[3]
• The Institution also publishes books, for the most part about prisoners and shaheeds. One is Lovers of the Shahada, about the lives of 35 shaheeds from the Jabalia refugee camp; another is The Time of Men, stories by and about PIJ prisoners before and during their imprisonment in Israeli jails, with an emphasis on their path of “jihad” (Muhjat al-Quds website, January 23, 2023).

^[1] On December 17, 1992, Israel expelled 415 Hamas and PIJ terrorist operatives to south Lebanon for a year and a half. They erected a tent camp in Marj al-Zahour north of the security zone held by Israel at the time. The expulsion was a watershed event for Hamas. Several of the operatives became past and present leaders of Hamas and the PIJ. ↑
^[2] Al-Hawdali is a PIJ-affiliated Palestinian writer from the Jilazoun refugee camp in Ramallah. He was imprisoned in Israel for 14 years and today is a released prisoner. ↑
^[3] Muhammad Allan was a PIJ-affiliated administrative detainee from the Nablus region who went on a hunger strike for 65 days in a demand for release. On August 14, 2015, after 59 days without food his condition deteriorated, he lost consciousness and his life was in danger. Given the worsening of his condition and the fear of irreversible brain damage, the Israeli Supreme Court temporarily lifted the administrative detention order against him. For further information see the September 3, 2015 bulletin, "Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) twice managed to secure the release of its administrative detainees, accomplished through long hunger strikes accompanied by threats of undermining the lull in the Gaza Strip." ↑

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