The Palestinian Authority and Fatah have adopted a policy of full solidarity with Palestinians killed while carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel or in confrontations with Israeli security forces

Overview

• 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. Even Mahmoud Abbas posts pictures of shaheeds on the Palestinian social networks and occasionally calls the families to offer condolences, although he has never been known to visit a mourning tent.
• 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; post mourning notices on the PA and Fatah social media sites; senior PA and Fatah figures visit the mourning tents; Friday sermons are given in the mosques by clerics affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas and the PA relating to the shaheeds (although fewer recently); the shaheeds are formally glorified and commemorated (for example, summer camps, etc. are named after them).
• The PA operates on two seemingly contradictory levels: on the one hand it officially claims it wants to contain the violence, or at least demonstrates it makes an effort, and on the other it strives to justify violence at a time when many Palestinians who carry out terrorist attacks or attack Israelis are killed. Both the PA and Fatah still claim to adhere to the “peaceful popular resistance,” while in reality they praise operatives who promote an armed “resistance” [terrorist attacks] and the military-terrorist “option.”
• 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.” Their actions reflect the PA’s need to respond to the harsh criticism of the Palestinian people in Judea and Samaria, and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip (which object to the PA security forces’ ongoing security coordination with Israel). The PA’s actions may also reflect the anger, especially of the PA security forces, at the killing of its operatives (many of the casualties involve operatives affiliated with Fatah or belonging to security forces), whom the Palestinians regard as national heroes.
• The PA’s actions are consistent with Mahmoud Abbas’ public statements at international functions (for example his annual speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2022), where he claims his hand is extended in peace but Israel has destroyed the efforts to achieve a just solution for the Palestinians.

Fatah and PA Activity

Statements from senior figures

• In many instances, when a Palestinian terrorist is killed by the Israeli security forces during a terrorist attack or counterterrorism activities, senior PA figures and the Palestinian media accuse Israel of deliberately killing “innocent people” and call for an investigation by the international community and its institutions. Generally speaking, they continue denying the facts even when the circumstances of the events and the terrorists’ motivation have been clarified. They often also raise false claims that such Palestinians were killed under other circumstances (such as claiming the driver “lost control of the car” during a vehicular ramming attack). During recent months, almost every time Palestinian were killed while attacking Israelis, senior PA and Fatah figures and spokesmen issued condemnations and accused Israel using terms such as “execution,” “war crime,” “crimes against humanity,” and “human rights violations.”
• During an interview conducted on October 19, 2022, by Radio Alam in Hebron, Ibrahim Ramadan, governor of the Nablus district, was asked about Mahmoud Abbas’ position on recent events in Judea and Samaria, especially Nablus and Jenin. He said it was wrong to be fooled by appearances: “He wants resistance…the president [sic] wants resistance. Once, twice, maybe three times, he said he wanted resistance.” However, claimed Ramadan, Mahmoud Abbas’ hands were tied vis-à-vis the international community because of political agreements, which prevented him from coming out and stating it publicly (Facebook page of interviewer Muhammad al-Atrash, October 19, 2022).
• The PA daily al-Hayat al-Jadeeda published an editorial praising Uday al-Tamimi, who carried out the shooting attack in Shuafat, killing an IDF fighter, and was sought for ten days. He was represented as a hero and Palestinian patriot, and called a “tragic hero in the new chapter of the Palestinian epic, a key figure in the play. He did not belong to Fatah but to the Palestinian nationalism, to his patriotic education and the morality of his ‘struggle’…That is what satisfies ‘Palestine’ and what ‘Palestine’ demands. Without a doubt, anyone who has ‘Palestine’ in his heart and soul, with his death asks for only what ‘Palestine’ asks for, good character and patriotism until it is freed of the occupation and a free and independent country is established, with east Jerusalem as its capital” (al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, October 23, 2022).

Glorification of shaheeds

• The glorification of Palestinian terrorists who were killed during terrorist attacks is common in the PA and Fatah, and is a central aspect of the Palestinian narrative and PA policy. The shaheeds are commemorated in various ways, including naming streets, squares, schools and public institutions after them, and special attention is given to young shaheeds to turn them into role models. It provides public justification for terrorist attacks and terrorists, and helps motivate young Palestinians to follow in their footsteps. Glorification of terrorists was accelerated after the April 7, 2022 shooting attack in Tel Aviv carried out by the son of a former senior officer in the PA national security forces. Sons of other security force operatives, as well as security force operatives themselves, carried out attacks.
• On September 6, 2022, after the house of Raad Hazem (who carried out the attack in Tel Aviv) was demolished, Atta Abu Rumila, Fatah secretary in Jenin, said on Palestinian TV: “First, mercy on the souls of Ataa al-Zakarna and Muhammad Sabaaneh and all our [other] pure shaheeds…May Allah give patience and condolence to our brother, commander Abu Raad [the terrorist’s father] for the destruction of the house of his son, who terrified [the enemy], brought Israel to its knees and imposed a closure of the largest colonial settlement in ‘Palestine,’ Tel Rabia [Tel Aviv]…The current generation is [composed of] the grandchildren of the fighters, the sons of the shaheeds and brave prisoners in the prisons of the occupation, those who were victorious over the occupation twenty years ago” [i.e., killed Israelis in terrorist attacks during the second intifada].
• The following was recently posted to Fatah’s official Facebook page: “Let us remember our shaheeds, those of the Palestinian national security forces who began the riots of the [Western] Wall and the al-Aqsa intifada and participated in the face-to-face confrontation with the occupation which continues to this day.” Also posted was a video of Ahmed ‘Abd, Taysir al-Issa and Adhem Aliwi (who were recently killed). It showed armed operatives of the Palestinian security forces on their way to carry out missions and hiding in ambush. The final caption read, “The Palestinian security forces – self sacrifice and glory” (Fatah Facebook page, September 18, 2022).

     
Pictures from the video (Fatah Facebook page, September 18, 2022).

• Further example of the glorification of recent shaheeds:
• During an Israeli security force activity in the village of Burqin (in which an IDF fighter was killed) Daoud al-Zubeidi, a Fatah operative, was wounded; he was the brother of Zakaria al-Zubeidi (one of the six prisoners who escaped from the Gilboa Prison). On May 15, 2022 he died in an Israeli hospital. Daoud al-Zubeidi, 43 years old, from the Jenin refugee camp was a released prisoner who was imprisoned in Israel for 12 years (Ma’an, Safa, May 15, 2022).
• On June 29, 2022, the graduation ceremony was held for the Shaheed Daoud al-Zubeidi Palestinian preventive security forces officers’ training course. Ibrahim Ramadan, governor of the Nablus district, attended the ceremony, as did General Abd al-Qadr al-Tamari, acting commander of the Palestinian preventive security forces, and the heads of the security forces in the Nablus district (Facebook page of the governor of the Nablus district, June 29, 2022).

•   On August 16, 2022, the Daoud al-Zubeidi summer camp for high school Shabiba operatives was organized by the Palestinian preventive security forces and held at the Harash al-Saada facility in Jenin. It lasted for three days. A memorial plaque was presented to al-Zubeidi family members at the final exercise (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, August 16, 2022).

• Ahmed Ayman Ibrahim al-‘Abed, an operative in PA military intelligence and a graduate of al-Istaqlal, the PA’s military academy in Jericho, was killed along with his cousin Abd al-Rahman al-‘Abed on the night of September 13, 2022, while attempting a terrorist attack near the Jalameh Crossing, north of Jenin.
• Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, an al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (AAMB) operative in Nablus, was killed on August 9, 2022. He was sought for several months for carrying out shooting attacks, including one at the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus. His father, Alaa Izzat al-Nabulsi, is a released prisoner who was incarcerated in Israel for several years and is a lieutenant colonel in the Palestinian preventive security forces. At his son’s funeral he said, “Praise to Allah, Ibrahim, from the day they pursued him, he was the hunter and not the prey. Everywhere he went where he heard the Israeli army was to be found he went to confront it, that was his fate, praise to Allah. My message to the next generation is to preserve the legacy of the shaheeds” (al-Ghad TV website, August 9, 2022).
• The Shabiba Committee of the high schools in the Ramallah district, which is subordinate to Fatah’s bureau of mobilization and organization, conducted a military summer camp named for Ibrahim al-Nabulsi. It was held at the national security force facility in Nuwaimeh in the Jericho district and lasted for three days. The campers heard lectures and carried out military exercises, including firing blanks. The final exercise was attended by General Jihad Abu al-Assel, the governor of the Jericho district; Lieutenant Colonel Iyad al-Bazari, deputy head administrator of public relations and information in the national security forces; Lieutenant Colonel Ghaleb al-Ashqar commander of the Nuwaimeh facility; and Mufaq Suhweil, secretary of the Fatah branch in the Ramallah district (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, August 20, 2022).

  
Fatah summer campers leaving for Nuwaimeh. The sign reads, “The shaheed Ibrahim al-Nabulsi camp,” and their headbands read, “The heroic shaheed Ibrahim al-Nabulsi” (Facebook page of the Shabiba High School Committee of Fatah’s bureau of mobilization and organization, August 19, 2022).

• The shaheeds are also glorified in the schools. For example, in recent months the al-Zahariya high school in Hebron has employed various activities to commemorate prominent shaheeds such as Uday al-Tamimi (who carried out the shooting attack at the Shuafat Crossing, where an IDF fighter was killed, and the shooting attack near Ma’aleh Adumim), Ibrahim al-Nabulsi and Raad Hazem (who carried out the shooting attack in Tel Aviv). The activities include naming the annual soccer tournament for Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a decision made by the school because “the shaheeds are the most respected among us” (Facebook page of the al-Zahariya high school. September 29, 2022).
• School tests also reference terrorists who carried out attacks. According to the social networks, Muhammad Awda and Khalil Abu Sharukh, two physics teachers in the PA’s South Hebron education administration, gave tenth grade students at the al-Zahariya school a test with a question about Uday al-Tamimi and the terrorist attack he carried out at the entrance to Ma’aleh Adumim. They had to calculate the route he hypothetically took from the Shuafat refugee camp to Ma’aleh Adumim (Twitter account of Mahmoud Kabhaa, October 27, 2022; Dunia al-Watan, October 27, 2022).)

• Fatah’s Facebook page posted a poem next a picture of Ahmed ‘Abed, calling him hero who by day was an operative of the security forces and by night an AAMB operative. He was cited as continuing the legacy of the heroes who preceded him, from al-Karmi (Raad al-Karmi, an officer in Palestinian preventive security forces and an AAMB commander, who died in a targeted killing on January 14, 2002) to Daoud [al-Zubeidi] (Fatah Facebook page, September 14, 2022).

Presenting memorial plaques to families

• According to General Nidal Abu Dukhan, commander of the PA security forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Salameh, commander of the Nablus sector, a delegation from the PA department of public relations and information and the PA unit for emotional and sociological support paid a visit to Ibrahim al-Nabulsi’s house and gave his mother a memorial plaque from the national security forces in honor of his firm stance, “which serves as a symbol and role model” (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, October 16, 2022).

    
Memorial plaque presented to Ibrahim al-Nabulsi’s mother (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, October 16, 2022).

•  A different delegation paid a visit to the house of Islam Sabouh, who was killed along with Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, and gave his mother a memorial plaque from the national security forces in honor of his firm stance, “which serves as a symbol and role model” (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, October 16, 2022).

• A delegation of representatives of the Palestinian preventive security forces paid a visit to the house of Bilal Rawajba in the village of Rujeib, and presented his mother with a memorial plaque from the security forces (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, October 19, 2022).

•  According to instructions from General Nidal Abu Dukhan, commander of the Palestinian national security forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Salameh, commander of the Nablus sector, a delegation paid a visit to the house of Muhammad Yunes (who was shot to death on December 6, 2021, while carrying out a vehicular ramming attack at the check post at the entrance to the Te’enim Crossing in Samaria) and presented his mother with a memorial plaque from the Palestinian national security forces (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, October 19, 2022).

Formal military-style funerals

• Many of the Palestinian terrorists recently killed were also national security operatives or the sons of operatives in the PA’s security forces (including senior operatives). They were given formal military-style funerals with uniformed security force operatives in attendance:
• On the night of October 27, 2022, Palestinians attacked an IDF post at the Hawwara roadblock (south of Nablus) in a drive-by shooting. A nearby IDF force identified the vehicle from which the shots were fired and another vehicle driving in tandem with it. Both vehicles, which were driving towards Nablus, were shot at by the forces (IDF Twitter account, October 28, 2022). The ministry of health in Ramallah reported the deaths of Imad Abu Rashid, 47 years old, and Ramzi Sami Zabara, 35 years old. Both came from the Askar refugee camp and were operatives in PA’s civil defense forces. Abu Rashid was an officer (Wafa, October 28, 2022).

• On October 7, 2022, the ministry of health in Ramallah announced the death of Adel Ibrahim Adel Daoud, 14 years old, who died in the Qalqilya government hospital after having been shot during a clash with IDF forces close to the border security fence south of Qalqilya (Wafa, October 7, 2022). According to the IDF, Adel Daoud threw a Molotov cocktail at an IDF force near Qalqilya. The force responded with gunfire, wounding him (Israel HaYom, October 7, 2022). On October 9, 2022, a military-style funeral was held for him, attended by the Qalqilya district governor (Facebook page of the Qalqilya district governor, October 8, 2022).

     
Right: Adel Daoud next to a Hamas flag (Paldf Twitter account, October 8, 2022). Left: Operatives of the PA national security forces carry Adel Daoud’s body (Facebook page of the Qalqilya district governor, October 8, 2022).

•  On July 29, 2022, the IDF reported that hundreds of rioting Palestinians were burning tires and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the main road near the settlement of Kokhav HaShahar, east of Ramallah. The riot blocked the road and IDF forces responded with crowd-dispersal measures, including shooting at the Palestinians throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, who were endangering Israeli lives. The Palestinian media reported the death of Amjad Nishat Abu Alia, 16 years old, from the village of al-Mugheir. A military-style funeral was held for him in the village and his body was carried on the shoulders of Palestinian national security force operatives and wrapped for burial in a Palestinian flag. Mourners carried Fatah and Hamas flags (Ma’an, July 30, 2022). On July 31, 2022, Mahmoud Abbas called Abu Alia’s father and offered his condolences; the father thanked him for his call (Wafa, July 31, 2022).

• Muhammad al-Arishi was a Fatah operative from the Old City of Nablus who was fatally wounded during a clash with IDF forces on August 9, 2022 (the same event in which Ibrahim al-Nabulsi and Islam Sabouh were killed). He died on August 23, 2022. According to instructions from Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Salameh, commander of the Nablus sector for the national security forces, a formal military-style funeral was held for him (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, August 23, 2022).

•  Wassim Nasser Abu Khalifa was a Fatah operative from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus who was killed on the night of August 17, 2022, when Palestinians rioted as Jewish worshippers were being escorted to pray at the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus. A military-style funeral was held for him, attended by operatives of the national security forces in the Nablus district (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, August 18, 2022).

   
The body of Wassim Khalifa carried by national security force operatives. Left: Official national security force vehicles form part of the cortège (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, August 18, 2022).

Senior PA and Fatah figures visit mourning tents to offer condolences

• Abdallah Ahmed Abu al-Teen, 43 years old, a doctor and in charge of the registration unit of the ministry of health in Ramallah, was killed in a riot near the government hospital in Jenin (Wafa, October 14, 2022). The AAMB issued a mourning notice for him, stating he was one of their commanders and a senior figure in the Fatah leadership in Jenin (AAMB Telegram channel, October 14, 2022). The ministry of health in Ramallah issued a mourning notice for him stating he was head of its registration unit (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, October 14, 2022). The AAMB’s Shaheed Battalion in Jenin also issued a mourning notice for him, stating he was one of the battalion’s founders, along with Taha al-Zubeidi (al-Quds, October 14, 2022). Mahmoud Abbas called the family to offer his condolences (Wafa, October 14, 2022).
• His funeral was attended by deputy Fatah chairman Mahmoud al-‘Aloul, and the ministry of health in Ramallah erected a mourning tent for him. Among those who paid a visit to the mourning tent in Ramallah was Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee and a member of Fatah’s Central Committee (ministry of health in Ramallah Facebook page, October 18, 2022).

    
Right: Deputy Fatah chairman Mahmoud al-‘Aloul at the funeral of Abu al-Teen in Jenin (Facebook page of Fatah’s media and culture unit, October 14, 2022). Left: Hussein al-Sheikh visits the mourning tent erected by the ministry of health in Ramallah (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, October 18, 2022).

• A mourning tent was erected in the Jenin refugee camp for Abdallah Abu al-Teen and two other terrorists who were killed with him. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh paid condolence calls to the three families. He said the blood of the shaheeds had not been shed in vain. He claimed the “struggle” was an ongoing process, “generation after generation and sacrifice after sacrifice,” adding that Jenin exemplified Palestinian national unity (Wafa, October 16, 2022; Muhammad Shtayyeh’s Facebook page, October 16, 2022).

   
Right: Muhammad Shtayyeh shakes hands with Fatah terrorist Fathi Hazem, wanted by Israel. Left: Muhammad Shtayyeh gives a speech with Fathi Hazem in attendance. Behind him are operatives of the PA national security forces (Facebook page of the popular services committee in the Jenin refugee camp, October 16, 2022).

•   On October 15, 2022, Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee and Fatah’s Central Committee; Sabri Sidam, also a member of Fatah’s Central Committee; and members of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council paid condolence calls to the families of the shaheeds in Jenin, among them the family of Abdallah Abu al-Teen. Azzam al-Ahmed said that by their “ongoing sacrifices and struggle” the Palestinians proved they desired freedom and independence, the emptying of the jails [of Palestinian security prisoners] and realizing their legitimate rights (Palestinian TV website, October 15, 2022).

   
Right: Azzam al-Ahmed (center, with a surgical mask on his chin), next to Sabri Sidam (third from right) and Atta Abu Rumeileh, Fatah secretary for the Jenin district (second from right) (Facebook page of Sabri Sidam, October 15, 2022). Left: Mourning notice issued by Fatah for Abu al-Teen (Fedayeen Twitter account, October 14, 2022).

• On October 23, 2022, Tamer al-Kilani, a senior Lion’s Den terrorist network operative, died in a targeted killing in Nablus (a booby-trapped motorcycle was detonated as he walked by) (Snd News website, October 23, 2022). He was involved in dispatching the terrorist operative who was apprehended in Jaffa in September 2022, who planned to carry out a mass-shooting attack in Tel Aviv. He was also involved in the attack that killed an IDF soldier on October 11, 2022. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) issued a mourning notice for him. Senior figures in the PA security forces, among them Ibrahim Ramadan, governor of the Nablus district; Muhammad al-Rajoub, deputy commander of the Nablus sector; and other security force commanders paid condolence calls to the family (Facebook page of the Nablus district governor, October 23, 2022; Facebook page of the national security forces, October 23, 2022).

   
The governor of the Jenin district and heads of the PA national security forces pay a condolence call to the family of Tamer al-Kilani (Facebook page of the governor of the Jenin district, October 23, 2022)

• Uday al-Tamimi carried out two shooting attacks before he was killed. On October 8, 2022, he carried out a shooting attack at the Shuafat Crossing in which an IDF fighter was killed, and on October 19, 2022, he carried out a shooting attack at the entrance to Ma’aleh Adumim, where he was killed. Muhammad al-Madani, a member Fatah’s Central Committee and representative of the bureau of mobilization and organization, headed a delegation of members of the Revolutionary Council and mobilization and organization unit and spoke on behalf of the government. He said the Fatah movement “continues the path of ‘struggle’ alongside the forces and free Palestinians, until victory, liberation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” (Wafa, October 22, 2022). Fatah also erected a mourning tent in the Nablus district (Facebook page of Fatah’s media and culture unit, October 22, 2022), and one in Jenin (Facebook page of the PA security forces, October 22, 2022). Azzam al-Ahmed also went to the mourning tent in Jenin to offer his condolences (Wafa, October 22, 2022)

   
Right: Laila Ghannam, governor of the Ramallah district, at the mourning tent near Jerusalem (Facebook page of Laila Ghannam, October 21, 2022). Left: Azzam al-Ahmed at the mourning tent erected in Jenin (Wafa, October 22, 2022).

• The PIJ reported that one of its operatives, Yunes Ghassan Taya, 21 years old, from the al-Farrah refugee camp, was killed by IDF gunfire during clashes in the refugee camp (PIJ website, September 7, 2022). The Palestinian social networks reported he belonged to the Tubas Battalion of the Jerusalem Brigades, the PIJ’s military wing (Shabakat Tubas al-Jihadiya Telegram channel, September 7, 2022). On September 8, 2022, Mahmoud Abbas called Yunes al-Taya’s brother Khaled to offer his condolences. Mahmoud Abbas asked him to offer his condolences to his family and all the residents of the al-Farrah refugee camp (Wafa, September 8, 2022).
• Muhammad Bashar Azizi and Abd al-Rahman Sabah were killed on July 24, 2022 during an IDF operation against Palestinian terrorists who had barricaded themselves in a house in the Old City of Nablus. On September 2, 2022, a memorial service was held for them in the Old City of Nablus, where it was said the two had been founders of the Lion’s Den network in Nablus. After their death Muneir al-Jaghoub tweeted that the Red Crescent in Nablus had reported the two were operatives in the national security forces (Muneir al-Jaghoub’s Twitter account, July 24, 2022). Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Salameh, the national security forces’ commander of the Nablus district; heads of the security forces and officers from various forces went to the mourning tent in Nablus (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, July 24, 2022).

   
Operatives of the PA national security forces at the mourning tent erected for Azizi and Sabah (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, July 24, 2022).

•  Fatah operative Mahmoud Musa Muhammad Sabaaneh was killed when Palestinians rioted against the security forces in Jenin on the night of September 5, 2022 the house of Raad Hazem was demolished; he carried out the shooting attack in Tel Aviv on April 7, 2022. The Palestinian social networks reported that Sabaaneh was an operative/officer in the Palestinian preventive security forces (Twitter account of Wajia Sabah al-Qiq, September 6, 2022; Twitter account of Abood Helles, September 6 2022). Akram al-Rajoub, the governor of the Jenin district; Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad al-Bazour, deputy commander of the Jenin sector; and the heads of the Palestinian security forces paid condolence calls to the Sabaaneh family in Jenin and the family of Taher Zakarna in Qabatiya (a PIJ operative killed on September 5, 2022, during riots in Qabatiya) (Facebook page of the PA national security forces, September 6, 2022).

• On October 20, 2022, the ministry of health in Ramallah reported the death of Muhammad Fadi Nouri, 16 years old, from Bitunia (west of Ramallah), after being fatally wounded at the northern entrance to al-Bireh in September 2022 (Wafa, October 16, 2022). Muhammad al-Madani, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and a representative of Fatah’s mobilization and organization bureau, paid a condolence call to Bitunia (Facebook page of Fatah’s media and culture unit, October 22, 2022).

Sermons given in the mosques

• The PA’s position on events is also manifested by the Friday sermons given in the mosques in Judea and Samaria. The PA has considerable influence over the clerics who deliver the sermons and what they say; the sermons are an important tool for influencing public opinion and the PA works to standardize and control their messages. To that end, every week, in preparation for Friday, an official memorandum from the ministry of religion and endowments is distributed with the main points to be covered in the sermons. In the past clerics delivering sermons were reprimanded if they dared to give sermons which were not consistent with PA policy. The have a great influence on the Palestinian public, and the PA’s TV channel broadcasts a sermon every Friday, delivered live by a senior cleric, quotations from which often appear on the Palestinian social networks.
• An analysis of the sermons given in Judea and Samaria in recent months indicate that during the weeks of extreme tension the clerics showered praise on the shaheeds and severely criticized Israel, using hate speech and inflammatory terminology. The PA used the sermons to prove its solidarity with the Palestinians who were killed by stressing the transcendence of martyrdom for the sake of Allah (shahada). In recent weeks, along with relative decrease in the activity on the ground, the sermons have become less extreme.
• Mahmoud al-Habash, advisor to Mahmoud Abbas for religious matters, is also a judge in the Sharia high court. On Friday, September 30, 2022, he gave a sermon in the Fatma al-Zaharaa mosque in al-Bireh, which was broadcast live on PA TV. He compared Israel’s control of the Temple Mount to the boy from the Quraish tribe in Mecca who had control of the holy mosque. He said people had to visit the Temple Mount so that it would not be left in the hands of “herds of beasts of sub-humans [i.e., Israelis] who claimed the right to rule and historical and religious rights to it.”
• On Friday, October 7, 2022, he gave a sermon in the al-Yarmouk mosque in Ramallah where he spoke at length in praise of the shaheeds and their virtues (following the governor of Nablus’ criticism of the mothers of shaheeds). He encouraged shahada, noting that the shaheeds did not die but rather passed into a better world. The shahada, he said, was a choice and Allah determined shahada and the person he chose would be respected and admired.
• On Friday, October 21, 2022, he gave a sermon in the Fatma al-Zaharaa mosque in al-Bireh, which was also strongly incendiary. He repeated the claim that Islam is the religion of peace, and that Israel’s acts of aggression reveal it does not want peace, and that therefore a “response” [terrorism] to Israel is a religious obligation. He said he knew there were some people who did not their perception, but the Palestinians could no longer remain patient in the face of the attacks against them.
• On Friday, October 14, 2022, Hatem al-Bakri, PA minister of endowments, gave a sermon in Bayt Sahour about the transcendence of shahada, but his tone was relatively moderate and he did not encourage his listeners to follow in the footsteps of the shaheeds [proving that when it wants to, the PA can control the level of incitement in the sermons]. On Friday, November 4, 2022, he gave a milder sermon devoted mainly to the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

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