A Facebook page of the Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, posted a graphic glorifying the March 11, 1978 coastal road terror attack, commanded by Fatah member Dalal Al-Mughrabi. The graphic shows civilians hostages sitting in the bus hijacked by the terrorists, and the body of one of the hostages lying on the floor.
The graphic was posted to mark the anniversary of Al-Mughrabi's death and of the attack, in which 35 Israelis were killed, including 9 children, and 71 were wounded.
Fatah and the PA mark the anniversary of the attack every year with memorials for Dalal Al-Mughrabi and her teammates, attended by Palestinian officials, and with publications that extol them and which spread a false narrative claiming that the attack targeted Israeli soldiers, rather than civilians. [1] The graphic posted this year is therefore unusual in acknowledging that the targets were civilians, including women and children. Conversely, the PA mouthpiece Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stuck to the false Palestinian narrative in a March 12 article about Al-Mughrabi which presented the attack as a heroic military operation against a bus "whose passengers were all soldiers."
The following are details about Fatah and PA publications released this year to glorify Dalal Al-Mughrabi and the coastal road massacre.
Graphic On Fatah Facebook Page Praises The Attack While Acknowledging That It Targeted Civilians
On the attack's anniversary the Facebook page of Fatah's Awda ("Return") television channel posted several graphics praising the attack and its field commander, Dalal Al-Mughrabi. One of these was the aforementioned graphic, which shows Al-Mughrabi shooting in a bus full of civilians, including women and children. The text that accompanies the picture states: "Dalal and the members of her cell managed to reach the main road to Tel Aviv and to wage a battle with the forces of the occupation army. Dalal took a Palestinian flag from her bag, kissed it humbly and flew it over the bus… She saluted it in an unprecedented historic scene which is regarded as the ceremony that marked the establishment of the Palestinian state."[2]
The graphic on the Facebook page of Fatah's Awda channel
PA Daily Continues To Spread The False Narrative: Dalal Al-Mughrabi Detonated The Bus, Whose Passengers Were All Soldiers
The PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida re-published a biographical article about Al-Mughrabi that reviews her life story and falsely presents the attack as a heroic operation against soldiers.[3] The article says: "Al-Mughrabi was born in 1958 in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, to a family from Jaffa that fled to Lebanon after the Nakba of 1948. She studied at the UNRWA primary and junior high schools in the camp, and already as a schoolgirl decided that she would join the ranks of the Palestinian revolution and the Fatah fighters. She took many lessons on fighting and guerilla warfare, and trained with various kinds of weapons. In these courses she stood out for her courage, bravery and intense patriotism…
"Dalal and her team managed to reach Tel Aviv and hijack a bus full of soldiers, and waged a firefight with Israeli forces and others outside the bus. The action resulted in hundreds of killed and wounded on the Israeli side, and in light of these heavy losses, the Israeli government dispatched a special unit, under the command of Ehud Barak, to intercept the bus and kill or arrest those in it. [This unit] used planes and tanks to besiege the [Palestinian] fighters, prompting Dalal Al-Mughrabi to blow up the bus with everyone in it, killing the Israeli soldiers. When the [Palestinian fighters] ran out of ammunition, Barak ordered to spray them with machineguns, and all of them were killed."[4]
Fatah Movement: The Day Of The Attack Was The Day Fatah Established The Palestinian Republic In The Heart of Tel Aviv, With Dalal-Al-Mughrabi As Its President
A post on the Facebook page of the Fatah Information and Culture Commission likewise glorified the massacre, presenting it as the moment of the establishment of the Palestinian republic, as stated by the poet Nizar Qabbani.[5] It said: "…March 11, 1978 was the day Fatah established the Palestinian republic in the heart of Tel Aviv, an independent and sovereign republic [that existed] for four hours… Its first president was Dalal Al-Mughrabi. The Palestinian flag was flown in the depth of the occupied land, on a 95-km road…"[6]
"March 11, 1978 was the day Fatah established the Palestinian republic" (Facebook.com/fatehmedia.ps, March 11, 2025)
"Dalal Al-Mughrabi and her comrades established the Palestinian republic" (Facebook.com/fatehmedia.ps, March 11, 2025)
[1] In the memorials Al-Mughrabi is presented as a model for emulation and a paragon of Palestinian womanhood. See e.g., MEMRI reports: Special Dispatch No. 8773 - Palestinian Authority, Fatah Continue To Glorify Terrorists Who Carried Out Attacks Against Civilians – June 1, 2020; Special Dispatch No. 7708 - New Series Of Fatah Booklets For Children Glorifies Terrorists Such As Abu Jihad, Dalal Al-Mughrabi – October 12, 2018; Special Dispatch No. 6830 - Fatah And Palestinian Authority (PA) Officials, PA Press Commemorate Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi, Glorify Her Actions – March 16, 2017; Special Dispatch No. 6351 - Fatah Commemorates Female Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi At Palestine Red Crescent Center In Ramallah – March 17, 2016; Special Dispatch No. 6344 - On International Women's Day, Palestinian 'Al-Quds' Daily Lionizes Terrorists As Paragons Of Palestinian Womanhood – March 10, 2016; Special Dispatch No. 5246 - Palestinian Authority Praises Female Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi – March 20, 2013; Special Dispatch No. 2862 - Veneration for Dalal Al-Mughrabi on Palestinian Authority TV, in PA Dailies, and on Israeli Arab Websites – March 17, 2010; Special Dispatch No. 7380 - Palestinian Authority And Fatah Glorify Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi And The Contribution Of Other Female Martyrs And Prisoners To The Palestinian Cause – March 12, 2018; Special Dispatch No. 7708 - New Series Of Fatah Booklets For Children Glorifies Terrorists Such As Abu Jihad, Dalal Al-Mughrabi – October 12, 2018.
[2] Facebook.com/awdehchannel, March 11, 2025.
[3] This article was also published in 2020, for example. See Special Dispatch No. 8773, Palestinian Authority, Fatah Continue To Glorify Terrorists Who Carried Out Attacks Against Civilians, June 1, 2020.
[4] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), March 12, 2025.
[5] See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7380 - Palestinian Authority And Fatah Glorify Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi And The Contribution Of Other Female Martyrs And Prisoners To The Palestinian Cause – March 12, 2018.
[6] Facebook.com/fatehmedia.ps, March 11, 2025.
