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March 8, 2017 Special Dispatch No. 6819

Palestinian President 'Abbas Meets With Terrorists And Terrorists' Families

March 8, 2017
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 6819

Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas met recently with Palestinians who carried out terrorist attacks and with the family of a terrorist. On March 5, 2017 he received in his office in Ramallah the family of Muhammad Al-Jallad, who died of his wounds after being shot while attempting to carry out a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in November 2016.[1] 'Abbas also met with 14-year-old Osama Zaidat, who was shot while attempting to stab civilians in Kiryat Arba in September 2016 and who was recently released from detention, as well as with 'Imad 'Asaf, a member of Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, who took part in the Second Intifada in 2000 and was recently released from prison.[2]

 


From 'Abbas's Facebook page: meeting with the boy Osama Zaidat, who attempted to stab civilians in Kiryat Arba (Facebook.com/President.Mahmoud.Abbas/photos, March 5, 2017)

 

In one of the meetings 'Abbas said: "The aggression of Israel's arrest and murder [of Palestinians] will not keep the Palestinian people from adhering to its well-deserved rights and from establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital... The Palestinian leadership will make every effort to end the suffering of our heroic brothers and release them from the occupation's prisons so they can take part in building the homeland for which they sacrificed."[3]

It should be noted that 'Abbas often stresses the importance he ascribes to freeing the prisoners and emphasizes that the Palestinian leadership is making every effort to secure their release. For example, at an August 8, 2016 reception in Ramallah for the released prisoner Shadi Al-Baba of the Al-Qassam Brigades, he said: "The issue of the prisoners will continue to be a top priority for the [Palestinian] leadership, [which will act] to free all the prisoners and detainees.[4] He made similar remarks in a December 28, 2016 meeting with Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul, who were released from administrative detention following a 28-day hunger strike.[5] At the Seventh Fatah Conference on December 1, 2016, he praised the Palestinian prisoners, especially senior Fatah and Popular Front operatives who were behind terrorist attacks, including the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Zeevi, saying: "We remember the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners and their record... We salute our brave prisoners and respect them. We will not forget our fighting comrades Marwan Al-Barghouti, Ahmad Sa'dat and Fouad Shubaki, or [our] glorious woman prisoners."[6]

 

 


[1] Arab48.com, February 10, 2017.

[2] Blog.amin.org.

[3] Wafa.ps, March 6, 2017.

[4] Ramallah.news. August 8, 2016.

[5] Wafa.ps, December 8, 2016.

[6] Al-Ayyam (PA), December 1, 2016

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