Palestinian Olympic Committee President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Football Association, holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Jibril Rajoub yearns for the good old days of united Fatah-Hamas terror — like during the First Intifada — when more than 200 Israelis were murdered from 1987-1993.
Rajoub said that back then, there was proper organization and scheduling, even for a month ahead of time when “every civilian knew his role”:
The first Intifada was characterized by tight organization, the timing of daily activities, and the provision of a framework for all sectors of society. There were clear plans for 10 days, 20 days, and even a full month, during which every civilian knew his role. This planning helped the continuity of the popular movement and created a balance with the armed occupying power [i.e., Israel].”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
Rajoub hopes that Palestinians will reinstitute such a golden age of organized violence and terror, saying that such an achievement is not out of reach:
Today, in the shadow of various methods of oppression, the same approach is still possible if the [Palestinian] factions will agree on a comprehensive national plan and clear plans … When the coordination between the factions will return and a clear plan of action will be provided to the people, we will be able to replicate the model of comprehensive popular resistance that gained international support and embarrassed the occupation [i.e., Israel] in the face of global public opinion…”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
The Palestinian term “popular resistance” refers to individuals who murder Israelis using knives, rocks, Molotov cocktails, car rammings, and even shootings — as long as those responsible are not organized units. Hence the word “popular.”
So what must be done, in Rajoub’s view, to get to that point?
According to him, Palestinians must focus on what unites them — violence against Israel:
To revive this [first Intifada] model, the forces must agree on a common basis and focus on what unites and not what separates, and then the public will unify, and the leadership will restore the confidence of the street…
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
Rajoub’s most important message regarding what the new generation can learn from the First Intifada is that national unity can be achieved under figures such as arch-terrorists Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, and Abu Iyad:
The central message is the need to restore the national unity and end the rift. In the first Intifada, the PLO led by [then PLO leader] Yasser Arafat, along with figures like [Khalil Al-Wazir] ‘Abu Jihad’ [i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 125], [Salah Khalaf] ‘Abu Iyad’ [i.e., head of the Black September terror organization], and others, embodied the peak of cohesion and coordination with the popular will.”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
The First Intifada used terrorism led by Arafat and other terror leaders from overseas.
Nevertheless, according to this senior Palestinian leader, it still “gained international support and embarrassed the occupation (i.e., Israel) in the face of global public opinion” because it successfully duped world leaders into believing that it was just a “popular” uprising rather than an organized campaign.
Rajoub now calls on Palestinians to unite using the same tactics. As opposed to perpetrating attacks like that of October 7, 2023, which was condemned internationally as organized terror, Rajoub believes Palestinians should continue murdering Israelis in disorganized terror to make it seem like it is “popular,” i.e., not being directed by the leadership.
And these are the people that many in the Western world keep funding and want to put in charge of Gaza.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post Senior Palestinian Leader Urges People to Use Precise Systematic Terror Plan– Like the First Intifada first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
