Ahead of Palestinian Prisoners Day, which is marked on April 17, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud 'Abbas decided to award medals to the first female Fatah member imprisoned by Israel, Fatima Bernawi, the first male Fatah member imprisoned, Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, and the first Fatah member who was "martyred," Ahmad Moussa Salama, in honor of their "national struggle."[1]
On April 16, 2015, the website of Fatah's Egyptian branch wrote about Bernawi in an article dedicated to Prisoners Day: "Bernawi was arrested in October 1967 after she placed a bomb in the Zion Cinema in Jerusalem. She was sentenced to life in prison, but was released after ten years, in November 1977. [Israel's] Prison Service described [her release] as a 'gesture of good will' towards Egypt ahead of the visit by the late Egyptian prime minister Anwar Sadat in Jerusalem on November 19, 1977, [a visit] that paved the way to the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace agreement in 1979."
The website stated further: "Fatima Bernawi was one of the first Palestinian women to adopt [the means of] armed self-sacrifice operations after the start of the modern Palestinian revolution, which was launched by Fatah on January 1, 1965. She was the first young Palestinian woman to be arrested by the Israeli occupation forces, and is the first woman prisoner listed in the records of the [Palestinian] women prisoners' movement..."[2]
Fatima Bernawi (Image: Fateheg.org, April 16, 2015)
Fatima Bernawi during her service as head of the PA women's
police force (Image: Fateheg.org, April 16, 2015)
Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi was caught while attempting to carry out a terrorist attack in Israel on January 7, 1965, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 1971.[3] Ahmad Moussa Salama was killed while participating in Fatah's first terror operation, an attack on Israel's National Water Carrier on January 1, 1965.[4]
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), April 17, 2015.
[2] Fateheg.org, April 16, 2015.
[3] Aljazeera.net, April 17, 2013.
[4] Thawra.ps, February 9, 2011.
