Fatah's Ideological Indoctrination Commission in Gaza has announced the publication of a new series of booklets for children titled "Stories of the Homeland," which glorify Fatah's armed struggle against Israel in the period before the signing of the Oslo Accords. Among the figures featured in the booklets are senior Fatah commanders such as Abu Jihad, who was head of Fatah's military arm and Yasser Arafat's deputy, and was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in the 1970s and 1980s in which dozens of Israeli civilians were killed, and Dalal Al-Mughrabi, deputy commander of the 1978 Coast Road attack, in which 35 Israelis were killed and 71 were wounded.[1]
Speaking with the e-daily Dunya Al-Watan, Dr. Hussam Abu 'Ajwa, Ideological Indoctrination Commissioner for the West Gaza district, who initiated and oversaw the publication of the series, stated that "this initiative, the first of its kind, uses stories to document the history of the Palestinian people and of the Fatah movement, the largest faction in the PLO." He added that stories are an important part of the Palestinian national heritage, "which has managed to place the Palestinians on the political map by perpetuating the memory of their numerous acts of bravery and sacrifice, as a counterweight to the false Zionist narrative that is trying to eliminate and erase the Palestinian identity and essence."[2]
Dr. Hussam Abu 'Ajwa with the new booklets (image: palsawa.com, October 10, 2018)
According to the report on Dunya Al-Watan, the series includes four booklets. The first, titled "The Beginning," deals with "the tragedy of the Palestinian people, its Nakba and its expulsion to refugee camps in the homeland and abroad, and describes the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution and the heroic 'Elaboun operation.[3]
The first booklet in the series: "The Beginning" (image: palsawa.com, October 10, 2018)
The second book, "The Mermaid," tells of "the martyr Dalal Al-Mughrabi, from Jaffa, the beautiful city by the sea, who grew up in the diaspora and who carried out the quality operation on the Palestinian coast and founded the Palestinian republic by raising its flag."
The second booklet in the series, "The Mermaid" (image: palsawa.com, October 10, 2018)
The third book, "Loving Fingertips," tells of "a boy from [Fatah's] Western District[4] who lost his fingers and Fatah acted to help him. He turns out to be a member of the RPG [unit] that opposed Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. [The story] also tells of the heroic battle of the Beaufort, some of whose heroes are still alive today."
The third booklet in the series, "Loving Fingertips" (image: palsawa.com, October 10, 2018)
The fourth book, "The Death of General Abu Jihad," describes "the major milestones in the life of this Palestinian leader, the engineer of the Stone Intifada, the martyr Khalil Al-Wazir Abu Jihad, [as well as] his famous Dimona operation[5] and the details of his cowardly assassination by the Israeli Mossad." [6]
The fourth booklet in the series, "The Death of General Abu Jihad" (image: palsawa.com, October 10, 2018)
[1] The PA and Fatah frequently glorify Dalal Al-Mughrabi. See e.g. MEMRI reports: Special Dispatch No. 7259, Fatah Social Media Accounts Glorify Armed Struggle Against Israel, Incite To Violence, January 2, 2018; 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; Inquiry & Analysis No. 1379, Palestinian Authority Schoolbooks For 2017-18: Increased Indoctrination To Jihad And Martyrdom, March 16, 2018.
[2] Alwatanvoice.com, October 10, 2018.
[3] The 'Elaboun operation, on January 1, 1965, was Fatah's first attack against Israel: the attempted bombing of the National Water Carrier near the village of 'Elaboun in the Galilee. The movement marks January 1 as Fatah Day, the anniversary of its founding. On a Fatah Day event, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7267, 'Fatah Day' At Bir Zeit University: Fatah Youth Activists Wear Dummy Explosive Belts, Threaten Israel With 'Volcano Of Fire', May 1, 2018.
[4] The Western District is a Fatah command that was responsible for many terror attacks and armed operations.
[5] Abu Jihad was killed by Israel on April 16, 1988, after on March 7 that year a Fatah unit attacked a bus carrying workers to the Nuclear Research Center in Dimona. Three passengers of the bus were killed in the attack.
[6] Alwatanvoice.com, October 10, 2018.
