Palestinian Authority And Fatah Glorify Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi And The Contribution Of Other Female Martyrs And Prisoners To The Palestinian Cause

March 11, 2018 was the 40^th anniversary of the 1978 Coastal Road bus hijacking, in which 35 Israelis were killed, including 13 children. Like every year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) held an event in honor of Dalal Al-Mughrabi, the deputy-commander of the unit that perpetrated the hijacking, at which PA and Fatah officials praised her courage and presented her as a paragon of Palestinian sacrifice.[1] Several days earlier, on the occasion of International Women's Day, PA and Fatah officials praised the contribution of Palestinian women in general to the struggle against Israel and saluted Palestinian female martyrs and prisoners.

The following are excerpts from the statements.

Fatah Officials: We Are Proud Of All The Martyrs Of The Revolution

The event marking the 40^th anniversary of Al-Mughrabi's death, in Ramallah, which included speeches and songs in honor of Al-Mughrabi and other martyrs, was organized by the "National Committee for Marking the 40^th Anniversary of [the Death of] Dalal Al-Mughrabi and Her Comrades" and sponsored by the Yasser Arafat Institute. The Palestinian news agency Wafa and the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported about the event and quoted some of the officials who spoke at it. The chairman of the Yasser Arafat Institute, Fatah Central Committee member Nasser Al-Qudwa, said: "Our people are proud of Dalal [Al-Mughrabi], especially since this woman and sister was an outstanding pioneer of the Palestinian struggle and activity for the sake of the people and the homeland. Dalal will remain in our memory, our hearts and our minds as a proud model and emblem. Even if the national movement [i.e., Fatah] has changed its methods of operation to suit the spirit of the times, it will never make concessions regarding our people's right to use every method allowed by international law and by the international legitimacy. We shall not relinquish the values of our revolution and our history. We shall exalt them and adhere to them, for without them we would have not been here today. We are proud of all the martyrs of the revolution, not only of Dalal and Yasser Arafat... We shall continue our serious efforts, our sacrifice and our resistance."[2]

Announcement of the event sponsored by the Yasser Arafat Institute on the Fatah Facebook page (Facebook.com/officialfateh1965, March 10, 2018) 

The institute's director, Ahmad Sabah, said at the event: "An entire generation in Palestine and in the diaspora is commemorating these martyrs today, first and foremost among them the Bride of Palestine, Dalal Al-Mughrabi." Muna Al-Khalili, chair of the General Union of Palestinian Women, said: "March is the month in which Dalal founded the Palestinian Republic, as the great poet Nizar Qabbani wrote. We meet today, 40 years after the quality resistance operation led by the martyr Dalal Al-Mughrabi, who headed a unit of young martyrdom-seekers and proved that the Palestinian woman is able to undertake the most difficult missions." [3]  

The Al-Hayat Al-Jadida article included the following photos of Dalal Al-Mughrabi and of the aftermath of the attack:[4]

Fatah's official website and Facebook page also commemorated Al-Mughrabi. An article on the website featured a biography of her, with the following photo, captioned "Dalal Al-Mughrabi, the Legend that Will Never Die."[5]

A post on the Facebook page said: "We salute the soul of the eternal martyr Dalal Al-Mughrabi and all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Palestine."[6]

The post on Fatah's Facebook page

The page also posted the photo below, captioned "40 years after the martyrdom of the heroine Dalal Al-Mughrabi."

An article on the Facebook page, by Fatah's secretary in Poland, Khalil Nazal, praised Al-Mughrabi and the operation in which she participated, saying: "It was a quality operation, but it was only one in a long series of operations that legitimized Fatah's existence."[7]

Fatah activist Amal Hamad called on the international community to pressure Israel to return Dalal's remains to her family, and added: "The martyr Al-Mughrabi is an example of a fighting Palestinian woman, and she will remain in the heart of every Palestinian. Her heroism will be passed down from generation to generation... She is a remarkable example of Palestinian sacrifice."[8]

PA And Fatah Officials Glorify Female Martyrs And Prisoners On Occasion Of Women's Day

As mentioned, statements praising women martyrs and prisoners were also uttered on the occasion of International Women's Day (March 8). PLO Executive Committee secretary Saeb Erekat said: "We honor the martyrs of the homeland and of the Palestinian cause, as well as the honorable prisoners and the wounded women, whom we wish a full recovery. The Palestinian woman has made great contributions to the homeland. She is a fighter, a mother, a wife and a sister." In a Women's Day statement, the PA Foreign Ministry saluted the "fighting and steadfast Palestinian women," and said: "The Palestinian woman has played a role in elevating the status of women and in preserving their rights and the rights of the martyred, imprisoned and wounded [Palestinian] women." A statement issued by Fatah on the same occasion said: "In their ongoing and persistence struggle against the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian women have provided the most blatant examples of struggle and sacrifice... The fact that over 15,000 [Palestinian] women have been arrested since 1967, and the fact that 60 women are [currently] incarcerated [in Israel], attest to the role played by the women in the fighting and in the struggle for independence... [Our] martyred, imprisoned and wounded women continue on the path of resistance to the occupation." [9]