The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has pointed to the recent honoring of a Jew-killing terrorist, Abdullah Barghouti, by Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah/Palestinian Authority (PA) as affording the latest example of the PA continuing to glorify and promote terrorism and the murder of Jews. Abdullah Barghouti, a bomb-maker and explosives expert, prepared and provided the bombs that were used in suicide bombings that claimed the lives of 67 Israeli men, women and children. The PA recently honored Barghouti on the Facebook page of the Mobilization and Organization Commission of Fatah, where he was honored as a “brave prisoner” and extolled for his “self-sacrificing activity” and “martyrdom-seeking operations” – standard PA parlance for suicide terrorism. Fatah, which is headed by PA president Abbas, also listed proudly five of the major Palestinian terrorist bombings, which claimed the lives of 61 Israelis, for which Barghouti was responsible.
Barghouti was captured by Israel and given 67 life sentences for preparing explosives for terror attacks in which 67 people were murdered: Sbarro restaurant (15 killed, Aug. 9, 2001), Sheffield Club (15 killed, May 7, 2002), Moment Café (11 killed, March 9, 2002), triple attack at Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall (11 killed, Dec. 1, 2001), Hebrew University (9 killed, July 1, 2002), and Bus 4 in Tel Aviv (6 killed, Sept. 19, 2002) (‘Fatah honors arch-terrorist by proudly listing his 61 murders,’ Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) bulletin, July 25, 2013).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is clear from this example alone that the PA is a promoter of anti-Israel terrorism, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, not a partner in peace for Israel.
“It is not possible for Israel to reach peace with the PA if it honors and lionizes people who have participated in the deliberate murder of Israeli men, women and children, rather than arrest such terrorists and condemn their vile deeds.
“The record is clear – the PA and its official organs, all of which remain under the control of the allegedly moderate, peace-seeking Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah terror organization that he co-founded with Yasser Arafat – broadcast blatant hatred and incitement.
“Rather than pursuing the futile and counter-productive path of praising and funding a terror regime, the Obama Administration should be making it clear that it will neither deal with nor fund the PA until and unless it finally fulfills its 19-year-old signed commitments under the Oslo agreements and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan to jail terrorists, confiscate their weaponry, and end the incitement to hatred and murder in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools, and youth camps that feed terror.”