Wednesday, January 2, 2013

On Facebook, Fatah incites terror against Israel

(Israel Hayom) The Fatah Party has taken the opportunity of its 48th anniversary to broadcast messages on its Facebook page that incite hatred, glorify terrorism and envision a world without the State of Israel.

Such messages come despite President Shimon Peres declaring earlier this week that "Israel will have no better partner with whom to secure a peace agreement" than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also chairs Fatah.

Arab media watchdog Palestinian Media Watch - headed by Itamar Marcus - has examined how Fatah has chosen to celebrate its 48th anniversary, which the Palestinian party has nicknamed "Breakthrough Day."

The institute discovered a plethora web pages related to Fatah's official media and within the PA's educational system that displayed messages of incitement and accusations against Jews.

Fatah glorified terrorism as acts of heroism on its Facebook page, PMW reported. The Palestinian party - which is the largest faction in the PA - displayed a map on the web page that showed a world without the State of Israel, despite statements from Abbas and other Fatah officials that their party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization have both recognized the Jewish state since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The social media web page is replete with images of children brandishing weapons against the backdrop of slogans attesting to the ongoing armed struggle against Israel. "Through conquering they stole our land," web designers wrote against the backdrop of a map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories labeled together as "Palestine," with no semblance of Israel's borders.

In addition, Fatah has celebrated Dalal Mughrabi - a terrorist and former Fatah member who helped massacre 37 Israeli citizens on a coastal bus attack in 1978 - as a national hero through its online publications and party mouthpieces in the West Bank. Children carrying assault rifles are shown singing songs of exaltation to Mughrabi, while promising that this will be the year Palestinians breach the Temple Mount and other Palestinian holy lands held by the Zionist regime. According to these children, "what was taken through force, will be returned through force."