Mahmoud Abbas: Terrorists “were killed, imprisoned, or wounded…for the sake of a national interest, and not for personal reasons.”
By JNS
As Israel mourned its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, top Palestinian Authority officials explained that the PA is “obligated” to pay salaries to 6,000 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, and to the families of suicide bombers and other so-called “martyrs,” because they were “soldiers” who had been “sent” by the PA and acted out of “national interest, and not for personal reasons.” Most significantly, they “received orders” from the Authority.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina admitted: “It is impossible to send a soldier to war and then not take care of his family.”
Speaking about the P.A.’s difficult financial situation, Rudeina told Israel’s Kan TV on April 16 that “Israel needs to understand this. It is impossible to send a soldier to war and then not take care of his family. We are talking about someone who acts on our behalf and receives orders from us.”
Similarly, Abbas himself stressed the PA’s “obligation” to pay terrorists and their families, calling them “the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded.”
Speaking at the Arab League conference in Cairo in April, Abbas said: “We have been paying salaries to the families of the martyrs, to the prisoners, and to the wounded since 1965. This is because they were killed, imprisoned, or wounded because of a national interest and for the sake of a national interest, and not for personal reasons. It is our obligation to take care of their relatives,” he said, according to official PA television.
These two statements echo Abbas’ 2005 demand that Israel release all prisoners because the P.A. “ordered them to do” what they did.
Abbas said at the time: “I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we ordered them to do, we – the [Palestinian] Authority. They should not be punished while we sit at one table negotiating,” he argued.
Discussing the term “blood-stained hands,” Abbas said: “This is war. One [i.e., Israel] ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance [a euphemism for terrorism]. He is a fighter just like any other fighter,” he declared in comments aired by official P.A. television.
Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch NGO, said: “The PA has finally admitted what PMW has claimed for years – that due to the P.A.’s overall promotion of terrorism and rewarding of terrorism, the PA recognizes that every Palestinian who commits an act of terrorism against Israelis and Jews is acting under the umbrella of the PA.
“This is an important and long-overdue admission of guilt by Abbas and the PA. Although seen by the international community as an honest peace partner, the PA has reiterated its responsibility for all Palestinian terrorism. We call on the international community to hold the PA and its leaders accountable for their actions.”