The official Palestinian Authority daily has praised and glorified the terrorist who murdered three civilians and
seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush. The terrorist was praised for entering
"the history of the Intifada as having carried out the most successful military
action, alone... he is the hero of the Intifada... [doing] what tens of brigades
and platoons, and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do."
The killer, Thaer Hamed, hid on a hill and shot
and killed the seven Israeli soldiers, one after the other, as they emerged from
a building below. He also shot and killed an Israeli paramedic and two civilians
in the area.
The article, in the official newspaper of
Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, also praises the Hamas kidnapping of Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit as "a military action that was successful by any military
yardstick." It says that the sniper Hamed is "made of the same stuff as those
who carried out the capture of Shalit."
Glorifying terrorists is a regular
practice in Palestinian society, by both the Fatah and Hamas
leadership. The PA regularly honors terrorists as role models for
children and youth by naming schools, summer camps and athletic
facilities after some of the most heinous killers.
Hafez Barghouti, editor of PA daily Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida, wrote the yesterday's article glorifying the killings, inflating the number
of his victims and praising Hamed. He called on Palestinians to view Hamed as a
top priority for release in any future prisoner exchange.
The following is the text from the official PA daily,
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, by editor-in-chief, Hafez Barghouti:
There is still some chance to carry out a deal
[to free jailed Palestinians], since the present [Israeli] government wants
last-minute achievements to bolster the Kadima and Labor parties... But what pains
us is that at the top of the list of senior prisoners whose liberty is being
sought, one non-political name is missing, that of the young sniper Thaer Hamed,
who carried out the operation at Wadi Al-Haramiyye... [he] belonged to no
faction when he carried out his action... which killed nine [Israeli] soldiers
and three settlers. [Actual figure was seven soldiers and three civilians - Ed.]...
This young man should be our top priority, since he
entered the history of the Intifada as having carried out the most successful
military action, alone...
Thaer Hamed deserves freedom because he is the hero
of the Intifada, and he is the only Palestinian resistance fighter who belongs
to his people and to his land, spurning the factions, for had he been
factional, he would not have succeeded in his action. He acted alone, going out
to play solo on the M-1 [carbine], and did what tens of brigades and platoons,
and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do.
He is made of the same stuff as those who carried out
the capture of Shalit, a military action that was successful by any military
yardstick, and now he [Thaer Hamed] should be freed.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]