Fatah Leaders Call for End of Israel
Jerusalem, June 2 - “Fatah has never recognized Israel’s right to exist and will never do so,” according to Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of the Fatah Central Committee who is closely associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Ahmad made the comment during an interview with the Egyptian paper Al-Masry Al-Youm, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Munir al-Maqdah, Fatah’s representative in Lebanon and PLO official, is said to be organizing marches on Israel’s border on Sunday, the 44th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel defended itself from its Arab neighbors and gained control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Events on Sunday may be similar to the mass demonstrations and riots that erupted along Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and around Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem on May 15. Arabs refer to that date as Naqba Day, or the catastrophe that they saw was the creation of the State of Israel.
Ahmed, who is also head of the Fatah negotiating team with Hamas, said PA security forces in the West Bank were arresting Hamas supporters to protect them from being targeted by the IDF.
Funded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and Syria, al-Maqdah is extremely anti-Western and maintains links to al-Qaeda affiliated groups.
In an interview in 2009, Maqdah said Fatah, the political party of Abbas, has not abandoned armed struggle:
“So far, Fatah has not revoked its platform or its charter, which talk about the liberation of Palestine in its entirety…Fatah adheres to the option of armed struggle,” said Maqdah.
When asked about Palestinian weapons in Lebanon, al-Maqdah said they were passed on to Hezbollah, the “Lebanese resistance.” Weapons included “light and heavy weaponry,” such as RPGs, Kalashnikovs, machine guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, rockets, mortars, cannons, including some 1,000 missiles, that were enough “for an entire army.”
“When I joined Fatah, the oath we took was to liberate Palestine from the River to the Sea,” said Maqdah.
“Why should this be changed?” he asked, and then predicted the end of the Jewish presence in “Palestine” will end and that the Jews will go to “hell” with Allah’s help.
After the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement, Israel has been concerned about the increase in attacks against civilians and the rise in violence. In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced concern that Egypt is losing control of the growing terror groups in Sinai.