MEMRI – The Middle East Media Research Institute Special Dispatch, March 17, 2010.
Popular Ceremony Commemorating Dalal Al-Mughrabi, Attended By Fatah
Members
On March 11, 2010, a ceremony commemorating Dalal Al-Mughrabi,
second-in-command of the March 11, 1978 terrorist attack on a bus on Israel’s
Coastal Road, was held at a square near the National Guidance headquarters in
the city of Al-Bireh.
Three months earlier, the Ramallah governor had announced that the ceremony
would be an official Palestinian Authority event; the announcement came during
a PA political and national guidance ceremony sponsored by PA President
Mahmoud Abbas.[1]
Shortly before the Al-Mughrabi ceremony was to be held, however, the PA
announced that it was being postponed for “technical reasons.” Al-Bireh
Municipality representatives, when asked why, claimed that it was because
Israel had sent a warning to the PA, calling upon it to refrain from holding the
ceremony. The ceremony ultimately took place, but on an informal, “popular”
basis, with senior Fatah officials – who came ostensibly as representatives of
the people – in attendance.
At the appointed time, these officials, together with dozens of young people
carrying Al-Mughrabi’s photograph, converged on the square. Ramallah Fatah
member Mustapha Abu Rabi’ said that the ceremony was “the popular
inauguration of the place named for Dalal Al-Mughrabi, and popular activity
needs permission from no one.”
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Al-Tirawi said: “We will not give in to
threats. We are here today to mark our history and our struggle, by naming this
square after Al-Mughrabi.”[2]
On the day of the ceremony, Fatah issued an announcement expressing its
pride in Al-Mughrabi as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, and stating that
the PA, Fatah, and the Palestinian people had the right to mark the day of her
martyrdom in a manner befitting a heroine and to perpetuate her name.[3]
Even though the PA had announced the “postponement” of the ceremony, on
March 11 PA TV broadcast a program on the 32nd anniversary of the attack
commemorating Dalal Al-Mughrabi and interviewing her sister, who urged
people to gather at the square. The program also presented the legacy of Dalal
Al-Mughrabi, urging her “weapon-bearing brothers” to “aim guns – all
guns – at the Zionist enemy.”
In the days following the ceremony, the PA press attacked Israel’s demand that
the ceremony be cancelled, and praised the commemoration.
Israeli Arab websites harshly criticized both Israel and the PA’s handling of the
affair, and stressed that Al-Mughrabi was a heroic Palestinian symbol.
Al-Mughrabi’s Sister Calls On PA TV to Attend the Ceremony
On the day of the ceremony, PA TV broadcast a show commemorating Dalal
Al-Mughrabi and hosting her sister Rashida.
Rashida said: “This is a day of pride and glory
for our Palestinian people, and a painful day for the Zionists, who consider it a bloody day…
Dalal is a source of pride for Palestinian women. We have the right to
commemorate her. The Israelis are demanding that we refrain from
commemorating Dalal. There are many high-school students and members of
the Fatah youth movement who insist upon commemorating Dalal today. They
will gather today at 1 pm at the square to be named after Dalal. God willing, we
will see you there, in order to show our pride in our fighting Palestinian women
and in Dalal Maghrabi.”
Al-Mughrabi’s Legacy: “I Will Continue Along This Path, No Matter How Much
Effort, Sacrifice, and Blood It Costs Me”
The show also broadcast what was presented as the legacy of Dalal
Al-Mughrabi, recited against a backdrop featuring a photo of Al-Mughrabi as a
young woman, a handwritten letter, and pictures of Al-Mughrabi in fatigues and
holding a gun: “I have undertaken a pledge to ignite the revolution, and to
accomplish the goals of my people. I set out on the path by pledging to Allah,
to the homeland, and the martyrs that I would be as steadfast as could be, on
this path, which is full of thorns, obstacles, and death. I will continue along this
path, no matter how much effort, sacrifice, and blood it costs me.
“I will not hesitate or back down – as God is my witness. My legacy to you all,
my weapon-bearing brothers, is to freeze all secondary clashes and to escalate
our primary clash with the Zionist enemy. Aim your guns – all your guns – at the
Zionist enemy. The independence of Palestinian decision-making is guarded by
the weapons of the revolutionaries.
“Have the courage to continue the struggle, all my brothers, wherever you may
be. Continue along the path we follow. My comrades, when a fighter makes a
sacrifice, he does not care whether he witnesses the moment of victory
himself. I will witness it through the eyes of my comrades. Continue, protect
this legacy, liberate our occupied homeland in its entirety, and do not
compromise on a single inch of Arab land. Do not recognize the Zionist enemy,
until all our national land is liberated…”
Al-Ayyam Columnist: Dalal is a Courageous Fighter
The PA daily Al-Ayyam published an article by Muhannad Abd Al-Hamid, who
wrote: “During the preparations for the dedication of Dalal Al-Mughrabi Square,
in an Al-Bireh neighborhood, the Israeli occupation authorities threatened to
destroy the and to punish those responsible if they
continued with the project… The PA quietly acquiesced to the
threat and canceled the ceremony.
“The choice of Dalal Al-Mughrabi as a symbol and to honor her is a
courageous historic step, with meaningful for the Palestinians.
“Dalal Al-Mughrabi is a young freedom fighter, who set out with the premise
that freedom is created by the free. The free young woman Dalal joined the
revolution with a status equal to that of her fighting brothers and comrades.
Furthermore, she was outstanding in her courageous and responsible leadership
of the fedayii group. As a fighter, she was a match for the Israeli soldiers. Dalal
is the symbol of our national and social liberation and a symbol of equality
between the sexes…
“She and her group were not responsible for the deaths of Israeli civilians. It is
the Israeli arrogance – which tries to impose its superiority and which rejects
any compromise – that is responsible for the deaths of civilians and for the
martyrdom of all the members of the fedayii group led by Dalal Al-Mughrabi. An
agreement could have been reached that would have prevented the bloodshed
and stopped the group after it ran out of ammunition. But Israel rejected any
solution but the solution that unleashed the arrogance of power.
“Israel does not recognize any form of the resistance to which the Palestinian
people turns. It does not recognize the courageous fighter Dalal Al-Mughrabi, or
Thaer, the resistance fighter who refused to fire on the settler woman
and her children at Wadi Al-Haramiya,[4] firing instead on soldiers alone.
does not recognize children who throw balloons with the Palestinian flag
from the walls of Jerusalem, and will not tolerate a youth
march in the streets that marks Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture.
“The only symbol by the occupation state – which opposes all
other symbols – is a dead Palestinian, a corrupt Palestinian, or a Palestinian who
has surrendered… Ultimately, the adoption of symbols and their
commemoration does not require the permission of the occupiers.”[5]
Another Al-Ayyam Columnist: Were Dalal to Return to Life, She Would Warn Us
Not to Forget
Also in the paper, Rajaa Rantisi wrote, in a column titled “Where is the Dalal
Al-Mughrabi Within Us?”: “Were Dalal Al-Mughrabi to return to life now, she
would be surprised by the cold fire in our hearth and the utter depth of our
tragedy. Were she to return to life, she would be shocked that her face had
disappeared from the mirrors and perfumes of young women.
“Were she to return to life, she certainly would not be pleased that we
had bid farewell to her so soon, even before we had gathered the clumps of soil
from between her fingers. Were she to return to life, she would shout to our
faces – especially to our faces, the faces of the Palestinian women – What’s the
matter with you?! Most of you have become lifeless mannequins. Where are
you? I have become a curse to threaten the false purity to which you cling!
“Were Dalal to return to life, she would tell us that her hangman still
fearfully seeks her; despite its efforts to expunge her from our books and from
our memory, it doubts the efficacy of these efforts. She would tell us that if we
submit to her hangman’s demands and come to terms with her death, we will
never again be able to raise a hand against anyone who wants to swallow us
up, and we will never again have, like other people, a beautiful to sing of.”[6]
PA Daily Columnist: Can the Palestinian People and Its Leadership Possibly
Renounce Its Fighting Heroes?
In the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida PA daily, columnist ‘Adel Abd Al-Rahman wrote:
“Does Israel, which perpetrates injustice and plunders the Arab and Palestinian
lands, have the right to name squares and streets in the Palestinian territories
after its war criminal and murderous leaders – whereas the Palestinian people
cannot name any part of what remains from the Palestinian lands after its own
martyrs, leaders, heroes, intellectuals, and artists… Can the Palestinian people
and its legitimate leadership possibly renounce the leaders of our contemporary
revolution and its fighting heroes, who sacrificed the most precious thing of all
in order to attain national goals?”[7]
Article on Israeli Arab Website: Dalal Is the Symbol of Our Might
In another article, posted on the Arab Israeli website www.arabs48.com and
published in the Palestinian Al-Quds daily, PFLP activist Rasam ‘Abidat wrote: “…If all our
people were asked about their position vis-A-vis the leader and martyr Dalal
Al-Mughrabi, and vis-A-vis Israel’s blatant interference and its threats to destroy any monument honoring her in Ramallah,
they would say unanimously that there is none like , that she is the
symbol of our might, our resistance, and our revolution, and that she is the
expression of our people’s rejection of the occupation. She would never have
drawn her weapon and specialized in fighting had she not been driven out –
millions of Palestinian refugees – from the land of her birth, to
which she was forbidden to return.
“I am fully convinced that our Palestinian people, of all political affiliations –
even those who belong to the Authority – would say: May this
authority go to hell if it to renounce our martyrs and prisoners, or
relinquish our values and honor.
“These fighters are the shapers of our history and our revolution; they are the
symbol of our struggle – and we follow in their footsteps.”[8]
Editor of Newspaper of the Islamic Movement in Israel: The “Dayton” Authority
Has Surrendered
Hamed Aghbaria, editor of the newspaper of the Islamic Movement’s northern
branch, Sawt Al-Haqq Wal-Huriyya, wrote on the Arab Israeli website
www.pls48.net: “…A spoiled child does not think too much about how to use
satanic means to make those around him cater to his whims. All he needs to do
is demand what he wants, showing that he is upset by bursting into tears,
wailing, and pounding his fists, saying that they are taking things away from
him, that no one loves him, and that they are angering and upsetting him. , whoever spoils him will hasten to quiet him, complying with all his
demented caprices. This is Netanyahu’s situation; he is ordering the Dayton
Authority in Ramallah to cancel the Al-Mughrabi
Square dedication ceremony.
“We are not surprised – we do not raise an eyebrow at the Dayton Authority’s
speedy compliance with this demand. Since Oslo – and perhaps even before –
there has been no reason to wonder… these names are eternal, because the Palestinian people and its cause are
eternal, regardless of whether there are squares or not.”[9]
Notes
[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), December 11, 2009.
[2] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), March 12, 2010.
[3] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA) and Al-Safir (Lebanon), March 11, 2010.
[4] The reference is to Thaer Hammad, who carried out an attack on an Israeli
military checkpoint at Wadi Al-Haramiya on February 3, 2002, in which 10
Israeli soldiers were killed.
[5] Al-Ayyam (PA), March 16, 2010.
[6] Al-Ayyam (PA), March 16, 2010.
[7] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), January 14, 2010.
[8] www.arab48.com, March 14, 2010.
[9] www.pls48.net, March 12, 2010.
