TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party gave a fully furnished apartment to the family of the terrorist responsible for the murder of an Israeli rabbi last month, saying it was “fulfilling the national duty towards the families of martyrs.”
According to a report published earlier this week by the Palestinian official news agency Wafa, the Fatah movement in the Jenin region gave the apartment to the family of the “martyr” Ahmad Nassar Jarrar, the 22-year-old commander of a Hamas cell who murdered father of six Rabbi Raziel Shevach in January in the West Bank.
“Fatah Jenin secretary Nour Al-Din Abu Al-Rab told Wafa that the donation of the apartment to the Jarrar family was aimed at underlining that the Fatah movement was fulfilling the national duty towards the families of the martyrs whose homes were razed by the Israeli occupation,” the report, which was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), said.
The report noted Fatah secretary Abu Al-Rab’s praise of “all those who had contributed to this national task,” who, he said, proved “our people is united and consolidated and does not forget its martyrs who gave their lives for Palestine.”
“The martyr’s mother, on her part, praised Fatah for providing her family with an apartment after the occupation destroyed their home,” the Wafa report said.
On its official Facebook page, Fatah also posted a video showing Jarrar’s mother thanking the party for supporting her family.
MEMRI noted the praise lavished on Jarrar by Fatah, the PA and PA-affiliated media.
On a recent visit to the Tulkarm branch of the National Gathering of Palestinian Martyrs’ Families with PA security officials, the town’s governor Issam Abu Bakr emphasized “the tremendous sacrifice by our martyrs for freedom and independence on the way to establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Bakr further noted the importance of assisting the families of the martyrs in “appreciation for their sacrifice.”
The PA also slammed an Israeli bill which proposes the deduction of funds paid out to terrorists and their families from Palestinian taxes. The Palestinian Information Office described the legislation as “terrorism,” and added: “The Palestinian people will not abandon its martyrs and prisoners, who sacrificed their lives and their youth in resistance to the occupation.”
PA Prisoners Authority chairman Issa Qaraqe said: “We oppose depicting the imprisoned fighters and the martyrs as terrorists and criminals,” and called the bill “a campaign of incitement and hostility against the prisoners and the families of the martyrs.”