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Top Fatah Official: PA Security Forces Should Train Terrorists, Not Arrest Them!
People hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the West Bank, Oct. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
In an open expression of support for Palestinian terrorists, a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official urged the PA Security Forces to end collaboration with Israel in the West Bank, and stop arresting “the young resistance fighters” — his term for terrorists.
But Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi didn’t stop there.
He also advocated for “training” the young terrorists — “people full of patriotic enthusiasm to fight” — because they “lack training and experience”:
Tirawi said of the pursuit and arrest of the resistance fighters by the Security Forces that these arrests are a mistake, and added … “Instead, we must contain this situation, contain these young people and train them.”
Tirawi added: ‘We have young people full of patriotic enthusiasm to fight [Israel], but they lack training and experience, and therefore they must receive training.” [emphasis added]
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 19, 2024]
Tirawi also called for “cleaning our house of collaborators,” but didn’t specify whether that meant just arresting them or worse: “If we want to approach resistance (i.e., terror) the right way, we must clean our house of collaborators [with Israel], as we have collaborators everywhere. We must first clean our house and then resist the occupation.”
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has already exposed that the PA Security Forces — which are made up of Fatah members — are heavily involved in terrorism (see our report, Terrorists in Uniform.)
While involved in terror themselves, the PA Security Forces have also been notifying Israel of Hamas terror cells. It could be that Tirawi is now objecting to even notifying Israel or arresting Hamas members, which is a major change in attitude and policy.
PMW has exposed the PA and Fatah’s support, promotion, and glorification of terror against Israel for almost three decades.
Tirawi in particular has been a leading voice for terrorism, and early in the current war in the Gaza Strip, he emphasized that Fatah is actively participating in fighting Israel:
Tawfiq Tirawi: “Who said that Fatah is not participating in the fighting [i.e., in Gaza war against Israel]? Who gave you this information and misled you that we are not participating? …
All the Palestinian organizations in the West Bank are fighting and coordinating among themselves on the ground … How many Martyrs are from Fatah? … Fatah has never relinquished the rifle, and it has never relinquished the struggle.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Facebook page, Nov. 18, 2023]
Even prior to the war, Tirawi claimed in 2021 that it was Hamas that was preventing Fatah from participating in more terrorism against Israel:
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: “We [in Fatah] are protecting the weapons of the resistance more than others are protecting the weapons of the resistance … Who said we [Fatah] are against resistance? We are in favor of resistance in all its forms…
There is popular resistance in the West Bank. There is armed resistance sometimes in the Gaza Strip. In a struggle, popular resistance and armed resistance need to be integrated …
Why is Fatah banned as an organization in the Gaza Strip? Why are you [Hamas] preventing Fatah from being armed in the Gaza Strip? Why are you preventing Fatah from participating in the battles that have taken place in the Gaza Strip …
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the Gaza Strip are small groups … They are under Hamas control, and sometimes Hamas gives them normal freedom of movement, but it doesn’t give them the freedom to fight against Israel, and doesn’t give them the right to fire rockets at Israel as Hamas does in wartime.
In wartime, all the options are open. Why is it [Hamas] preventing them [Fatah] from taking part in many causes?” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Facebook page, Dec. 9, 2021]
PA leaders such as Tirawi expose the misguided nature of international proposals to have Fatah — which the world frames as a “moderate alternative” to Hamas — take political and military control of Gaza following the war.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post Top Fatah Official: PA Security Forces Should Train Terrorists, Not Arrest Them! first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.