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Amid Hostage Murders and West Bank Terror Attacks, PA Urges ‘Resistance … in All Forms, By All Means’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office
Over the weekend, three Israelis were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a drive-by shooting near Hebron. On Friday, Palestinian terrorists attempted two car bomb attacks in Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem. Both cars exploded prematurely after the terrorists were confronted, and then killed, by Israeli security forces. On Monday, another car bombing was attempted by terrorists and was discovered before it could be detonated next to an Israeli vehicle.
Only last Wednesday, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor — Mahmoud Al-Habbash — encouraged Palestinians to do exactly what the terrorists promptly did — kill Jews.
After falsely accusing Israel of attempting to empty both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Palestinians, he instructed Palestinians that “the only option” is to use “all forms and means” of “resistance” — a well-known Palestinian euphemism for the use of terror:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “They [i.e. Israel] want to take control of as much territory with as few [Palestinian] residents as possible. The same reason Israel is using for the aggression against the Gaza Strip, it is also using for the aggression against the West Bank …
Our only option is the resistance, resisting these Israeli attempts in all forms, by all means. Anything that could thwart this Israeli plot is our legal right.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug. 28, 2024]
Al-Habbash’s call for terror joins numerous other calls for terror and “intifada” by top PA and Fatah officials, as Palestinian Media Watch has repeatedly exposed.
Al-Habbash often stresses that the Palestinians are a “people of Jihad” — “holy war” — as he did here when he emphasized that “Palestine is giving its blood abundantly for your sake, nation of Islam”:
Al-Habbash: “Our religion is the religion of tolerance and the religion of human brotherhood. But we are also the people of Jihad and the people of force against those who deserve it from us and against those who want to harm our dignity, desecrate our holy sites, or deprive our rights…
Palestine is giving its blood abundantly for your sake, nation of Islam. [emphasis added]
Al-Habbash, Facebook page, July 30, 2024]
Al-Habbash also called for “holy war” all over Israel, teaching that “the land of Palestine is a land of … Jihad until Judgement Day.”
He promises Israel will be replaced by “Palestine,” saying “Palestine will return and be liberated, sooner or later.”
Statements such as these may have inspired the Palestinian suicide bomber from Nablus who carried out a car bombing in Tel Aviv two weeks ago on Aug. 18, 2024:
Al-Habbash: “Your best Jihad is Ribat [i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic], and your best Ribat is Ashkelon.
Where is Ashkelon? Ashkelon is a city in Palestine [sic., an Israeli coastal city], and the land of Palestine is a land of Ribat and Jihad until Judgement Day. His [Prophet Muhammad’s] dear followers came while carrying out Jihad for Allah to Palestine and Greater Syria, and they liberated it from the Byzantine occupation. Saladin liberated it from the Crusader occupation. And today it will be liberated [again], Allah willing. Palestine will return and be liberated, sooner or later.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug. 9, 2024]
Al-Habbash: ‘‘’Your best Jihad is Ribat, and your best Ribat is in Ashkelon. Where is Ashkelon? It’s the coast of Palestine. These Palestinian coastal cities, which were built by the Palestinians, this land here, it was theirs thousands of years ago, even before our lord Abraham came.This land belonged to the Palestinians, and it still belongs to the Palestinians, and it will belong to the Palestinians.
And the final picture — I see it like I’m seeing you — is Palestinian par excellence. This is the promise of Prophet [Muhammad], and this is the promise of Allah. The Gaza Strip today is the sister of Ashkelon … No one has a connection to the Al-Buraq Wall [i.e., the Western Wall] except for the Muslims, absolutely! Our lord Solomon was not here, his kingdom was not even here. And even if it was here, Solomon is a Muslim, on the path of Muhammad and Abraham [the Muslim].” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV Live, Feb.9, 2024]
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Amid Hostage Murders and West Bank Terror Attacks, PA Urges ‘Resistance … in All Forms, By All Means’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.