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Senior Palestinian Leader Urges People to Use Precise Systematic Terror Plan– Like the First Intifada
Palestinian Olympic Committee President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Football Association, holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Jibril Rajoub yearns for the good old days of united Fatah-Hamas terror — like during the First Intifada — when more than 200 Israelis were murdered from 1987-1993.
Rajoub said that back then, there was proper organization and scheduling, even for a month ahead of time when “every civilian knew his role”:
The first Intifada was characterized by tight organization, the timing of daily activities, and the provision of a framework for all sectors of society. There were clear plans for 10 days, 20 days, and even a full month, during which every civilian knew his role. This planning helped the continuity of the popular movement and created a balance with the armed occupying power [i.e., Israel].”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
Rajoub hopes that Palestinians will reinstitute such a golden age of organized violence and terror, saying that such an achievement is not out of reach:
Today, in the shadow of various methods of oppression, the same approach is still possible if the [Palestinian] factions will agree on a comprehensive national plan and clear plans … When the coordination between the factions will return and a clear plan of action will be provided to the people, we will be able to replicate the model of comprehensive popular resistance that gained international support and embarrassed the occupation [i.e., Israel] in the face of global public opinion…”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
The Palestinian term “popular resistance” refers to individuals who murder Israelis using knives, rocks, Molotov cocktails, car rammings, and even shootings — as long as those responsible are not organized units. Hence the word “popular.”
So what must be done, in Rajoub’s view, to get to that point?
According to him, Palestinians must focus on what unites them — violence against Israel:
To revive this [first Intifada] model, the forces must agree on a common basis and focus on what unites and not what separates, and then the public will unify, and the leadership will restore the confidence of the street…
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
Rajoub’s most important message regarding what the new generation can learn from the First Intifada is that national unity can be achieved under figures such as arch-terrorists Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, and Abu Iyad:
The central message is the need to restore the national unity and end the rift. In the first Intifada, the PLO led by [then PLO leader] Yasser Arafat, along with figures like [Khalil Al-Wazir] ‘Abu Jihad’ [i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 125], [Salah Khalaf] ‘Abu Iyad’ [i.e., head of the Black September terror organization], and others, embodied the peak of cohesion and coordination with the popular will.”
[Palestinian daily Al-Quds, December 11, 2024]
The First Intifada used terrorism led by Arafat and other terror leaders from overseas.
Nevertheless, according to this senior Palestinian leader, it still “gained international support and embarrassed the occupation (i.e., Israel) in the face of global public opinion” because it successfully duped world leaders into believing that it was just a “popular” uprising rather than an organized campaign.
Rajoub now calls on Palestinians to unite using the same tactics. As opposed to perpetrating attacks like that of October 7, 2023, which was condemned internationally as organized terror, Rajoub believes Palestinians should continue murdering Israelis in disorganized terror to make it seem like it is “popular,” i.e., not being directed by the leadership.
And these are the people that many in the Western world keep funding and want to put in charge of Gaza.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post Senior Palestinian Leader Urges People to Use Precise Systematic Terror Plan– Like the First Intifada 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.