Palestinian rioters. Photo: Wikipedia.

The Palestinian people “love death more than life,” a political official in the Palestinian Authority declared in a speech on Sunday, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported.

Palestinian Presidency Secretary-General Al-Tayeb ‘Abd Al-Rahim made this statement during a speech on behalf of PA President Mahmoud Abbas to members of Palestinian security forces, at a ceremony celebrating the group’s second-place finish in the eighth annual international combat-oriented Warrior Competition in Jordan.

Al-Rahim said the win is an honor for “the Palestinian man, who suffers a lack of means and opportunity, but has the will power and is determined to keep the Palestinian flag flying so it it remains in the hearts of peace-loving and liberty-loving peoples.”

Al-Rahim said Israel “wagered that we would forget our cause and that, as the generations passed, we would dissolve into the societies around us… However, the occupation was the first to realize that each new generation was more determined and had a stronger desire to achieve the goals that the martyrs had died for in the distant and the near past and [are still dying for] in the present.”

He accused Israel of murdering innocent Palestinians, saying, “Our blood is still being spilled…by the gangs of settlers and the extremist soldiers of the occupation, some of whom have acknowledged that they do not act according to moral standards” — a veiled reference to Israeli groups such as Breaking the Silence, which publishes anonymous testimonies of former Israeli soldiers accusing the government and army of crimes against the Palestinian people.

Al-Rahim called on Palestinians to “always cling to hope…not grow soft or deviate towards personal interests for the sake of dubious goals such as establishing a state or an emirate in Gaza, or establishing a state with temporary borders in the West Bank.” Israel, an “occupier,” will fail, he said, and the Palestinians “must always tirelessly stick to our truth…that will lead us to our rights and to the realization of our righteous and legitimate goals.”

“Every achievement is a step on the road to establishing an independent state and strengthens our belief that the future is ours, that tyrants will disappear, and that the aggressors will end up in the trash bin of history,” he said.

According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since September 13, 2015, the eve of the Jewish New Year, 452 people, including four Palestinians, were injured and 34 killed in 278 attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists across Israel.