Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

The Palestinian lexicon is rich in words and phrases for terrorism.

Words that sound innocent are known by everyone to imply terror — for example, “resistance” and “struggle with all means.” (See below.) The terrorists themselves are referred to as “members of the resistance,” “self-sacrificing fighters,” and — when they get killed — as “Martyrs.”

Using the terms “popular resistance,” “resistance members,” and the use of “all means,” Fatah deputy Mahmoud Al-Aloul encouraged Palestinians to continue with terror to “defend the land”:

Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul: “All the greetings on your [Ramallah residents’] behalf to our beloved prisoners … Also all the greetings to the popular resistance … We say to the world on their behalf and on your behalf that we will defend our land. And we say to the resistance members [i.e., terrorists] — you can use all possible means to defend your land … Yes, this is our position as a Palestinian people.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, May 15, 2024]

Fatah is the movement led by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

Just six weeks after Hamas’ massacre and murder of more than 1,000 Israelis in the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash used one of the “innocent” terms — “battle with all possible means” — to vow that terror will continue:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We are not in a temporary or limited battle against the occupation. Our battle is a battle of freedom, a battle of liberation from the occupation, and we will continue this battle with all possible and efficient means to get rid of the occupation.” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 22, 2023]

A few days earlier, Al-Habbash claimed that Allah legitimizes terror — referred to as “resistance” — because it is “anchored in all the religious and divine laws” as well as in “all the international norms and laws”:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “The continuation of the occupation will lead to a response. And the Palestinian response is the resistance to this occupation, resolve against it, and using all the legal means to get rid of it.”

“This is our legal right that is anchored in all the religious and divine laws and in all the international norms and laws. We will continue this struggle until we get rid of the occupation.” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 17, 2023]

Around the same time, the legislative body of the PLO  T–– the Palestinian National Council — also stressed that Palestinians have a right to use terror according to international law:

“The [Palestinian] National Council said: ‘The occupation’s massacres and its criminal acts against our Palestinian people wherever it is, and especially in the Gaza Strip, will only increase our determination to continue the struggle with all means … We say to the occupation that the massacres that it has committed and is still committing will not dissuade our people from continuing its struggle …

[The PNC] emphasized that resistance, self-defense, and struggle against the occupier are a legitimate right anchored in the international laws, until liberation and independence.” [emphasis added]

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Nov. 14, 2023]

A statement by Al-Habbash from before the October 7 terror attack shows that indeed the current war is just an expression of the ongoing battle against Israel. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has documented for decades that the PA/Fatah endorse, encourage and carry out terror against Israel to “liberate” Palestine.

Al-Habbash emphasized that our people is determined to stand firm and resist the occupation by all means until it leaves, regardless of the sacrifices. [emphasis added]

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 17, 2023]

When Israel killed Hamas terror leader Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri in Lebanon in January 2024, then PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh endorsed him by asking for “mercy” for him and “the Martyrs” — i.e., terrorists, thereby approving and sanctioning terror as a legitimate way to fight Israel:

PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh: “When tyranny is a fact, rebellion against the tyranny is a duty. The Israeli tyranny is a fact, and the struggle [i.e., terror] against this tyranny is a right and duty. Mercy on the Martyrs who fell, and mercy on Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, whom the [Israeli] criminals assassinated in Beirut yesterday [Jan. 2, 2024].”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Jan. 3, 2024]

On the same occasion, Fatah’s Shabiba Student Movement also expressed support for terror, stating they would “continue [the] path” of Hamas terror leader Al-Arouri and that they “salute all forms of resistance against this occupier.”

The terms “peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance” are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest, and at other times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves.

For example, ‎Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean). During this time, hundreds were  wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks.

Abbas said: “We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is.” 

The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

In a statement for the 35th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the State of Palestine, the National Council emphasized: ”

On this lauded day, we say to the occupation that the massacres that it has committed and is still committing will not dissuade our people from continuing its struggle and resistance to the occupation, colonialism, and settler enterprise, with all its forms that are anchored in all the international laws. [emphasis added]

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Nov. 14, 2023]

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.