But…but…deep down, they really, really want peace! “Senior Fatah officials joined Fatah youth movement in ‘popular inauguration’ ceremony for terrorist square,” by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, March 14 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Although world pressure forced the Palestinian Authority to cancel the official ceremonies to name a square after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi last week, several senior Fatah officials participated in a “popular inauguration” organized by Fatah’s youth movement. According to the PA, the square is now named after Mughrabi and an official ceremony, including placing a monument, will take place at a later date. Thursday’s “popular inauguration” was on the 32nd anniversary of “the Coastal Road Massacre” of 1978, in which 37 were murdered in a bus hijacking.
Among the senior Fatah officials participating in the popular inauguration were Tawfiq Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee and former head of the PA Police in the West Bank, and Jamal Huweil, a Fatah member of Palestinian Parliament from Fatah.
Poster Text: “On the anniversary of the Coastal Road Operation we renew our commitment and our oath that we uphold the charge and that we will not stray from the path of the Shahids – Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi Square, Shabiba students’ movement / Palestine] [Al-Quds, March 12, 2010]
Palestinian Media Watch first reported in January that the square was to be named for Mughrabi, After the initial story, PMW published five follow-up bulletins, including one reporting that the day chosen by the PA for the naming ceremony was to be March 11, the anniversary of the terror attack. Israeli news reported that PM Netanyahu asked George Mitchell and then Vice President Biden to put pressure on the PA to cancel the event. On March 10, the PA cancelled the official ceremony.
Trying to minimize the impact of world pressure on the PA, Adnan Al-Dumeiri, spokesman for the PA Security Apparatus, announced at the “popular inauguration” that the official inauguration was postponed “due to technical reasons and not because of Israel’s request.”…
Of course!