(JNi.media) Abbas Zaki, former representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon and a member of Fatah’s central committee told PA TV that “Whoever succeeded in killing, this is a big thing, and whoever [was killed but] succeeded in at least scaring Israeli pedestrians is also a Martyr,” Palestinian Media Watch reported.
“These are pioneers,” Zaki proclaimed on PA TV. “Raed is one of the greatest pioneers… I believe that, Allah willing, something will be built and named after him. When Palestine is liberated, Allah willing, he will have at least an institution named after him, and a statue [made] of him… Everyone who loves Palestine and wants Israel to be scared, should salute [all] the deceased — whether they were Martyrdom-seekers, or Martyrs. Whoever succeeded in killing, this is a big thing, and whoever succeeded in at least scaring [an] Israeli pedestrian is also a Martyr.”
Back in 2011, Zaki gained some notoriety by speaking frankly, saying, “The greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go…. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall – what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.”
In March of 2014, Zaki told PA TV: Those Israelis have no religion and no principles. They are nothing but advanced tools for evil. They talk about the Holocaust and so on. So why are they doing this to us? Therefore, in my view, Allah will gather them so that we can kill them. Every killer is bound to be killed. There is no other option.”
And so, in keeping with his approach to peace and coexistence, on October 31 Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said: “[The Martyrs] are giants and leaders who have written the future of the region. These Martyrs of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] have outshined the political leadership and scared Israel…”
Then he went on to eulogize Raed Jaradat, 22, a terrorist who stabbed and critically wounded an Israeli soldier at the Beit Anoun junction near Hebron on Oct. 26, 2015, and was later shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at the scene.
“Raed is not [just] a Martyr from [the town of] Sa’ir, or the Hebron district. Raed is just like Iyad Al-Awawdeh, [26, who stabbed an Israeli soldier near the entrance to Hebron on Oct. 16, 2015, and was was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier], Alaa Abu Jamal, [who deliberately drove his car into people standing at a bus stop on Malchei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2015, hitting three people, then getting out of his car and stabbing more people, then being killed by a security guard], and Muhannad Halabi, [19, who killed 2 Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennett, and injured Bennett’s wife, Adele, and their 2-year-old son in a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct. 3, 2015, after which he was shot and killed by Israeli security forces].”
Zaki made his last statements during a special broadcast on official PA TV covering the transfer of the bodies of two terrorist stabbers Raed Jaradat and Mahmoud Ghanimat.