The Israeli Defense Forces destroyed – on Friday – a memorial erected in the Palestinian Authority town of Jenin to Khalid Nazzal, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
The memorial destroyed before dawn on Friday by the IDF was erected last month by the Palestinian Authority to honor the leader of the bloodthirsty terrorists who slaughtered the children in Ma’alot, additionally renaming a public square in Nazzal’s honor as well.
But Palestinian Authority activists set up a new memorial stone at the same site on the next day, Saturday, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.
The new memorial stone reads: “Martyr’s Square / Khalid Nazzal / We must guard the flowers of the martyrs,” according to the translation published by Ma’an.
Moreover, an additional memorial for Nazzal was erected in the Palestinian Authority capital city of Ramallah, “as a challenge to Israeli authorities.”
The IDF has informed the Palestinian Authority that it will again raid the site to remove the new stone as well, according to Ma’an.
Three members of the DFLP sneaked into Israel from Lebanon and took 115 Jews hostage in the small town of Ma’alot in 1974, most of them visiting high school students from nearby Tzfat who were at the local elementary school as part of a field trip.
The terrorists demanded the release of 23 of their brethren from Israeli prisons and said they would kill their hostages if their demands were not met.
Two days later, the elite Golani Brigade stormed the school in an attempt to free the hostages.
Of the 115 captives, 22 of the 25 hostages who died were children; 68 others were wounded in the operation.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) NGO has reported that participants in the original dedication ceremony were told by Jenin’s deputy mayor, Mahmoud Abu Mwais, “Our leadership and our people will continue on the path of the martyrs.”
As happens to many terrorists, Nazzal was later killed, in 1986, although his executioners have never been identified. Residents in the Palestinian Authority have pointed the finger at Israel although the Jerusalem government has never commented on the incident.