History repeats itself, the figures of the wanted Palestinian terrorists in the first intifada in 1988 and the second intifada in 2000 returns to the Palestinian consciousness and the terrorists who carry out attacks against Israeli targets become the symbols of the Palestinian struggle and a model of imitation and admiration.
Immediately after Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip in May 2021, Muhammad Daf, the chief of staff of the military arm of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, became a symbol of the Palestinians in the territories after he launched a large barrage of missiles towards Jerusalem following the events on the Temple Mount and in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, however , in recent months, following the wave of terrorism sweeping the West Bank, new national symbols have emerged that have become objects of imitation and admiration on the Palestinian street.
The wanted terrorists, members of the younger generation in their 20s, are the new Palestinian heroes, the street supports them, thousands participate in demonstrations in support of them and also come to the funerals of those killed by the IDF.
The terrorists members of the “Lion’s Den” group in Nablus are given special respect in the Palestinian street, when one of them, Mouseb Ishtayeh, was arrested on September 19 by the PA security forces in Nablus, violent clashes broke out between thousands of residents and the PA security forces demanding his release , in the exchange of fire between the demonstrators and the security personnel of the .Palestinian Authority, a resident of Nablus was killed and 3 others were injured
The new wave of terrorism in the West Bank strengthened the status of the wanted terrorists on the Palestinian street because of their willingness to sacrifice their lives and their courage in the war against IDF soldiers, all for the Palestinian national goal of liberation from the Israeli occupation.
The attempts of PA officials to demonize the wanted terrorists are met with widespread popular opposition, these days the call is getting stronger on the Palestinian street to fire Nablus Governor Ibrahim Ramadan from his post.
The governor was interviewed on a local radio station in the city of Nablus and called the mothers of the terrorists: “perverts who send their sons to their deaths to become in order to become fighters”.
The new symbols of resistance
In the demonstrations in the West Bank and on social networks, one can see several new Palestinian figures who have become the new icons of the Palestinian struggle against Israel and who are sharply criticizing the PA.
The most prominent figure today is the figure of Fathi Hazem from Jenin refugee camp.
Fathi Hazem’s photo and his words against Israel are circulated in all Palestinian media and social networks.
Fathi Hazem is the father of the terrorist Raed Hazem who carried out the bloody attack on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in April of this year, in which three Israelis were murdered and six others were injured. The terrorist was located the day after the attack when hiding in a mosque in Jaffa and killed by the Shin Bet.
Abdel Rahman, the second son of Fathi Hazem, became a wanted terrorist following the attack carried out by his brother in Tel Aviv and began to carry out shooting attacks against IDF forces in the Jenin area. A month ago, an IDF force entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest him.
He detonated a large explosive device at the soldiers who came to arrest him and was killed in the exchange of fire along with three other terrorists.
The father, Fathi Hazem, also became wanted by the IDF following the attack perpetrated by his son Raed in Tel Aviv. The father began hanging out with armed terrorists and rejected the requests of senior PA officials to surrender himself to them so that he would not be killed by Israel.
From time to time he comes out of his hiding place and makes harsh inflammatory speeches against Israel to the residents of Jenin and calls on the residents of the West Bank to adopt the path of resistance against the IDF soldiers and the settlers.
All the Palestinian terrorist organizations have adopted Hazem as the new symbol of resistance.
Huge pictures of him with quotes from his words were hung in the center of Gaza City.
Fathi Hazem refuses to hand himself over to Israel and declares that he is not afraid of arrest or death. Security officials in Israel confirm that he is wanted for aiding wanted terrorists and incitement against Israel.
A senior security official says that “it is only a matter of time before he is arrested or he will be assassinated.
Another figure who is highly respected in the territories is the figure of Omar Albarghouti known as “Abu Asef”, he was a senior member of the military wing of Hamas in the West Bank and died two years ago.
His two sons Asef and Asem carried out attacks in the Ramallah area in which 3 IDF soldiers were killed.
Women whose sons engaged in terrorism against Israel are also respected and valued on the Palestinian street and on social media, one of them is “Umm Nasser” Abu Hamid, a resident of the al-Amari refugee camp in the Ramallah area whose five children are security prisoners and her husband and another son were killed by the IDF.
These days she is leading a street struggle for the release of her son Nasser Abu Hamid who has cancer and is detained in an Israeli prison.
The second woman is “Umm Ibrahim” al-Nabulsi, the mother of the terrorist Ibrahim al-Nabulsi who was killed in Nablus by the IDF, a senior commander in the “Lions’ Den” group in Nablus who carried out dozens of shooting attacks against IDF forces.
In the Palestinian street in the West Bank there is a feeling of a state of emergency and a war against Israel following the new wave of terrorism that has been going on for several weeks, even though for now it is a wave of terrorism and not a new intifada, but the mental and social pressure causes the Palestinian street to identify with new symbols that are considered strong national symbols to draw encouragement from their image and release steam.
