Fond memories of terrorists decorate a Palestinian Authority “Freedom Tree" in Bethlehem -- though PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas insists he does not honor them. All of the 73 terrorists being honored are from Bethlehem and are serving life sentences in Israel for murdering Jews.
After the barbaric slaughter of Rabbi Udi Fogel, his wife and three of their six young children at their home in Itamar earlier several weeks ago, Abbas told Israel Radio that he does not allow incitement against Israel.
However, the PA continues to talk differently in Arabic than it does in English or Hebrew. The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has reported on and translated accounts from official PA media on visits by Abbas’ officials to families of the terrorists.
The Palestinian Authority recently unveiled a “Freedom Tree,” displaying 73 pictures of terrorists on its branches. Speakers at the ceremony “underlined the importance of unifying the efforts on behalf of the prisoners," the official PA daily newspaper reported, "and at the same time stressing that that prisoners' cause – with its national, moral, and humanitarian dimensions – is one of the most important matters on the agenda of the Palestinian Authority, which emphasizes that there will be no peace and no solution without the release of all prisoners and detainees."
The article called the terrorists and their families the “most important national group in Palestinian society." The tree was "placed in a prominent location in the city of Bethlehem, as befitting the prisoners and their sacrifice."
At around the same time as the Freedom Tree's unveiling, the district governor of Bethlehem visited the terrorists' families. The governor gave the families "gift packages of sweets with pictures of the prisoners printed on them."
One of the terrorists murdered 12 people, nine of them Israelis. A second terrorist stabbed two children to death in 1992.
"The district governor emphasized that the Palestinian people supports the sacrifice of the prisoners... they represent the purest and most noble cause in Palestinian society...," said the official PA daily.