Top PA officials have apparently taken to heart the exhortations of Mahmoud Abbas to get more involved in anti-Israel protests.
The IDF has documented that leading Palestinian Authority figures participated in anti-Israel protests on Jan. 22, Jan. 29 and Feb. 15. At least one of the protests turned into a riot, during which two Border Guard policemen were lightly injured.
The Fatah and PA figures taking part in the protests are implementing the “popular resistance” policy led by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). In a speech last month at the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Abbas called on Fatah leaders to “go out to the field.”
In addition, correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that PLO Central Council member Toufik Tirawi said, “Fatah will continue to support and participate in these peaceful protests against the fence and against the occupation in every town and village that is harmed by the Israeli volations.”
The PA-backed media has also begun encouraging the “popular resistance activity.”
On Jan. 15, Fatah Council members Tirawi and Mahmoud Alaloul took part in the protest at Dir Nizam near N’vehTzuf in Binyamin, in which the two policemen were stoned.
On Jan. 22, PA agriculture minister Ismail Daik took part in a protest, and a week later, three top figures took part in three protests: Fatah Central Council member Saltan Abu Al-Einan, Tirawi in a protest north of Bethlehem, and Mahmoud Alhabash, a PA cabinet minister, in a protest rally near Shechem (Nablus).