Fatah holds ceremony naming square after terrorist
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH The Jerusalem Post 06:33
Move comes despite PA announcement it had postponed inauguration of square
named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led 1978 Coastal Road massacre in which 37
Israeli were killed.
Despite the Palestinian Authority's announcement that it had postponed the
inauguration of a square in el-Bireh named after Dalal Mughrabi, the Fatah
woman who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre in which 37 Israeli civilians
and an American photographer were killed, and 71 were wounded, Fatah
officials on Thursday evening went ahead with the ceremony.
In addition, the PA on Sunday launched a seminar named after Mughrabi. The
four-day seminar, called "Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Camp," is being held in
Jericho under the auspices of the PA's Military Science Academy. Its main
goal is to discuss the legislative and local elections in the PA
territories.
About 120 university students from the West Bank are participating in the
conference.
The seminar is being held on the 32nd anniversary of the Coastal Road attack
and is seen more as a rally in honor of Mughrabi than as an academic
seminar.
The PA said on Thursday that the square-naming ceremony that took place was
not an official event, but rather a "popular rally" organized by local
residents and Fatah supporters.
On Thursday morning, Adnan Dumairi, a senior PA security official, announced
that the official ceremony to name the square after Mughrabi had been
delayed for "technical reasons." Dumairi denied that the decision to put off
the ceremony was related to pressure from Israel and the US.
However, in the evening, dozens of Palestinians gathered at the site, where
Fatah leaders officially announced that the square had been named after
Mughrabi.
A local Fatah official claimed that the decision to go ahead with the
ceremony was taken without coordination with the PA.
"The Palestinian Authority canceled the official ceremony because they were
afraid of [US Vice President] Joe Biden," he said. "But the Palestinian
leadership couldn't prevent Palestinian residents and Fatah from holding
their own celebration to honor this great woman for her sacrifices and
heroism."
The 1978 bus hijacking on the Coastal Road was the deadliest terrorist
attack ever perpetrated against Israel. Planned by Abu Jihad (Khalil
al-Wazir) and carried out by Fatah, it was aimed at halting peace talks
between Israel and Egypt.
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