Delegates to the Sixth Fatah General Convention in Bethlehem responded with loud applause Tuesday at the mention by a top Fatah leader of two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel's history.
The pair, Khaled Abu-Isbah and Dalal Mughrabi, were praised as heroic Martyrs by former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister and current negotiator Ahmed Qurei. Qurei is currently the chairman of Fatah's Department for Recruitment and Organization.
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The PA media watchdog organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has translated a clip of the conference, which was conducted in Arabic and broadcast August 4 on PA TV (Fatah):
"We have in our midst the hero Khaled Abu-Isbah, hero of the operation [terror attack] led by the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi [loud applause from the audience]. We salute him and welcome him. And [we salute] the hero, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal. All the glory! All the glory! All the glory! All the sisters here are Dalal's sisters." [PATV (Fatah), Aug. 4, 2009]
Mughrabi, Abu-Isbah, and 10 other terrorists hijacked a bus in 1978, murdering 37 civilians, including 12 children, in what later became known as the Coastal Road Massacre. Mughrabi was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces. Isbah was imprisoned, then released after just seven years in a prisoner exchange on the condition that he could not enter Judea and Samaria. Israeli officials agreed to relax the condition in order to allow Isbah to attend the Fatah conference in Bethlehem.