Incitement in the Palestinian Authority Leads to Loss of Life
A terrorist from the village of Tel carried out an attack on Jewish travelers in Samaria, murdering Benaya Melet and Major Yuval Ezra. The incident follows systematic incitement by the PA and Fatah.
There was nothing surprising in the fact that Farouk Ramadan, the terrorist from the village of Tel in Samaria, snatched the weapon of Benaya Melet (may God avenge his blood) and opened fire on passing Jewish travelers.
Ramadan, along with other family members and friends, responded to the increasing incitement messages of the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah organization. He responded to the call for action against "the colonialists, the terrorists, the land thieves who came to eliminate the Palestinian people." Therefore, the group of Jews who were hiking last Friday in the open area, on their way from Har Bracha through Havat Gilad to Kedumim, was attacked, and Melet and Major Yuval Ezra were murdered. Only a day passed, and a similar event occurred in the southern Hebron Hills. Miraculously, no one was murdered there, but these dramas reflect only the edge of the bubbling lava, the edge of the danger that could erupt in much larger dimensions.
Residents of the village of Tel, like the rest of the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria, were exposed to what the media and official channels of Ramallah market to them. In this spirit, last Friday, a statement by the Fatah organization was published, with its rifle emblem, stating: "The terror of the colonialists is a continuation of the total war against the Palestinian people for ethnic cleansing, for stealing lands, and for expanding settlements by settler gangs."
This week, the spokesman for Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), Abu Rudeineh, declared: "The leaders of the occupation call for burning Palestinian lands, for expelling residents, and for adding colonial outposts." Similar statements were made by Rawhi Fattouh, Chairman of the Palestinian National Council, and the Authority's Foreign Minister, Farsan Shahin, accusing Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and "total destruction."
Failure of the strangulation plan leads to an explosion
The systematic incitement of the Palestinian Authority against the State of Israel is not new. However, the intensity and extremism have sharpened greatly recently as a result of the collapse of the master plan to crush Jewish settlement. For years, the Authority worked on the project of strangling the settlements and taking over state lands. The helplessness of Israeli governments contributed to this, until the last term, when Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strock led a historic momentum of expansion and seizure of open areas.
As a result, for the first time since 1967, the Palestinians understand that they are losing the chance to strangle the settlement. This is the platform for the intensification of the delegitimization campaign, with the goal of demonizing the Zionist enemy. The danger is that when the broad Arab public is convinced that every Jew is trying to steal his home, the scope of terror will expand much further.
Moreover, there is an additional army operating in the field, an army whose establishment the State of Israel allowed. About 60,000 Palestinian soldiers are conducting training and parades throughout Judea and Samaria, located 10 minutes' drive from the center of Jerusalem. Only the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority will put an end to the incitement, which has long since become an existential threat.
Arise and walk through the land
In 1944, Tuvia Kushnir, a future Palmach fighter, traveled to Shechem (Nablus) to look for a rare iris flower. Such trips were the norm for Zionist youth, who sought to know the Land of Israel on foot. Despite the dangers, trips throughout the country constituted part of the essence of the Zionist revival.
This pattern, which was formed before the establishment of the state, characterized everything that followed: the journeys of the youth movements, the scout circles, and the ethos of the Israel National Trail. Everything stems from the same spring and is intended for the same goal—to know and re-adopt the Land of Israel. In this spirit, Yoram Taharlev wrote the song "Arise and walk through the land," based on the Book of Genesis.
The trip that took place last Friday in Samaria did not deviate from the norm of the Israeli youth who travel forever. It is an integral part of the path of those who fulfill Zionism. And those who do not understand this—not to mention those who justify the Arab rioters—have forgotten what it is to be a Zionist.
