College class and Fatah summer camp group named after terrorist Mughrabi

Palestinian college class
and Fatah summer camp group
named after terrorist Mughrabi
who led killing of 37 in bus hijacking

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

A Palestinian summer camp for children and a girl’s college in the West Bank have continued the Palestinian Authority policy of presenting terrorist Dalal Mughrabi as a role model for children. Mughrabi in 1978 led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, in which 37 civilians were killed, 12 of them children.



The summer camp for children of the Fatah youth organization called “the Lion Cubs and Flowers,” was divided into three groups. One was named after terrorist Mughrabi and the two others were named after Yasser Arafat and Abu Jihad, who was the terrorist leader who planned Mughrabi’s bus hijacking.

Also reported in the official PA daily was a description of the graduation ceremony at the Al-Tireh Girls’ College in Ramallah for the current graduating class, likewise named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. The graduation ceremony was held under the auspices of two Fatah MPs.

As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, Mughrabi has been glorified by the PA for many years with tournaments and summer camps named after her and music videos on TV honoring her and her terror attack. She has been presented as a role model for Palestinians and particularly for Palestinian youth.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has himself glorified Dalal Mughrabi. In 2009 he funded a computer center named after her, and in 2010 he sponsored a “birthday party” on what would have been Mughrabi's 50th birthday.
For more details see PMW’s bulletin “Abbas's duplicity about his support for honoring terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.”

The following are the two recent articles in the official PA daily about the summer camp and school class named after Mughrabi. Below them are additional examples from 2011 of the PA’s presenting Mughrabi as a Palestinian hero:

“The Halhoul [West Bank city] Cultural Forum, in cooperation with the Sanabel Al-Kheir Association, held the concluding ceremony yesterday for the second Sanabel [summer] camp, which comprised three groups: the Shahid (Martyr) Yasser Arafat group; the Shahid Abu Jihad group; and the Shahida Dalal Mughrabi group. Participating in the ceremony was the Coordinator of the “Lion Cubs and Flowers” (i.e., Fatah group for boys and girls) of the northern Hebron branch of the Fatah movement, Yahya Mifrih… At the end of the ceremony, certificates were awarded to the 130 boys and girls, including 30 special-needs children.”

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2011]

Read the rest in the: PMW Bulletin