UPDATE: Abbas withdraws award to honor female terrorists

During a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas informed Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik that he had decided against bestowing the prestigious Al Kuds Mark of Honor medal to honor two Palestinian women who assisted in terrorist attacks that killed Israelis. Instead the awards - the highest medal granted by the PLO - will be given to the families of the terrorists on Thursday. Abbas told Itzik that awards for any Palestinians prisoners have been retracted. Israeli leaders and citizens were furious over the plan to honor the female terrorists, said Itzik, who added that it would not have been beneficial to peace talks. The imprisoned women to be honored were Ahlam Tamim, a Hamas loyalist who drove a suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in summer 2001 where he blew himself and killed eight people. The other female was Amra Muna, who enticed Israeli teenager Ophir Rahum through an Internet chat room to meet her in Ramallah where he was killed by Palestinians. 

AFI COMMENT: By giving these honours to the families of the terrorists, instead of the terrorists themselves, Abbas is still condoning their actions even while trying to assauge international outrage. 

Abbas: A "Moderate" Honoring Terrorists

From HonestReporting :

Why does the media continue to refer to the Palestinian leadership as "moderate"? 

On the eve of the anniversary of the horrific 2002 Passover massacre in Netanya's Park Hotel, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has delivered a stinging reminder that "moderacy" on the Palestinian side is a relative term.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Al Quds Mark of Honor, the PLO's highest medal, will be given to two female terrorists who helped kill Israelis.

From the Jerusalem Post :

"The PLO is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota."

That's what the PLO's ambassador to Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, told Lebanon's NBN TV in an interview that aired last Wednesday and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the PLO proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine," added Zaki.

The clip can be viewed at http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1738.htm .

And in a sermon televised on Friday, Yunis al-Astal, a Hamas MP and cleric, told worshipers that Islam would soon conquer Rome, "the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and which has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam," just as Constantinople was.

Rome, he said, would become "an advanced post for the Islamic conquests which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and even Eastern Europe."

In his address aired on Hamas's Al-Aksa TV and also translated by MEMRI, Astal told his audience: "Allah has chosen you for himself and for his religion, so that you will serve as the engine pulling this nation to the phase of succession, security, and consolidation of power, and even to conquests through da'wa [preaching] and military conquests of the capitals of the entire world."

"I believe that our children or our grandchildren will inherit our jihad and our sacrifices, and Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them. Today, we instill these good tidings in their souls, and by means of the mosques and the Koran books, and the history of our prophet, his companions, and the great leaders, we prepare them for the mission of saving humanity from the hellfire on the brink of which they stand."

The clip can be viewed at http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1739.htm