Palestinian Terror Monuments – Palestinian Vision Carved in Stone

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | September 16, 2026

*Western policy makers tend to be impressed by a moderate Palestinian diplomatic talk, directed at Western – not Arab – target groups, while taking lightly the Palestinian intra-Arab walk, which has transformed the Palestinians into a role model of intra-Arab terrorism.

*Western policy makers tend to accord overriding weight to moderate Palestinian diplomatic rhetoric (enunciated by skillful Palestinian representatives), while underestimating – or overlooking – the critical significance of the litany of Hamas and (mostly) Palestinian Authority terror monuments in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). These monuments highlight terrorists as role models for Palestinian youth, mirroring the core Palestinian vision and strategy when it comes to Israel.  Moreover, the terror message conveyed by the monuments is underscored in the PLO and Hamas Charters, school curriculum (praising Jihad, self-sacrifice/shahada and martyrdom), mosque sermons, official media (WAFA news agency, PA TV, Al-Aqsa TV, Al-Aqsa radio, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Al-Ayyam and Filastin daily newspapers) and the mega-billions of dollars “Pay for Slay” lifetime allowances (“Martyrs and Prisoners Fund”), extended since 2004 by the Palestinian Authority to families of terrorists.

*While Palestinian monuments are tangibly carved in stone, the Palestinian talk (toward Arabs and Israel) is intangibly written on ice.

*Palestinian terror monuments are not an aberration, but a blueprint of institutional and doctrinarian culture and ideology that systematically glorify and inspire terrorism (especially suicide bombing) and reject the existence – not just the size – of “the infidel and illegal” Zionist entity.

*Terrorists – contrary to freedom fighters – focus systematically, indiscriminately and deliberately on civilians.

*Most cities, towns and villages in Judea, Samaria and Gaza feature monuments, town squares, streets, schools, commemorative landmarks and sporting events, honoring hundreds of terrorists (shahids/martyrs), including the chief Palestinian Nazi collaborator, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who called for the extermination of all Jews and Arafat, who was a role model for terror organizations in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

For example:

• ^Amin al-Husseini Elementary School in El-Bireh;
• Amin al-Husseini Multi-Purpose Hall in Jericho;
• Arafat Museum and Tomb in Ramallah, street statues and memorials in TulKarem, etc.
• Monuments, schools and squares idolizing Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre of civilian passengers in a Haifa-Tel Aviv bus, murdering 37, including 12 children, and a US photographer on a nearby beach.
• Monuments and sites glorifying Abu Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir), the Head of Fatah’s terror wing, who orchestrated the murder of 125 Israeli civilians.
• Monuments revering Khaled Nazzal, who played a key role in the 1974 Ma’alot massacre of 22 children and 4 adult civilians.
• Monuments praising Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar, who planned the 1976 murder of 15 Israeli civilians in Jerusalem.
• Etc……

*Palestinian veneration of ordinary terrorists and suicide bombers (Shahids) via physical monuments is not an isolated ritual. It directly intersects with intrinsic Palestinian cultural, political and ideological doctrines, legal texts, school textbooks, and Palestinian Authority and Hamas official media.

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