PA official: 'Battle in 1967 occupied lands open,' but coordination with Fatah required

Jibril Rajoub, long time Fatah politician and current president of the Palestinian Football Association, called on Palestinian armed militants to coordinate their ‘resistance’ endeavors with Fatah.

By OHAD MERLIN JANUARY 7, 2025 19:50

Head of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank June 12, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

“The battle in the 1967 occupied lands is open in all means… but not at the expense of the Palestinian Authority,” said Jibril Rajoub, former head of the Palestinian Authority’s preventive security forces and current president of the Palestinian Football Association.

Rajoub spoke last week on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel to mark the 60th anniversary of a series of Fatah-led violent campaigns and terror attacks, which he referred to as the “Contemporary Palestinian Revolution."

During the interview, as exposed by the organization Regavim, Rajoub was quoted as calling on Palestinian armed factions to coordinate their efforts with Fatah and not to undermine the Palestinian Authority.

“From the first moment what we need is a meeting of (Palestinian) factions to affirm the conformity of the Authority, the conformity and legitimacy of weapons, and also the legitimacy of the resistance,” Rajoub said in the interview. “The Palestinian Authority and its security mechanisms are not the ones meant to shoot at the Israelis – that’s not their mission. The (factions) are welcome to come and discuss (this issue) with us in Fatah, we’re willing and we’re open to this.”

'The battle in the 1967 occupied lands is open in all means'

“The (Palestinian) policeman represents our people’s pride and greatness,” he continued, “but it’s not his job to open fire (at Israelis). Us, as factions, we’re ready to discuss (this issue), we’re open. We say: the battle in the 1967 occupied lands is open in all means. So, they’re welcome, but not at the expense of there being one authority, one weapon and one law.”

Head of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril Rajoub holds a news conference to update the media about challenges facing Palestinian sports ahead of the Olympics in Paris, in Ramallah, in the West Bank June 12, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

In the interview, Rajoub also hinted at criticism at rival faction Hamas, claiming that instances of great military force may have been used as part of the armed struggle against Israel, but they failed to achieve the “common grounding” that he claimed Fatah has achieved.

“We don’t forget what happened in 2006,” he added, referring to the armed coup against Fatah forces in Gaza following that year’s elections.

Perhaps in the same context, Rajoub also stressed: “We will not have ‘national unity’ with any faction that serves in fact as a continuation of a foreign actor or country… What does Iran have to do with us, with all due respect? No Iran and no watermelon,” he added, evoking a popular colloquial phrase.

Rajoub’s interview came at the backdrop of the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing operation against armed fighters affiliated with the Islamic Jihad in Jenin, which was met with much criticism from Fatah's opponents.

In this context, Rajoub spoke lengthily about Fatah’s leading role in the Palestinian national endeavors.

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“For 60 years Fatah remains the national decision maker of this great nation… and is at the forefront of the national struggle,” he continued. “We didn’t manage to obtain independence, but we achieved this amazing steadfastness, and wide international legitimacy for an independent state.”

Israeli activists: Time we start listening to Fatah

Naomi Linder Kahn, Director of the International Division of Regavim, who brought Rajoub’s remarks about the need to coordinate violent actions with Fatah to the public attention, commented to The Jerusalem Post: "This statement is not at all a new one - what is new is the public, transparent declaration of principles from one of the highest-ranking Palestinian Authority figures. Since October 7, PA officials have not only applauded Hamas's massacre of Israelis but have even boasted about the participation of PA militants in the atrocities.

"The Palestinian Authority has repeated, ad nauseum, that it will not cease to fund terrorists, nor stop encouraging the murder of Israelis. In this context, Rajoub has laid things out clearly: the internal conflicts are not about whether or not Jews should be killed - but who gets the credit for the act of killing them. The struggle is for power, and power has only one purpose: to enable the murder of even more Jews. 

"This is not new for Rajoub. As head of the 'Palestinian Preventive Security Force' as Secretary General of the Fatah Central Committee, and even as head of the Palestinian Football League - the fact that he is now saying the same things in front of the cameras that he has been saying off-camera for years only means that he does not feel he needs to hide his intentions anymore. He's learned that Israeli and world governments continue to pretend that they don't hear these murderous statements. If there's anything to be learned from October 7 it is this: They mean what they say, they say what they mean - and it's time we start listening."