1/3/2024–|Last updated: 1/3/202411:36 AM (Mecca time)
Ramallah – Immediately after the announcement of the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in an Israeli raid on Lebanon yesterday evening, Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets and city centers in the West Bank, expressing their anger and denunciation of this crime, and demanding an immediate response to this crime.
Hundreds of people came out at Al-Manara Roundabout in the city of Ramallah, carrying Palestinian flags and pictures of the martyr, chanting, “Oh, the bank of Shadi Al-Hail, they assassinated Al-Arouri,” and demanded that the resistance respond immediately to his assassination.
Close to Al-Manara Roundabout, the town of Aroura witnessed hundreds of people continuing to gather at the Al-Arouri family home, where he was praised for his role and contributions to the resistance, and he was described as the main official of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank.
In Nablus in the north, Hamas mourned him for the first time in years over mosque loudspeakers during a march downtown. In Jenin, hundreds of people came out, led by gunmen from the Jenin Brigade, threatening a response soon.
As for Tubas and Tulkarm, the scene was not different, as demonstrations broke out that brought together all segments of Palestinian society, expressing the state of consensus enjoyed by Al-Arouri, whether during his detention in Israeli prisons or after his release, in light of his efforts focusing on achieving reconciliation and unity.
Obituary of the resistance factions
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) was one of the first factions to mourn Al-Arouri in an official statement, calling for a comprehensive strike in West Bank cities tomorrow. The leader of the Fatah movement, Jibril Rajoub, described the martyr Al-Arouri as a model of steadfastness in detention centers and a seed for Palestinian unity, and a loss for the National Liberation Movement before it was a loss for Hamas.
In an interview with Tel Aviv Tribune, Fatah movement spokesman in the West Bank, Hussein Hamayel, indicated that Al-Arouri had shown many positive attitudes towards the issue of national unity. He stressed that Fatah is striving to achieve this unity as a response to the criminal operations carried out by Israel, the most recent of which was the assassination of Al-Arouri.
He added that it is necessary to move in a common direction for self-defense and to achieve revenge for the blood of all martyrs through coordinating efforts and united action in all fields to get rid of the occupation.
For his part, Hassan Khraisha, the former Second Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council, stated that Al-Arouri is a distinguished and unique personality, and he played a major role in leading internal reconciliation efforts, and participated in reaching important agreements between the Fatah and Hamas movements in the past.
Speaking to Tel Aviv Tribune, Khraisha considered that, through its assassination of Al-Arouri, Israel was seeking to achieve a false victory, especially since Al-Arouri bears direct responsibility for the military wing of the Hamas movement in the West Bank.
Kreisha believes that the assassination of Al-Arouri in Lebanon by the occupation represents a challenge to Hezbollah, and is a step aimed at strengthening the position of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and prolonging his rule after his failure to achieve success during the war in Gaza, given the steadfastness of the resistance and the support of the Palestinian people.
Kreisha points out that the reactions of the Palestinian street to the assassination of Al-Arouri provide positive opportunities to achieve unity and reconciliation, as he considers that Israel’s assassination of any Palestinian figure could be “a means to unite the Palestinian people.”
The goal is testimony
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, agrees with Kreisha on the occupation’s goal of assassination. He believes that Israel is seeking to ignite a regional war, stressing that the assassinations did not break the will of the resistance, but rather increased its strength, and he expects Israel to bear the costs of this attack.
Based on his personal experiences and his repeated meetings with Al-Arouri during efforts to achieve national unity, Al-Barghouti confirmed that he was “a national, unitary figure in all his aspects.”
Al-Arouri’s name topped social media sites, where video clips and previous interviews were published highlighting his statements about the possibility of his assassination and his willingness to testify. In one of the interviews, he stressed that the blood of the martyrs is not more precious than anything else, and he pointed to the people’s insistence on achieving the goals despite the challenges.
Commenting on these statements, Al-Barghouti confirmed that Al-Arouri was aware of his fate as a project of martyrdom, and when someone warned him of his assassination, he responded by affirming that he would not be the first martyr and he would not be the last.
Al-Barghouti remembers Al-Arouri’s calmness and aggression in dealing with issues of national unity and his great love for the resistance, pointing out that Israel may not realize the correct understanding of senior leaders when they achieve martyrdom.
Al-Arouri was assassinated in an attack targeting a Hamas office in the southern suburb of Beirut yesterday evening, Tuesday.
