During the week of the anniversary of the death of PLO arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, the Palestinian Authority held events and broadcast TV programs celebrating him and his terror attacks. One of the striking components of the Abu Jihad festivities was the presentation of the 125 Israeli civilians and soldiers killed in terror attacks he planned and directed, as a positive achievement. Six sporting events were also held in his honor.
"Abu Jihad was killed by the Israeli Mossad in Tunisia on April 16, 1988... and was crowned the Prince of the Martyrs of Palestine... Among the military operations planned by Abu Jihad: the explosion at the Zohar reservoir in 1955; the operation to blow up the Israeli National Water Carrier in 1965; the operation at the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv, which killed 10 Israelis, in 1975; the blowing up of a truck bomb in Jerusalem in 1975; the killing of Albert Levi, the senior sapper, and his assistant, in Nablus in 1976; the Dalal Mughrabi operation, in which more than 37 Israelis were killed, in 1978; the shelling of the Eilat Port in 1979; the Katyusha fire on the northern settlements [in Israel] in 1981 and the capture of 8 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, and their exchange for 5,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners and 100 of the detainees from occupied territory in 1982. He planned the infiltration and bombing of the headquarters of the Israeli military governor in Tyre, leading to the deaths of 76 officers and soldiers, including 12 senior officers, in 1982; he led the war of attrition during the years 1982-1984 in southern Lebanon, and planned the Dimona Reactor operation in 1988, which was the principle reason for his assassination." -[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 16, 2012]
Here's one video shown on PA TV:
Abu Jihad: "After we strike the [Israeli] headquarters, Allah willing, we will close off the streets [of Tel Aviv]. On one street, for example, we will hold 500 people [hostage]. 500 people at once. Can anyone bargain over them? No one, without exception, is allowed to go there unless he sets up the fuse and the explosives. At any moment, he can blow up everyone. Blow up their building, or the whole thing, no matter how many people are there. Our dagger will be a poisoned dagger in our enemy's heart, and we will take down as many as possible. We want to land on enemy territory (Israel) and to be like a single fortress. When we get there, Allah willing, we will begin to fire, to fire on our enemy. We will dig in his throat and heart with the massacres that we spoke about. We want to turn the Tel Aviv day black. We want to turn the Tel Aviv day into destruction, Allah willing. We will turn the Tel Aviv day so it will be remembered in the history of Tel Aviv as black Saturday, black Sunday. Tel Aviv will be closed that whole day with blood and destruction."
Narrator: "It occurred to Abu Jihad to publish a Fatah journal named The Call of Life - Palestine. The first issue, published in October 1959, called for an armed revolution to uproot the Zionist entity. [Abu Jihad] was the mastermind of the armed struggle against Israel. He is a symbol of Palestinian armed struggle. Abu Jihad fell as a Martyr, and symbolized the generation of the fighting commanders who adopted the path of resistance as the first and last solution for the nation's cause. He was known as a tough fighter and an extraordinary commander who was always in a state of war and never lost his way."
[PA TV (Fatah), April 16, 2012]
And another:
Narrator: "The Palestinian revolution was at its peak, and many times Fatah carried out 60 special operations a day. Among the leading operations of the Prince of Martyrs (Abu Jihad): the explosion of the Zohar reservoir in 1955, the explosion of the Israeli National Water Carrier in 1965, the 1975 Savoy Hotel operation in Tel Aviv, in which 10 Israelis were killed, the Dalal Mughrabi operation in 1978, in which more than 37 Israelis were killed, the shelling of the Eilat Port in 1979, and the Dimona Reactor operation in 1988 (bus hijacking and killing of 3 civilians), which was the principle reason for his assassination on April 16, 1988."
[PA TV (Fatah), April 16, 2012
I have seen people argue that when the PA honors Abu Jihad it is no different than Israel honoring political leaders who were active as underground militants from the pre-1948 Irgun. Abu Jihad was also a political figure, they say. But these articles and videos prove that the glorification of Abu Jihad is precisely because of his terror actions, not for any political activities.
Indeed, this list of attacks credited to him shows that he was an active terrorist up until the end of his life - and those attacks are praised.
By the way, I had never heard of an attack at a "Zohar reservoir" in 1955. There were some fedayeen attacks from Gaza around then, but it is unclear if Abu Jihad had anything to do with them; Wikipedia says he received military training in 1956 a few months after being released from Egyptian prison for being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, so the claim seems exaggerated at the least.