Get this old piece of news: After leading the waves of terrorism in Judea and Samaria during the Second Intifada and masterminding mass terrorist attacks inside the Green Line before being dissolved in 2007 by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' "presidential order," and having allegedly laid down arms and having even been granted an official Israeli pardon, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are reinventing themselves. For the past year, their fingerprints have been all over a string of shooting attacks in Binyamin, Samaria, Gush Etzion and the communities surrounding Jerusalem. Now we also know that they were involved in firing rockets into Israel during Operation Protective Edge. The warning signal is flashing in red and Israeli defense officials are not indifferent to it.I've been saying this for years - the Al Aqsa Brigades never disappeared, and they were responsible for hundreds if not thousands of rockets during the Gaza war.
The writing has been on the wall for several years. It was only recently that the declaration that Mecca is for worship and Jerusalem is for martyrdom was posted on the official Facebook page of the Palestinian Fatah party. This month, Fatah posted a photo of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing beside a hangman's noose, saying that he will be hanged "soon."
Did Abbas give his permission for the re-establishment of the Fatah military wing? Did he sanction the resumption of Fatah terrorist attacks? Yoni Dahuh-Halevy, a lieutenant colonel (res.) in the intelligence corps, says these questions require further investigation.
"If Abbas approved the brigades' activities, he is party to terrorism. If not, it suggests that he is weak both as a leader and as a diplomatic partner," he said.
In July 2007, 178 Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades operatives across Judea and Samaria agreed to lay down their arms and quit terrorism and violence against Israel. They handed their weapons to the Palestinian authorities, and in return, Israel promised to stop pursuing them.
In 2008, 150 additional operatives joined in on the agreement, in coordination with Israel. They were even kept in Palestinian custody for three months before being granted their freedom. This arrangement lasted several years, but every so often, the group violated the agreement with Israel and the Palestinian Authority and perpetrated terrorist attacks. Two that come to mind are the murder of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai near the settlement of Shavei Shomron in 2009, and the kidnapping and subsequent murder of soldier Tomer Hazan in 2013.
Now, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade command center has announced that they are breaking all the rules. They declared "open war against the Zionist enemy using all possible means and surprises, granting the Palestinian people the right to armed struggle in efforts to banish the occupation from all Palestinian land." The brigades' announcement declared further that "this will be a war of attrition, in which all the options are available, including our military cells." This announcement was accompanied by a claiming of responsibility for the firing of dozens of rockets into Israel during Operation Protective Edge, together with photographs documenting said rocket fire.
Fatah's Facebook page, and the home page of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Nedal division, are happily reporting this Israel Hayom story. They seem a bit amused that the terror forces that they have been openly publicizing for years is finally getting noticed in Israeli media.
Here is the Al Aqsa Brigades' poster for Fatah's 50th anniversary of their first terror attack in January. It says "The path of Al-'Asifa (the storm): The end of Israel... the Liberation of Palestine."
