Sunday, August 19, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
There is literally nothing that Palestinians don't politicize.
On Saturday evening, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, 500 grooms and brides got married in a mass ceremony sponsored by Mahmoud Abbas.
Even on this supposedly happiest day of the lives of the thousand celebrants, they had to endure speech after speech about the "occupation" by government and Fatah officials.
"Our people rejoice despite the suffering of the occupation, our conflict with the occupation is long can not stop life, at the same time we stand up and fight and defend our land," said deputy head of Fatah Mahmoud Alalul.
He added, "The fighter is a dreamer and seeks hope, he smiles and marries."
Jamal Moheisen, member of the Central Committee of Fatah, said, "In Palestine, where children throw their stones on the occupation and adorned their streets with images of martyrs, joy dwells beside the pain...we are in support of the young men and we're proud of them because they are the pillars on which to build the nation by pumping new blood in its veins to create a demographic balance in the face of the settlements.
"The president resolutely addresses the biased US policy that wants to impose its will on the world to contravene international law and international legitimacy, in addition to confronting the occupying state and its extremist government which is trying to settle the Palestinian issue through the Trump deal.... We tell the world that our people offer martyrs every day and put their best sons in prison, yet we are still committed to love, joy and high values," he added.
"Here we are, and here we resisted and we are still here, and here we will resist, and from here our martyrs have risen, and here we will remain steadfast in life and send greetings to our prisoners in Israeli prisons."
Of course, the wedding as also a huge advertisement for Abbas himself. Singers sang songs about "Abu Mazen" (see around 14:00) and the banners showed his picture prominently.
