Masalma, 39, was arrested on November 22, 2002, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was release this past February after he was diagnosed with leukemia and he remained in Israel's Hadassah Hospital under treatment by some of the world's best doctors until September 13, when he was transferred to Istishari Hospital in Ramallah. He died yesterday.
Palestinian media is saying that Israel is responsible for his death, with many articles implying that somehow Israel's interrogation of Masalma caused his leukemia. Some even called his death of cancer an "assassination."
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement called a general strike in Bethlehem today in mourning. Unions joined in, and schools are closed in Bethlehem today. He was given a full military funeral by Fatah.
Only a few articles mention that Masalma was a terrorist.
Wattan writes, "With the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, the prisoner Masalma became involved in the struggle and resistance to the occupation, until he was arrested on November 22, 2002."
Why was Masalma arrested in 2002?
Almost certainly, he was involved in planning a suicide bombing against Jewish civilians.
JTA reported on that same date, November 22, 2002, "Israeli troops operating in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Wednesday night arrested two Palestinians suspected of planning to carry out a suicide attack."
This was during the height of the second intifada, when there were many such suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
The governate of Bethlehem and the political party of Mahmoud Abbas are openly mourning someone who planned to murder innocent Jewish civilians.
The depravity of Palestinians can be seen in this video, where Masalma's body was brought to his mother's house, as Palestinian women ululated in celebration of his "martyrdom."
Masalma's mother says in this video that the terrorist “asked for martyrdom, and he obtained it, and he commanded me not to cry over him.” She is regarded as a wonderful person in the comments and she is congratulated for being the mother of a "groom" being married in heaven to 70 virgin brides.
This is the Palestinian society that the Western media tries so hard to hide. It is an entire culture that openly celebrates terrorism and death. This hasn't changed at all over time, even as Palestinian society has been airbrushed by the media from those who celebrate death into helpless victims of Israeli aggression.
