When one Fatah Central Committee member posts a picture of himself kissing the blood-stained shirt of a “heroic Martyr,” and another praises Palestinian women for being special because they see “their children as insignificant compared to the homeland” and make “sounds of joy for the Martyrs,” and when a PA official talks about a young man’s death as his “crowning his struggle with Martyrdom-death,” then it is clear that the Palestinian Authority’s cult of Martyrdom worship is still flourishing.
These also indicate that PA leaders are still promoting death as “Martyrs for Palestine”– an ideal the PA has cultivated in Palestinians for decades.
While violent riots were raging in Jerusalem, only two weeks before the recent war, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki praised Palestinian women for not grieving when losing their loved ones as do other women.
Zaki described the priorities of Palestinian women who “view their children as insignificant compared to the homeland,” and elaborated on how they are “proud of Martyrdom, and sing for the grooms” – a reference to the belief that a Martyr's funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Palestinian Islam and culture.