Gaza’s Rocket Man
With only my basic Arabic, I could tell we had a problem.
The Palestinian militant was telling my producer he didn’t think it was appropriate that he be filmed walking with me. He said religious men can’t be seen in the streets walking with women.
In the end, he accepted to walk but avoided looking at me.
(I didn’t take it personally.)
The militant, Abu Abeer, is a spokesman for Popular Resistance in Gaza. He told us he’s responsible for firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. When I asked him why he does it, he says the “Zionist occupation” has to end.
Popular Resistance was created at the beginning of the second Intifada (Palestinian Uprising) in September 2000 with former members of other Palestinian militant groups.
Fatah, the Palestinian group loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, claims Hamas uses this group for their dirty work. Fatah blames Popular Resistance for killing the cousin of the late Palestinian President Yasir Arafat. They’re also responsible for firing rockets. But when Hamas gives them the orders to stop … they listen.
The group says their political agenda is “to liberate Palestine from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan River.” Meaning, they believe, Israel has no right to exist and and the land belongs to the Palestinians only.
Popular Resistance doesn’t have the same discipline as Hamas. But they were one of three groups that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Hamas says Shalit is in their control and alive.
Abu Abeer is just one Rocketman in Gaza … but he’s nothing like the Rocketman Elton John sings about.
(captions from left - right)
1. Militants from “Popular Resistance” launch rockets from Gaza to Israel.
2. Rockets prepared for launching by militants from “Popular Resistance” in Gaza.
3. Reena Ninan in Gaza in front of the aftermath from an Israeli airstrike.
TOP PHOTO: Abu Abeer, Spokesman for militant group “Popular Resistance” in Gaza interviewed by Fox’s Reena Ninan.
Reena Ninan is a correspondent for FNC, spending the majority of her
time in the Middle East. She provided on-site updates of Iraq's first
parliamentary elections and coverage of Saddam Hussein's trial from
Baghdad. 
These terrorists have no respect for women or human life. The problem is the indoctrination of hatred that every Palestinian and Arab child receives from their birth onward. Most of their lives are filled with nothingness - no job, poverty, illness - it’s no wonder so many of them turn to fanatacism. This has got nothing to do with the Israelis. Take a look around ANY of the Arab nations. You’ll see the same thing again and again - some sheik with a mustache riding a white horse or a Porsche, while the rest of his (not her - no women allowed to do anything other than raise more fanatics) country wallows in poverty.
Hope the Israelis take out this pathetic moron.
The terrorist talks about the occupation. Apparently he never got the memo that Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza a couple of years ago. Right now, the only armed force in Gaza that is not Arab is the United Nations. There are no Israelis in Gaza.
By “occupation,” he means the State of Israel in any bounds. He would regard an independent Jewish city-state in Tel Aviv as an “illegal occupation,” which he would feel duty-bound to attack. The fact that his ideas are mainstream–virtually unanimous–amongst the Arabs in the region is what makes it impossible for the the supposed peace process to actually lead to peace. It’s why fifteen years of Israeli concessions haven’t lead to peace, and it’s why peace will not arrive no matter what concessions Israel might give in the future.
Incidentally, it would’ve been nice if the blog had posted a picture of an Israeli home or school in Sderot struck by one of the missiles shot by this evil man and his cronies. Let people see how these holy warriors seek to murder children in kindergartens.
Our own history (US) has taught us that the only way to bring peace to an extremely hostile enemy is to make (1.)it impossible to wage war - destroy any ability to wage war (2.) make the enemy pay such aprice in blood that they will willingly surrender to ALL of you demands…anything else just leads to perpetual war - - - for both sides.
Does anybody doubt what these radical nut jobs want?
It would have been nice also to see some homes of innocent Palestinians civilians being destroyed by Israeli troops for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Our media shows us only pictures of nutjobs as the only Arabs in that region. ISrael has destroyed and killed way much more Arabs than those idiots in Hamas have killed.
Nick
read my posting above.
the whole ugly purpose of war is to make your enemy sue for peace because they have nothing to fight with or for. We have pushed Israel into a box and are making them fight nice - which is stupid and counter-productive and it can be argued that by prolonging a war you are being inhumane…I have great sympathy for the Palistinian people but unless and until they understand that allowing any group to wage war against a superior force from their cities, streets and neighborhoods there will continue to be a slow and yes onesided fight.
War is a cruel and ugly business, the only way to make it less so is to (in the short term) inflict massive casualities on the enemy.
You might want to do a little research for before you make an absolute statement. You may not agree with the reasons but they have them. Most common are bomb and rocket factories, terrorist meeting locations, homes of suicide bombers who have killed multitudes of Isralies (to get the point across that there are reprecusions to their actions), and also to clear out areas where rockets have been fired. What do you think we would do if Mexico were lobing rockets into our cities? Listen to the UN? Bottom line both side make mistakes but if the bombs, rockets, and hate would stop the Palastinians would have had a state long before now. But that is not what most of them want they only want a state without the existance of Israel. Israel wants secuity. Remember it was the Arab states that attacket Israel at the onset of the partition.
It would also have been nice to hear accounts of Palestinian attacks on Egypt and Jordan when they occupied Gaza and the West Bank, respectively, from 1948-1967. After all, the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded in 1964 (prior to 1967), so I’d like to hear of their efforts to take back their land during that period.