IDF soldiers have destroyed a memorial in Jenin to Khalid Nazzal, a leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terror group who was responsible for a deadly terror attack in the northern town of Ma’alot in 1974. Nazzal was in killed in 1986; Palestinians believe he was murdered to avenge the Ma’alot attack but Israel has never commented on the killing.
Palestinian media reported that one Palestinian opened fire on the IDF unit, but no injuries were reported.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority created the memorial to Nazzal and renamed a public square in the city in his honor. Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog, reported that Jenin Deputy Mahmoud Abu Mwais told participants in the dedication ceremony that “our leadership and our people will continue on the path of the martyrs.”
The Ma’alot attack, one of the deadliest terror offensives in Israeli history, began when three Palestinians infiltrated the country from Lebanon and took 115 Israelis hostage, mostly high school students from Safed (Tzfat) who were camped at the the Netiv Meir Elementary School as part of a school field trip. The hostage-takers demanded the release of 23 terrorists from Israeli prisons and threatened to kill the hostages if the demand was not met. After two days, soldiers from the IDF Golani Brigade stormed the building;, 25 hostages, including 22 children, were killed and 68 more were injured in the incident.
