Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in their attempt to murder a Jew, failed, and instead murdered an Arab student, George Khoury, near the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the militant (terrorist) wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, itself a terrorist group which took control of the PLO in 1968.

According to the Guardian:

The al-Aqsa brigade issued a statement also expressing regret, saying the killing was a case of "mistaken identity". It said it regarded Mr Khoury as a "martyr" to the cause of Palestinian liberation.

It is not the first time the Khoury family has lost a family member to Palestinian terrorism. The student's grandfather was murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on July 4, 1975. So, it should not be surprising that his parents did not accept the apologies. His mother declared that he was an "angel, not a shaheed [martyr]."

Ha'aretz quotes his father, Attorney Elias Khoury, as saying:

"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are individuals who are trying to impose their way on everyone," Elias Khoury said. "This is a barbaric act that will not change my world view, which includes deep faith in Palestinian rights. This act was carried out by a group that undermines the issue of Palestinian justice, and harms the Palestinian interest and takes it back years."

In veiled criticism of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, Khoury added: "Fatah today is a crumbling movement that has no leader. The chaos in the movement does not help the Palestinian cause. I hope that this case will awaken the Palestinian public from its tranquillity to say its word."

Can Fatah kill someone and then declare them a martyr? This reeks of ideological inconsistency, although perhaps this should be unsurprising for a movement which has lost the few shreds of ideology it once maintained, and has simply turned into a force for murder and mayhem, at whatever the cost.

It is more reminicent of the Albigensian Crusades, famed for the cry: "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet." ("Kill them all. God will know His own.")

Of course, you'll never hear those powerful quotes by the elder Khoury in the Arab press, because it doesn't fit the story that they want to write: about how all the ills of society and of the nation have at their root the Jews. They will not opt to point out the gross corruption and social disorder in their own midst.