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Don’t Trust What the Palestinian Authority Says About Hamas
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office
The Palestinian Authority (PA) received much attention over the weekend for having condemned Hamas. However, it is important to recognize that the Fatah statement was not a condemnation or an attempt to distance itself from the atrocities of October 7– nor from Hamas terror in general.
Instead, the message was merely an issue of internal politics, and was a response to a Hamas statement that attacked Mahmoud Abbas.
Regarding the October 7 atrocities, the PA and Fatah have emphasized that they are proud to have never condemned Hamas.
Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash explained:
From the leadership, from President Mahmoud Abbas to the last of the people in the Palestinian leadership — has anyone heard from us one word against the Hamas Movement or against any Palestinian? [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 6, 2023]
On the contrary, the PA and Fatah have consistently defended, justified, and glorified the October 7 massacre.
Fatah Jenin branch member Abd Al-Rahman Abu Al-Rub gloated:
We say to our people and to the members of the Palestinian people: A morning of victory, and morning of joy, a morning of pride. We ask Allah to send a blessing to our heroic Martyrs in the Gaza Strip … We [call] to all our brothers and to all our Palestinian people that they are compelled to take action and participate in this story of heroism. [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]
At the end of November, when everyone knew the details of the horrific rapes, torture, and slaughter, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub described the October 7 massacre as heroic:
What happened on October 7 was an earthquake, an unprecedented incident, and a war of defense full of epics and acts of heroism that the Palestinian people has been waging for 75 years. [emphasis added]
[Al-Anba, Kuwaiti news website, Nov. 26, 2023]
Fatah Secretary in Holland Zaid Tyam waxed ecstatic:
“Our people in the Gaza Strip and our people in Palestine made our heads touch the clouds … We all bow in honor and appreciation to this lofty people.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Nov. 7, 2023]
The criticism of Hamas that was expressed by Fatah was for a specific reason. Hamas had criticized Mahmoud Abbas for appointing a close personal associate as the new prime minister, without discussing this with Hamas.
In response, Fatah stressed that Abbas has the sole right to appoint a prime minister, and went on to criticize Hamas for what it called the destruction of the Gaza Strip caused by Israel’s military response. This was clearly an issue of internal politics:
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement ‘Fatah’ emphasized that the one who caused the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel and caused the Nakba that our people are undergoing, especially in the Gaza Strip, is not eligible to dictate the national priorities…Did Hamas consult with the Palestinian leadership or with any patriotic Palestinian party when it decided to set out on the October 7 adventure, which led to a more severe and difficult Nakba than the 1948 Nakba? Did Hamas consult with the Palestinian leadership when it is currently negotiating with Israel and making concession after concession, with the only goal being receiving guarantees for the personal safety of its leaders, and also to attempt to again reach an agreement with [Israeli PM] Netanyahu to preserve its divisive role in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank?
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 16, 2024]
Many in the international community may try to use such criticism of Hamas by the PA to lend the PA legitimacy. Israel is being pressured to have the PA serve as the governing body of Gaza to replace Hamas the “day after” the war.
It is therefore essential to recognize that notwithstanding this condemnation, the PA has not condemned Hamas terrorism, and has repeatedly invited Hamas to join the PLO and the next PA government. Just at the beginning of this month, the same PA daily wrote:
There is no alternative to national unity [with Hamas] — not unity of arenas, and not another unity. Here the PLO is opening its gates wide to anyone who wants national unity, with its strategic meaning and goals, which are certainly the goals of Palestine … and of the liberation project, the project of the Palestinian state from Rafah to Jenin, whose capital is East Jerusalem.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 5, 2024]
Again, Abbas’ Religious Affairs Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash also said:
Nationally speaking, not one of us is talking about excluding Hamas or others … Indeed, there is a disagreement between us and Hamas; that is true, but this disagreement does not reach the level of exclusion.
We are not excluders, and Hamas is part of the Palestinian people and an important part, and an extensive part of the Palestinian people supports the Hamas Movement. We do not deny this. [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, March 3, 2024]
While the international community may be tempted to think that the PA is suddenly a peace partner and rejects terror just because it criticized Hamas, the reality is that the PA/Fatah has repeatedly defended Hamas’ October 7 atrocities.
Fatah and Hamas squabbling for political power does not erase the PA’s terror support.
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Don’t Trust What the Palestinian Authority Says About Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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