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Palestinian Authority Says It Stands Together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Using Terror
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
The possibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA) becoming the umbrella for designated terrorist organizations is becoming more real.
On Tuesday, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported that senior Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub declared that there is nothing standing in the way of unity between Fatah and Hamas, since Hamas’ atrocities of October 7th elevated it to the level of a national liberation movement like Fatah.
This declaration came on the heels of many similar statements by PA/Fatah leaders — both in support of unity with terror organizations, and explicit calls for terror.
Top Fatah official Abbas Zaki recently stressed this, stating that Fatah is “one unit” together with terror organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and “every fighting faction” — in other words, anyone who carries out terror against Israel:
Al-Mayadeen TV host: “The meetings in Cairo between the Fatah Movement and Hamas Movement … The headline of these meetings is establishing a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip. Will this round of meetings be different?” …
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “Our delegation is setting out [to Cairo] with clearest understandings that it is impossible to take action for the Gaza Strip except with mutual agreement and understanding with the brothers in Hamas” …
There is no Palestinian disagreement now that people could exploit. We, Hamas, [Islamic] Jihad, and every fighting faction constitute one unit.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), YouTube channel, Nov. 2, 2024]
A Jordanian journalist interviewed on official PA TV was even more explicit, demonizing Israel as “a satanic plant,” that should be attacked “with rocks, knives, and resistance by all means” — in other words, terror:
Jordanian journalist Ramadan Rawashdeh: “The [pro-Palestinian] noble-hearted in Britain and the world knew that [Israel] is a satanic plant in the region, which is not like us [Arabs] in terms of language, skin color, ethnicity, or customs …
Many invaders have come into this region and they were defeated. I am convinced that one day Israel will necessarily be defeated… [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu said: ‘I will bring security to Israel.’ We need to bring about his failure with daily work, with rocks, knives, resistance – resistance by all means.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals – Amman, Nov. 14, 2024]
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “The Palestinian people has no choice but to remain, stand firm, hold onto the land and the right, and resist with all possible capabilities at our disposal.
The occupation (i.e., Israel) and the aggression have left us no choice but to remain or die.” [emphasis added]
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 8, 2024]
The same message was echoed by another Fatah official who, when reminiscing about former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, stressed that Fatah “will continue to hold onto the weapon” as did Arafat:
Fatah Nablus Branch Secretary Muhammad Hamdan: “We see in [the exhibit’s] pictures how [former PLO Chairman Arafat’s] voice echoes in the UN (refers to Arafat’s 1974 UN speech), how he reminds us and says: ‘I have come bearing a freedom fighter’s gun and an olive branch. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.’
This is what clarifies that we will continue to draw the weapon until we receive all our national rights.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Nov. 17, 2024]
PMW has documented Abbas Zaki’s pride in Fatah terror against Israel during the current Gaza war:
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “People [in the world] were shocked by the heroic [Palestinian] stand … The entire NATO alliance and all the capabilities of the West, and with them the mercenaries and collaborators [with Israel], did not succeed in silencing the fighters’ rifles and rockets … I think that ‘the Al-Aqsa Flood’ [Hamas’ name for its October 7 attack] will yet be taught at universities.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, June 2, 2024]
Palestine Today TV host: “The severity [of the situation] concerning the Al-Aqsa Mosque, does it not require that the resistance (i.e., terror) be activated more and more in the West Bank, and that its chained hands be released? Let us say it frankly: Due to what the PA is doing to prevent any expression of the resistance … How can this tradition [of armed struggle] be preserved, and Fatah’s identity of resistance [too], which the Palestinian people has known since the first bullet?”
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki: “Is there recognition by the forces in Gaza that [Fatah’s] Al-Aqsa Brigades are [among them]?”
Host: “Yes.”
Abbas Zaki: “Then here is Fatah. In the West Bank, it was forbidden to carry a knife [before the 1993 Oslo Accords], now there are fighters there.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, June 2, 2024]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post Palestinian Authority Says It Stands Together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Using Terror first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.