Things have gotten worse with Hamas-Fatah relations since the golden “Animal Party” years
Palestinian Authority factions Hamas and Fatah are at it again.
Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf on Sunday accused Hamas of being responsible for Egypt closing the Rafiah border crossing with Gaza. Egypt decided to close the crossing, he claimed, because Hamas had intervened in Egypt’s internal affairs in favor of its parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood.
Assaf said that Hamas’s position does not represent the “Palestinian people” and, in fact, causes damage to their interests. As well, he claimed, Hamas hurts the efforts “to end the occupation, establish a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem and the bring about the return of the refugees.”
Rather than spending millions of dollars on television and radio channels which fully support the Muslim Brotherhood against the will of the Egyptian people, said Assaf, Hamas should have made use of these channels to serve the “Palestinian cause” and avoid stirring up internal conflict in Egypt.
He also claimed that Hamas intervenes in the internal affairs of other countries such as Lebanon and Syria according to the guidelines of the Muslim Brotherhood, while ignoring the will and interests of the Palestinian Authority Arabs. Hamas leaders live in ivory towers, charged Assaf, while Gaza residents are paying the price of their policy.
Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s parent movement which in recent months has been helping Hamas in its attempts to be removed from the U.S. and European countries’ lists of terrorism organizations.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah have been at odds since Hamas violently seized control of Gaza in 2007.
The Fatah Palestinian party in the West Bank have called for Palestinians to overthrow its rival, the Islamist Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip.
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The Egypt Independent also quoted the Palestine Liberation Organization official Yasser Abd Rabboh saying that, “We [Fatah] hope the historic transition in Egypt will lead Hamas to approve real democratic elections for the sake of the [Palestinian] homeland. Hamas must recognize that the [Muslim] Brotherhood can no longer protect it.”
He went on to say that, “The name Hamas has a negative connotation at the grassroots level. They are helping terrorists and jihadist gangs in Sinai against the Egyptian Army.”
He also stated that, “The United States and Israel now know that the agreements they made with the Brotherhood no longer matter.”
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
