Fatah condemns ‘divisive’ rival Hamas for causing Israeli reoccupation of Gaza
THE PALESTINIAN ruling faction Fatah has lashed out publicly against Hamas, accusing the terror group of wishing to impose an Iranian leader on Palestine.
The war of words was ignited this week when Hamas attacked Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas for his “unilateral” decision to appoint an ally, Mohammad Mustafa, as prime minister.
Mustafa, who took part in previous reconstruction efforts in Gaza, has been given a mandate to help rebuild the Palestinian enclave following the war.
Mustafa replaced Mohammad Shtayyeh, who resigned in February alongside the rest of his government.
In a statement released by Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority, it claimed Hamas leaders had been blinded to the consequences of their actions by living in “sevenstar hotels” abroad.
Fatah said: “Did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership or any Palestinian national party when it made its decision to carry out the ‘adventure’ of last October 7, which led to a catastrophe more horrific and crueller than the Nakba of 1948? “And did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership that is now negotiating with Israel and offering it concessions after concessions, which have no goal other than securing guarantees of personal security for its leadership to receive, and to try to reach an agreement with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to maintain its divisive role in Gaza and the Palestinian arena?”
Hamas’s brutal attack against Israel, which saw 1,200 people killed, civilians kidnapped, and several kibbutzim destroyed, “caused the return of the Israeli occupation of Gaza”, Fatah claimed.
Referring to Hamas’s seizure of power in Gaza, it added: “[Had] Hamas consulted anyone when it carried out its black coup against Palestinian national legitimacy in 2007, and refused all initiatives to end the division?”
Hamas hit back: “We express our rejection of continuing this approach that has inflicted and continues to inflict harm on our people and our national cause.
“Making individual decisions and engaging in superficial and empty steps such as forming a new government without national consensus only reinforces a policy of unilateralism and deepens division.”
Responding to Hamas, Fatah said: “[Mustafa] is armed with the national agenda and not with false agendas that have brought nothing but woes to the Palestinian people and have not achieved anything for them.”
Would Hamas rather “appoint a prime minister from Iran, or let Tehran appoint a prime minister for the Palestinians?” it asked.
“It seems that the comfortable life that this leadership lives in seven-star hotels has blinded it from what is right.”
Mustafa, 69, was educated at Baghdad University and George Washington University in Washington DC.
He is an internationally respected economist who worked for the World Bank in Washington for 15 years and has advised Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on economic reform.
He was CEO of the Palestine Investment Fund from 2006 to 2013 and later became its chairman after serving as Palestine’s minister of economy and deputy prime minister.