Op-ed attacks Hamas-Iran relations; Fatah believes “in the path of peaceful popular resistance… we are not promoting armed activity,” but glorifies past terror attacks

Excerpt of op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily

Headline: "Tehran's precise rockets and Hamas' rocketing statements"

"Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution Ali Khamenei knows that the modern Palestinian revolution did not begin with rocks, but rather with a rifle with political targets 54 years ago. He knows that the Fatah Movement and PLO factions have gone through the stage of armed struggle…

Therefore, we do not see truth in the leader's statements before a Hamas Political Bureau delegation, which should have behaved with at least a bit of patriotism, and which should have told the truth that it certainly knows. This is because the delegation members' silence before Leader Khamenei – who said that ‘during recent years the Palestinians have struggled using rocks, but today they have precision rockets instead of rocks' – means agreeing with every description that diminishes the modern Palestinian national struggle for more than half a century, as long as it achieves material gain for their organization!

It must be emphasized… that we believe in the path of peaceful popular resistance, and that we are not promoting armed activity. This is a constant and determined commitment to the PLO basic lines, in addition to our personal belief in the path of peaceful national struggle until achieving independence, achieving victory, and establishing the sovereign Palestinian state. Nonetheless, the historical facts obligate us to note them as long as there is someone who is determined to deny them; these facts have become a part of our national experience of which we are and will continue to be proud, because at the time it was a direct path that led us to lay feet on the land of our homeland Palestine (refers to the return of the PLO to the West Bank and Gaza following the Oslo Accords –Ed.)…

Leader [Khamenei] should be reminded that the Palestinian leadership's precision rockets struck their targets in a precise manner on the outskirts of Tel Aviv (Petah Tikva) [parentheses in source] 50 years ago. Those are the rockets that the Fatah self-sacrificing fighters (Fedayeen) bore on their shoulders and [with which] they crossed the Jordan River, despite the danger of drowning and being exposed by the enemy.

Even more so, the Hamas delegation – which was silent and dumbstruck in the presence of Khamenei – should be reminded of what [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas wrote in his book Zionism – a Beginning and an End regarding the effect of the Palestinian resistance and self-sacrificing activity on the foundations of the Zionist movement's project…

In 1975, in other words 45 years ago, he wrote: ‘Our young people’s self-sacrificing operations (i.e., terror attacks) have contributed to the political and media achievements we have made, and have had a direct effect on everything connected to harming the Jewish immigration to Israel, which is the pillar of the Zionist movement.’

…

The Hamas Sheikhs are going to Tehran as if they are blind, deaf, and lacking in all feeling and awareness. They are going there at a time when the tension between Arab states and Tehran has reached a point where we are just a step away from an explosion.

They are going to Tehran at a time when a number of unusual Arabic-speaking voices have begun to be heard that are blaming the Palestinians – and all of this is in order to justify the connection that this or that person wants with the Israeli occupation. The danger of this phenomenon, despite it being a phenomenon of individuals, lies in its spread on social media, and even more so when the Hamas Sheikhs hand them material on a silver platter. Then they can say generally: ‘Look, the Palestinians are making an alliance with Iran, which is threatening us and fighting against us in one place or another.’

…

The Hamas Sheikhs are joining an axis and alliance with Tehran as if their goal is to confirm the unjust narrative of the regime in Tel Aviv, which says that ‘The Palestinians do not have one regime, they do not have one government, and they are making an alliance with Iran that is threatening to put an end to Israel’s existence.’

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The statements of Leader Khamenei regarding Palestinian precision rockets, and the Hamas Sheikhs’ Hamas, which will appear in strength in the West Bank after President Mahmoud Abbas’ disappearance from the political landscape.’

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It is possible that the Hamas Sheikhs will reap some benefit from Tehran, but the next Israeli aggression will reap thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza under the pretext of destroying the Iranian rockets.”