PA attacks Hamas violence against Gazans
Official PA TV News, on civil unrest against Hamas in Gaza, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily Muwaffaq Matar and political commentator Dr. Atiya Jawabreh
Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily Muwaffaq Matar: “[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas… thwarted the American decision to define Hamas as a terror [organization]… Now they are answering, actually, they are answering President Mahmoud Abbas… and they are answering the Palestinian people with their statements and their actions: ‘No, we are terrorists.’ Exactly that…
Naturally, this is not new in everything relating to the methods of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch, which is called Hamas. I think that to this moment, and also according to my personal experience, they have not yet reached the end in everything relating to blood-”
Official PA TV host: “To all of these sights.”
Muwaffaq Matar: “All of these sights, right. What I saw with my own eyes in the Gaza Strip during the coup (i.e., 2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip; see note below –Ed.), and also before and after the coup, was a lot more awful than these scenes. But I want to say something here.”
Host: “Yes.”
Muwaffaq Matar: “Hamas is like all of these groups that use religion, frighten the people with religion, and frighten the people with violence. It intends to exploit the physical and psychological terror against the people in order to scare and frighten them. It is causing them frustration because they have no ability to rise up against Hamas or take an appropriate position.”
2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip - Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah won the 2005 Palestinian Authority Presidential election. However, Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with a majority of 74 out of 132 seats, to Fatah's 45 seats. Fatah's rule of the PA Presidency and Hamas' rule of the PA government led to friction and eventually armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas defeated Fatah militarily in the Gaza Strip in 2007, and since then Hamas has ruled in Gaza while the PA continues to rule the PA areas in the West Bank under Fatah.