PA ignores US goal for government without Hamas
Official PA editorial: “There is no alternative to national unity [with Hamas]…Here the PLO is opening its gates wide to anyone who wants national unity…”
Top PA official: “Nationally speaking, not one of us is talking about excluding Hamas or others… We will not exclude any of our people.”
Many in the international community have been pressuring Israel to have the PA serve as the governing body of Gaza to replace Hamas the “day after” the war. However, the PA has been saying unequivocally that it has every intent to keep Hamas and others in power within its future government, as it wrote in its official daily editorial:
“There is no alternative to national unity [with Hamas] – not unity of arenas, and not another unity. Here the PLO is opening its gates wide to anyone who wants national unity, with its strategic meaning and goals, which are certainly the goals of Palestine… and of the liberation project, the project of the Palestinian state from Rafah to Jenin, whose capital is East Jerusalem.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 5, 2024]
A top PA official also echoed this sentiment:
“Nationally speaking, not one of us is talking about excluding Hamas or others… We will not exclude any of our people. Indeed, there is a disagreement between us and Hamas; that is true, but this disagreement does not reach the level of exclusion. We are not excluders, and Hamas is part of the Palestinian people and an important part, and an extensive part of the Palestinian people supports the Hamas Movement. We do not deny this.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, March 3, 2024]
Al-Habbash’s statement here is consistent with others he has made in prior months, such as in January when he said:
“Palestinian national unity, in addition to being a Shari’ah duty that cannot be belittled, is also a political and national need, especially at this dangerous stage that the Palestinian cause is in…The call still exists and the opportunity still exists to meet in order to implement and strengthen national unity and strengthen the Palestinian ranks through one united national position against this occupation (i.e., Israel).”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Jan. 10, 2024]
Fatah has refused to condemn the October 7 massacres and even played a role in them. Fatah’s many statements that Hamas will be a part of a future joint government therefore should not be surprising. The international community, just as it has utterly rejected Hamas, must disqualify Fatah, which plans to partner with Hamas, from serving in any leadership role in Gaza.