PA daily to Hamas: Release Israeli hostages unconditionally, “end fighting unilaterally” in Gaza
PA daily to Hamas:
- Hamas! Release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza "unilaterally"
- Hamas' release of all hostages early in war would have ended it
- Release of imprisoned Palestinian terrorists could have been achieved with only "a few Israeli soldiers taken hostage" and would have spared Gaza the destruction
PA daily about Hamas:
- "Palestine" doesn't matter to Hamas
- All Hamas' rockets on Israel over the years have only provided Israel with "an excuse to destroy the capabilities of the Palestinian people"
- Column expresses decades of PA criticism of Hamas
A recent column in the official PA daily criticized Hamas for not releasing all Israeli hostages to prevent further destruction of Gaza. The column called on Hamas to immediately release all the hostages and "unilaterally" end the fighting.
While the PA and Fatah have cheered Hamas' October 7 massacre and celebrated the recent unity declaration signed in China with Hamas, Palestinian Media Watch has also exposed that the PA at the same time in order to hurt Hamas' popularity, is very critical of Hamas, blaming them for only looking out for their own and Iran's interests. The recent column sums up decades of PA criticism of Hamas, blaming Hamas for "never listening" and constantly providing Israel with "excuses" to "eliminate the entire Palestinian cause." The following are highlights from the column:
Hamas! Release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza "unilaterally"
"Hamas, as many are urging it, must initiate the end of fighting in the Gaza Strip unilaterally and hand over the Israeli hostages in order to prevent the destruction of Lebanon and prevent the continued destruction of the Gaza Strip."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 23, 2024]
Hamas' release of all hostages early in war would have ended it:
"The Hamas leadership could have announced that it is prepared to return all the [Israeli] hostages just in exchange for stopping the war in the first month already, when it became clear that the Israeli goal is to destroy the Gaza Strip and even eliminate the entire Palestinian cause."
Release of imprisoned Palestinian terrorists could have been achieved by taking only a few Israeli soldiers hostage and would have spared Gaza the destruction:
"What is important from its [Hamas'] perspective is preserving its control over the Gaza Strip. Afterwards, and ever since the [Al-Aqsa] Flood (i.e., Hamas' name for Oct. 7 atrocities) ) that was proven to be an uncalculated adventure, even Hamas' allies in the axis of resistance say openly today that the [Hamas] Oct. 7, [2023] attack was an adventure and an exaggerated operation carried out by [Hamas leader Yahya] Al-Sinwar, and that if the goal was to empty the [Israeli] prisons, they could have made do with kidnapping four or five [Israeli] soldiers. Ever since that adventure, many parties including mediators [advised] Hamas to cancel the excuses with which Israel is continuing its war of annihilation against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and to prevent the continued destruction of the Gaza Strip – and instead of Hamas listening to the advice, it called to transfer the battle to the West Bank…"
"Palestine" doesn't matter to Hamas:
"From its [Hamas'] perspective, Palestine constitutes a very small part of the Muslim Brotherhood's strategic project, which is connected to the entire Islamic nation. What interests Hamas therefore is not what interests the Palestinian patriots."
All Hamas' rockets on Israel over the years have only provided Israel with "an excuse to destroy the capabilities of the Palestinian people":
"When Hamas [in the past] began to fire primitive rockets at Israel, it did not cause any serious destruction in Israel, and again Hamas was advised that these rockets give the occupation state (i.e., Israel) an excuse to destroy the capabilities of the Palestinian people in general, and in the Gaza Strip in particular."
As early as February 2024, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas to accept a terrorists-for-hostages exchange deal with Israel to end the war:
"The President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas has Wednesday called on Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner swap deal in order to protect Palestinian people and avoid an attack on Rafah city… ‘We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete prisoner swap deal to spare Palestinian people the scourge of another catastrophe with ominous consequences…' the President said… ‘We must bear our responsibilities in stopping this comprehensive war on Palestinian people,' he said. President Abbas added that ‘we hold everyone responsible for placing any obstacles from any party to disrupt the deal, because things are no longer tolerable, and it is time for everyone to bear responsibility.'
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, Feb. 14, 2024]
Abbas continued, urging Hamas to prioritize "the interests of our people":
"We want to protect our people from the repercussions of any serious disaster that will befall them, so we must make decisions that serve the interests of our people and protect them, so that we can defend our cause and our national interests… Once again, we call on everyone, especially the Hamas movement, to quickly complete the deal so that we can protect our people and remove all obstacles.'"
The following are longer excerpts from the reports cited above:
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "Where has Hamas, which refuses to listen to advice, taken us?"
"The problem with Hamas is that it is an organization counted among the Muslim Brotherhood, and one of the characteristics of the Muslim Brotherhood is that they do not listen to advice. Today our topic is not the Muslim Brotherhood and the backwardness and ignorance that they have caused us and the Arabs… What concerns us, the Palestinians, is Hamas, which since its establishment has never listened to advice. The reason for this is that from its perspective, Palestine constitutes a very small part of the Muslim Brotherhood's strategic project,which is connected to the entire Islamic nation. What interests Hamas therefore is not what interests the Palestinian patriots, whose only project is the Palestinian national project and its goals.
We will not again raise the issue of the advice concerning the suicide operations (i.e., suicide bombings), which were carried out in a strange manner at every stage in which the Israeli occupation army had to withdraw from parts of the West Bank according to the Oslo Accords, and which Israel used every time as an excuse not to carry out [the withdrawal]; or the suicide operations that were the reason for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's victory in the 1996 elections, after the Israeli right-wing assassinated [former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin. We will not return to this period, but rather only to the period since Hamas' victory in the [PA] Parliament (Legislative Council) elections at the start of 2006, when I advised Hamas that if it wants to form a government and take control, it must at least announce that it is committed to the international institutions' resolutions on the Palestinian cause, or announce that it agrees to the Arab [Peace] Initiative that was rejected by [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon. At the time Hamas did not accede [to this advice], and a tight international political, monetary, and economic siege was imposed on the Palestinian people…
After Hamas carried out its military coup in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 (see note below -Ed.), many Palestinian, Arab, and even international parties gave Hamas advice, and told it that what it did only serves Israel…
When Hamas began to fire primitive rockets at Israel, it did not cause any serious destruction in Israel, and again Hamas was advised that these rockets give the occupation state (i.e., Israel) an excuse to destroy the capabilities of the Palestinian people in general, and in the Gaza Strip in particular.
Hamas ignored all the calls to end the [Hamas-Fatah] rift and the cutoff between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and to return to the Palestinian national home, to the point that it agreed to receive money through the Mossad (Israeli Secret Intelligence Service). What is important from its perspective is preserving its control over the Gaza Strip. Afterwards, and ever since the [Al-Aqsa] Flood (Hamas' name for its terror war against Israel; see note below -Ed.) that was proven to be an uncalculated adventure, even Hamas' allies in the axis of resistance say openly today that the Oct. 7, [2023] attack (i.e., Hamas' invasion and massacre to launch its terror war) was an adventure and an exaggerated operation carried out by [Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Yahya] Al-Sinwar, and that if the goal was to empty the [Israeli] prisons, they could have made do with kidnapping four or five [Israeli] soldiers. Ever since that adventure, many parties including mediators [advised] Hamas to cancel the excuses with which Israel is continuing its war of annihilation against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and to prevent the continued destruction of the Gaza Strip – and instead of Hamas listening to the advice, it called to transfer the battle to the West Bank…
The Hamas leadership could have announced that it is prepared to return all the [Israeli] hostages just in exchange for stopping the war in the first month already, when it became clear that the Israeli goal is to destroy the Gaza Strip and even eliminate the entire Palestinian cause.Today – as we see that Israel has transferred its destructive war to sister Lebanon, and despite the position of Hezbollah leader Sheikh [Hassan] Nasrallah who announced he will continue to support the Gaza Strip – Hamas, as many are urging it, must initiate the cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip unilaterally and hand over the Israeli hostages in order to prevent the destruction of Lebanon and prevent the continued destruction of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas… is continuing – after all that has happened to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian cause – to trust that it will continue to play a role in the Gaza Strip, without considering the fate of the people and all the resources of the Gaza Strip, the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians as Martyrs, the wounding of more than 100,000 – and this is without having even one national goal achieved. What does the Palestinian people expect of Hamas, which does not listen to advice? Where has Hamas' Flood taken the Palestinian people, its cause, and the region?"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 23, 2024]
Headline: "President Abbas urges Hamas to complete deal to protect Palestinians 'quickly'"
"The President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas has Wednesday called on Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner swap deal in order to protect Palestinian people and avoid an attack on Rafah city.
‘In the face of the comprehensive war being waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, we call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete prisoner swap deal to spare Palestinian people the scourge of another catastrophe with ominous consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948, and to avoid the occupation's attack on the city of Rafah, which will lead to thousands of victims, suffering and displacement for our people,' the President said.
President Abbas called on the US administration and the Arab nations to work seriously to complete the prisoner swap deal as quickly as possible, in order to ‘spare the Palestinian people the scourge of this devastating war.'
The President said that the Israeli occupation is waging an open war on the Gaza Strip, which has led to the killing of hundreds of Palestinian people every day, in addition to storming of the West Bank and Jerusalem, and other dangerous Israeli escalation. ‘Therefore, we must bear our responsibilities in stopping this comprehensive war on Palestinian people,' he said.
President Abbas added that ‘we hold everyone responsible for placing any obstacles from any party to disrupt the deal, because things are no longer tolerable, and it is time for everyone to bear responsibility.'
The President continued, ‘We want to protect our people from the repercussions of any serious disaster that will befall them, so we must make decisions that serve the interests of our people and protect them, so that we can defend our cause and our national interests, by stopping the aggression, recognizing the independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, and continuing our comprehensive political efforts before the UN Security Council and the rest of the international institutions to obtain full membership for the State of Palestine in the United Nations.'
President Abbas concluded, ‘Once again, we call on everyone, especially the Hamas movement, to quickly complete the deal so that we can protect our people and remove all obstacles.'"
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, Feb. 14, 2024]