Abbas’ advisor: Hamas “failed”, made Palestinians pay too high a price for release of terrorist prisoners, PLO did better
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "In exchange for the release of 1,500 or 1,600 or even 2,000 prisoners (i.e., terrorists), who deserve all honor, appreciation, and pride, more than 50,000 Palestinians have died as Martyrs, over 120,000 have been wounded… since Oct. 7, [2023] (i.e., Hamas' launch of terror war)... The PA and the PLO released prisoners without [shedding] one drop of blood. They released prisoners who were arrested prior to the Oslo Accords, some of whom were serving sentences of decades... The PA returned 1.85 million Palestinians from the diaspora to the homeland, while Hamas caused more than 300,000 Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip because it governed alone. Hamas is now required after these empty slogans to carefully reexamine the situation, make its calculations anew, admit with all courage that it has failed in its attempt to govern."
Video title: "Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habbash on [Saudi] Al-Hadath TV: Today Gaza needs someone who will heal its wounds and lead it to salvation, and Hamas needs to comprehensively examine its behavior after this new Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel; "this new Nakba" refers to the 2023 Gaza war – see note below)"
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Jan. 20, 2025]