Would you sell your wife's jewelry to buy a gun? Every Palestinian would

Would you sell your wife's jewelry to buy a gun? According to a senior Palestinian academic, every Palestinian would, both in the PA-controlled territories and in Gaza. That was the blunt admission made recently on official Palestinian Authority television that exposed just how deeply weapons are embedded in Palestinian society, not merely as tools, but as symbols of identity, status, and purpose, so much so that there is one "in every Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip."

Director of Palestinian Center for Strategic Studies Muhammad Al-Masri: "In every Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip there is a weapon, even before October 7, because now we know that the Palestinian from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip considers weapons as an ornament. He sells his wife's gold and buys a weapon, not only for defense, but also to have its symbolism."

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Jan. 5, 2026]

The statement is remarkable not only for its candor, but because it shatters the Palestinian Authority's carefully cultivated narrative that Gaza is a civilian space, largely devoid of weapons, and certainly not a society that prioritizes terror.

That narrative was articulated most explicitly by Mahmoud Abbas' senior advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who insisted that "the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are all civilians" and minimized the "armed groups and factions" as merely being "equipped with light and insignificant weapons."

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "The war (Hamas' Oct. 7 war on Israel) was one-sided. Israel is trying to market an illusion that there was a war between two armies, between two equal groups. This is not true and not realistic. The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are all civilians. Although there are armed groups and factions, they are equipped with light and insignificant weapons."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Oct. 18, 2025]

This lie was broadcast again this month, when the host of a current affairs program declared unequivocally that "for the record, there are no weapons in the Gaza Strip." The guest on the show echoed this, proclaiming that "there are no frightening weapons" in Gaza.

Official PA TV host: "For the record, there are no weapons in the Gaza Strip, nor is there an army as Netanyahu describes." …

Deputy Director of the Tafkir Center for Political Affairs Hani Al-Jamal: "There are no frightening weapons [that threaten] the Israeli [war] machine in the Gaza Strip... This is only about obsessions and lies that Israel presents to justify its presence in the Gaza Strip."

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 2, 2026]

The illusion, however, collapsed almost immediately. In the very same conversation in which weapons were declared nonexistent, the guest discussed how those very weapons must be confiscated, regulated, or reassigned.

Official PA TV host: "How can we prevent [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and his government from having the [Gaza] crossings turn into a means of extortion, in light of Netanyahu's insistence on what he calls the disarmament clause?" …

Deputy Director of the Tafkir Center for Political Affairs Hani Al-Jamal: "Weapons collection will be carried out within the framework of the law. Maybe one of the main tasks that will be assigned to this [Palestinian] technocrat committee [controlling Gaza] will be the taking or confiscation of weapons. Those who held weapons illegally- I believe we all agreed on these restrictions, which state that anyone who holds illegal weapons in the Gaza Strip must hand them over, and I believe that the technocrat committee has announced this – either there will be [a possibility of] a safe exit for those carrying weapons or they will be integrated into the Palestinian police force and benefit from their experience in this field."

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 2, 2026]

More incredibly, even as PA TV insists that there are no weapons in Gaza, the possibility is already being floated of integrating the terrorists "into the Palestinian police force," which would "benefit from their experience in this field." This is the same police force that is proud to have its members deeply involved in terror, as exposed in PMW's report, Terrorists in Uniform, about the members of the PA Security Forces. This is also the same PA now lobbying to extend its control into Gaza.

Allowing a leadership that lies so openly about weapons, terror, and "disarmament" to expand its authority would simply continue the same deception and the same terror culture and infrastructure.