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Fatah-Hamas media war continues

ROEE NAHMIAS  |
Hamas and Fatah have launched a holy war against each other via Palestinian media, and are using their respective TV stations to accuse the other party of defiling Islam, while each party presents itself as defending the religion.
Two videos, published by Palestinian Media Watch, show the media struggle between the two parties. A Hamas video shows animated Fatah rats in a cowardly, corrupt light, using American weapons and being showered in dollars given by the West.
In the video, the rats are accused of burning Qurans, blowing up mosques and dishonoring religious Muslim women, until a Hamas lion arises, and defeats the Fatah rats.
"Let this be a message to Fatah gangs," the video said, possibly hinting of a next round of fighting in the West Bank.
Fatah retaliated by broadcasting harsh images from Ard al-Ribat mosque in Gaza after Hamas' attacks. Images include defiled Qurans, dead bodies, bloody mosques. "They (Hamas) trampled the mosque and defiled it," Fatah's clip said, with emphasis on the word "defile."
The situation in the Palestinian territories has been deteriorating in recent months; to the point where Fatah activists refuse to pray in Hamas mosques in the Gaza Strip after being made subjects of slander in sermons.
Fatah men wishing to pray in the public areas have also been scared away by Hamas' Executive Forces firing gunshots in the air.
Hamas on the other hand, has been crying out against the waves of arrest carried out in the West Bank by the Palestinian Authority security forces as an attempt to prevent the organization's strengthening in PA-controlled areas.
These clips are not the only examples of media slander, and both parties take daily blows at each other in newspapers and television. Fatah has been accused by Hamas of being corrupt for a long time and have in turn called Hamas "Shiites," a harsh insult indicating their radicalism.

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