In a May 12, 2021 article titled "A Grave Mistake by Hamas!", Jordanian journalist Salah Al-Qallab, formerly a member of Jordan's upper house of parliament and minister of information and culture, slams the Hamas movement for launching the military confrontation with Israel without the consent of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Writing on the liberal website Elaph.com, Al-Qallab states that Hamas should have coordinated its moves with PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas and with the PLO, which, he contends, is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. He implies that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) acted in the service of Iran, and stresses that decisions of this magnitude must only be taken by the PA. By starting this round of fighting "behind the back" of the PA, he says, Hamas has "greatly harmed" the Palestinians – who previously enjoyed international support on the issue of Jerusalem – by proving to the world that the Palestinians are not united and do not have a united leadership.
Saleh Al-Qallab (Source: buyerpress.com)
The following are translated excerpts from his article:[1]
SUPPORT OUR WORK
"Just as Binyamin Netanyahu – the deposed or resigning Israeli prime minister, whose political crimes are still pursuing him – raised the issue of Jerusalem on the eve of the Israeli elections with the aim of restoring his previous status, the Hamas movement, along with the PIJ – which, according to some Palestinian elements, see Iran as their source of authority and [obey] the decisions of the Jurisprudent in Tehran [i.e., Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] – followed its usual habit of circumventing the Palestinian National Authority, headed by President Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen), as well as the Fatah movement, of course, and entered full force into a confrontation with Israel…
"Had the goal of the Hamas movement not been, as usual, to usurp the political and military decision-making [authority] of the Fatah movement and of President Mahmoud 'Abbas, we would have expected it to coordinate [its moves] with the PA in advance, before launching this forceful attack [against Israel]. For the [Palestinian] Authority is the sole legitimate representative of this fighting [Palestinian] people, and it must not be circumvented in political or military [decisions]. A decision of this magnitude should have been taken in Ramallah, i.e., in Jerusalem, and not in Iran or in some other Arab capital, large or small.
"The international [community] supported the Palestinian National Authority on the issue of Jerusalem, which Israel, and especially [its] deposed or resigning prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, deliberately raised. Even the U.S. stressed, in a statement that was quoted by news agencies and the media worldwide, that 'the Palestinians are entitled to live in security' and that 'the West Bank is occupied territory and Jerusalem is one of the issues [to be resolved] in permanent status negotiations between the sides.'
"Hence, the Hamas movement, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, shouldn't have entered into this military and political confrontation [with Israel] behind the back of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and behind the back of the [Palestinian] National Authority and [President] Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen). It shouldn't have acted on the political and military level as though the Gaza Strip has nothing to do with the West Bank, Ramallah and East Jerusalem, which are the reason for the present conflict between the Palestinian people and the Zionist enemy.
"Hamas shouldn't have behaved this way, as though the Palestinian decision[-making] is in its hands, as though there is no sole legitimate representative of this [Palestinian] people, no Palestinian president, no Palestinian National Authority and no Fatah, which was the first [movement] to fire a bullet [at Israel] and [wage] resistance, and the first to sacrifice virtuous martyrs from among its senior leaders and fedayeen.
"With all due respect for the martyrs and virtuous [fighters] that the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] has sacrificed in the present conflict, what Hamas has done behind the back of Fatah, the PA and President Abu Mazen has greatly harmed the Palestinian cause. It has shown even those who used to support the Palestinian cause, which is definitely sacred, that this fighting [Palestinian] people is not united, that its decision-making is not in the hands of a single element, and that the Gaza Strip is not like Jerusalem and the West Bank. [Now] the Israelis will tell those who are pressuring them, especially in the West, in Europe and in the U.S., and in the entire world, that there is no united Palestinian people and no single Palestinian leadership that is the sole legitimate representative of this people. Rather, there is a leadership of the West Bank and [a different] leadership of the Gaza Strip!!"
[1] Elaph.com, May 12, 2021.
