Fatah seeks reconciliation with Hamas; Hamas promises "extermination" of Israel
Hamas promises Israel and its people: "slaughter, extermination, and annihilation"
Hamas messages during rocket attacks on Israel:
To Palestinians:
"Set out on the path of Jihad and resistance"
"We'll fight with the rifle, the Molotov [cocktail]... O Martyrdom-seeker, tighten your [suicide] belt"
To Israelis:
"You will be crushed... there are men who passionately love Martyrdom-death"
"I will dig your grave with my hands... I go down with the Quran and the knife to die as a Martyr while fighting"
Hamas messages to Israelis after the rocket attacks:
"We have come to tell the Zionist enemy... leave us, for the day of your slaughter, extermination, and annihilation is near"
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh announced he will hold elections in the PA only after reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas has been achieved. But what will be the basis of this reconciliation? Where will Fatah meet Hamas and what ideology might they agree on?
Hamas recently launched over 700 rockets at Israeli civilians, murdering 4 Israelis. Below is a taste of the messages Hamas sent to Palestinians and Israelis during those rocket attacks - messages that include calls for "Jihad", encouragement of Palestinians to carry out violence and terror, and die as "Martyrs," as well as threats to Israelis that their "grave" is being prepared.
Is this the common ground PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh will agree to?
Following the barrage of rockets, Hamas leaders continued to be vocal in their promise of genocidal violence against Israel. Hamas official Fathi Hammad addressed Israelis - "the Zionist enemy" - and told them that "the day of your slaughter, extermination, and annihilation is near":
Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad: "We have come to tell the Zionist enemy - including its people, its army, its government, and the Israeli Parliament - leave us, for the day of your slaughter, extermination, and annihilation is near. Each one of you should search for a place for yourself in Europe, or in any kind of stronghold, or in hell, or in the sea, or in the ocean, or in the Bermuda Triangle. You have no place in Palestine. You have no place on the land of Jerusalem. You have no place in the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, or in Jaffa, or in Haifa, or in Acre, or anywhere... leave us, for the day of your annihilation is near."
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 15, 2019
Hamas to Palestinians during rocket attacks:
Senior Hamas official and PA Parliament Member Abd Al-Rahman Al-Jamal:
"The time has come for this world to stand by the Palestinian people, which is defending its rights, land, and honor. We are continuing, Allah willing, [because] our honor and greatness are [achieved] by our Jihad and resistance... Set out with Allah's blessing on the path of Jihad and resistance."
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 4, 2019
Hamas TV: "We'll fight with the rifle, the Molotov [cocktail]... Martyrdom-seeker, tighten your [explosives] belt"
"An ember lights an ember and quickly the fire ignites
A wave chases a wave, a storm causes a storm...
Pull your trigger, O son of my land, and break the walls
of the settler who crossed the border on your land and was oppressive
Burst forth, O rebels, and defend the home's honor...
We'll fight with the rifle, with the Molotov [cocktail], and with rocks
And by Allah, we won't give up until the home returns
Even if the path is long, after the night comes day...
O Martyrdom-seeker, tighten your [explosives] belt, and water the laurel tree (i.e., a symbol of victory)
The night of tyranny has been long, but it will certainly collapse
Your weapon is fire and embers against the treacherous enemy...
We are passionate for our land, and we have burst forth from it as free people
And the revolution is a tree that we water with the blood of the pure
We'll stand firm, regardless of what happens, and we'll not accept humiliation.
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 4, 2019
Hamas to Israelis during rocket attacks:
Hamas TV: "You will be crushed... there are men who passionately love Martyrdom-death"
"Advance, [Israeli soldier], and await your grave, advance and be defeated;
So that you will see the gate of death, you will see suffering from us...
Here are the battlefields of heroism and rage
Here are drawn and flaming swords
Be careful - worry will imprison you
Be careful - the tunnel will capture you...
You will be crushed if you draw near
You will be crushed if you remain
Here we have men who bear lethal [weapons] for you...
Advance, [Israeli soldier], and await your grave
Advance and we will teach you a lesson...
Here we have men who passionately love Martyrdom-death...
Advance, [Israeli soldier], and the fire will burn you
Advance and shame will pursue you."
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 4, 2019
Hamas TV: "I will dig your grave with my hands... I go down with the Quran and the knife to die as a Martyr while fighting"
"We'll make our enemy live in fear, in fear, in fear...
I'll dig your grave with my hands...
I've reached you from all fronts, and with the will of the heroes.
We don't have planes, but we have men...
At the gates of the precious Al-Aqsa Mosque...
Leave, leave O foreigner. We'll turn your day into night. From Rafah to the Galilee, (i.e., all of Israel) the powerful wave will reach you...
If [the settler] thinks to take a walk in the [Al-Aqsa Mosque] plaza,
set out towards him with the sharp sword...
Strike, strike, strike - we won't let him approach the Al-Aqsa Mosque...
The response, the response, the response, the response - we'll punish the occupier (i.e., as described in the Quran)...Visual: Footage of stabbing attack
Whether during the day or at night, I go down to the Al-Aqsa Mosque...
I go down with the Quran and the knife to die as a Martyr while fighting.
We will die and Palestine will live.
This is what the self-sacrificing fighters have said."
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 4, 2019
Given the fact that Hamas continues to openly promise Israel's destruction and extermination of Jews how can there be any basis for "reconciliation" that Fatah seeks with Hamas?
Palestinian Media Watch has reported that PA and Fatah leaders when speaking to Palestinians have stressed that on fundamental issues there is no difference between Fatah and Hamas. Fatah and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas himself has called for reconciliation with Hamas because he said they agree on all crucial issues:
Abbas: "There is no disagreement between us [Fatah and Hamas]: About belief? None! About policy? None! About resistance? None!"
Official PA TV Dec. 31, 2009
Abbas and his representatives have since repeated this sentiment.
PM Shtayyeh himself said in 2017 that Fatah and Hamas agree that Israel has no right to exist:
Last year, Abbas' advisor on religious affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, echoed Hamas, stating that Islam's religious war to destroy Israel has started. When the US in December 2018 proposed a resolution at the UN to condemn Hamas for firing rockets into Israel and inciting violence, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki stated that if Hamas is to be considered a terror organization, so is Fatah.
Accordingly, based on their own statements, Fatah and Hamas could reach ideological reconciliation regarding their policy towards Israel. The reason there has not been reconciliation has always been a difference of opinion regarding power-sharing. In the last elections, Abbas won as PA Chairman while Hamas won a majority of seats in the Parliament both in Gaza and the West Bank. Both felt justified ruling over the Palestinians.
The following is a longer excerpt of the speech by Hamas official Hammad promising to "slaughter" and "annihilate" Israelis:
Voice off-screen: "O beloved resistance member, strike - strike Tel Aviv!"
Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad: "Gaza says today: We have come to turn the anniversary of our Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) into an anniversary of intifada, progress, and victory. We have come today to announce to the entire world that we are very close to liberating our land... We have come to tell the Zionist enemy - including its people, its army, its government, and the Israeli Parliament - leave us, for the day of your slaughter, extermination, and annihilation is near. Each one of you should search for a place for yourself in Europe, or in any kind of stronghold, or in hell, or in the sea, or in the ocean, or in the Bermuda Triangle. You have no place in Palestine. You have no place on the land of Jerusalem. You have no place in the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, or in Jaffa, or in Haifa, or in Acre, or anywhere. We have already uprooted you from Gaza. You failed and left wrapped in disgrace. We have also uprooted you from a number of areas of the West Bank - but the [PA] security cooperation insists on stabilizing you and standing by you. Therefore, leave us, for the day of your annihilation is near.
Is it not so, sons of our people, our sisters? I want to hear, are you ready for liberation?"
Crowd: "Ready!"
Fathi Hammad: "Louder! Ready? Let our enemy hear this call."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 15, 2019]
May 2019 Gaza rocket attacks – The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations in Gaza launched a rocket barrage on Israeli civilian population centers on May 4, 2019, firing more than 700 rockets and murdering 4 Israelis in the course of two days. Israel responded by striking terror targets; 23 Gazans, many of them terrorists, were killed during the exchange of fire. On May 6 a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas.
Stabbing attack featured in Hamas TV music video:
Alaa Abu Jamal - Palestinian terrorist who deliberately drove his car into Israelis standing at a bus stop on Malchei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2015, hitting three people. Yeshayahu Krishevsky, 60, was murdered and the other two were injured. Abu Jamal then got out of his car and started attacking people with an axe, wounding others. The terrorist was killed by a security guard.