PA Daily denounces Hamas
"[Former PLO Chairman and PA] President Martyr (Shahid) [Yasser Arafat] (i.e., founder of the PLO and Fatah terror organizations in the 1960s, and former chairman of the PA) paid with his life for protecting the Palestinian national principles and identity and it not being dependent on the states of the region, and this is in contrast to the Hamas Movement… that has made the Palestinian decision dependent on the capitals of the world and the region, along with its attempts to erase the history and heritage of the founder of the modern Palestinian revolution…
Palestine was not and will not be the central issue of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, but rather they have called for holy Jihad in Afghanistan and for the establishment of an Islamic state on its territory.
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Hamas, with its dark coup (refers to the 2007 Hamas takeover of Gaza; see note below –Ed.), destroyed everything that Yasser Arafat built – the seed of the independent state with ministries, institutions, and security forces.
After Hamas murdered and wounded hundreds of PA members, and tortured thousands in its mosques, it broke into the presidential headquarters [in Gaza]… and the first thing its armed people did was to take down the pictures of Yasser Arafat and trample them, while shooting in the air – and this was while the Israeli battleships were in the sea, not far from there.
Not far from the [former PA] government headquarters [in Gaza], Hamas looted the offices of the Palestinian Broadcasting and Television Corporation (PBC), which is one of the official symbols of the State of Palestine, and transferred them to its party channel Al-Aqsa…
In Yasser Arafat's time a culture of freedom of expression was prevalent and unions were established, and Yasser Arafat also allowed Hamas to establish a political party… while 'Hamas' time' is characterized by oppression, imprisonment, the persecution of Fatah members, and imprisoning them.
In 'Hamas' time,' Martyr Yasser Arafat’s residence was robbed, and the valuable gold objects were sold – swords and medals – after they were melted down to conceal the signs of the crime…
In Yasser Arafat's time freedom of religion and belief prevailed, while in Hamas' time the pulpits of Allah's Messenger [Muhammad] have accused Yasser Arafat and the leaders of Fatah and the Palestinian revolution of treason. Hamas has oppressed worshippers that rejected its path… and they prayed in the open streets (because Hamas prevented them from praying in mosques it took over –Ed.)…
In Yasser Arafat's time freedom of press and media flourished, including the Hamas institutions and media websites, while in Hamas' time, Hamas has oppressed the journalists, members of the media, books, and people of culture – and one of the examples of this is the robbery of the PA TV building and the WAFA [official PA] news agency headquarters, and the closing of radio stations and media websites identified with Fatah.
In Yasser Arafat's time, there was support for resistance in all of its forms and types (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), and there was protection of the fighters and resistance members, while in Hamas' time resistance activity is forbidden under different pretexts that serve Hamas’ project and its interests first of all, and [Hamas] arrests anyone that carries out resistance against the occupation…
In Yasser Arafat's time an airport was built on the homeland's ground, and planes landed and took off, while in Hamas' time the airport was destroyed (sic., the airport in Gaza stopped being operational in 2001 when Israel bombed it in response to the 2000-2005 PA terror campaign, the second Intifada), and now [Hamas] is eager for the establishment of an airport outside of the Palestinian territory…
Hamas, which over the years has attacked the Oslo Accords and described them with the harshest descriptions, is now striving for a 'ceasefire' arrangement with the Israeli occupation…
And in conclusion, Hamas is selling the Martyrs' blood for dollars and diesel fuel, and everyone is laughing at it. All of this is the tip of the iceberg of the differences between Yasser Arafat's time and Hamas' time – a difference of heaven and earth."
Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.
2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip - Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah won the 2005 Palestinian Authority Presidential election. However, Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with a majority of 74 out of 132 seats, to Fatah's 45 seats. Fatah's rule of the PA Presidency and Hamas' rule of the PA government led to friction and eventually armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas defeated Fatah militarily in the Gaza Strip in 2007, and since then Hamas has ruled in Gaza while the PA continues to rule the PA areas in the West Bank under Fatah.
The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.