After Al-Quds reports on the PA Security Forces' killing of a Palestinian civilian, official PA news agency claims the report was simply "an attempt to extort the national unity government"

Headline: “Press statement from the official spokesman of the security establishment”

“Official [PA] Security Forces Spokesman [Adnan Al-Damiri] published a press statement as follows:

The paper Al-Quds – which for a long time considered itself objective, neutral, and professional – set out against us today [Aug. 24, 2016] with an editorial, the least of which can be said of it is that it serves a political source. This is in order to receive payment for its bias, its stance against the leadership and the Palestinian government, and its attempt to extort the [national] unity government by adopting political positions that oppose the ethics of the profession of journalism, and contradict the national responsibility towards public issues.

In its editorial, the paper tried to present what happened in Nablus as a clash between the [PA] Security Forces and ‘citizens,’ and not a handful of outlaws and rioters, who are guilty of crimes against many of the residents of the city of Nablus and the Nablus district.

It placed doubt on the reliability of the security activity in the brave city against the outlaws by adopting the version of [one] side and ignoring the official Palestinian position: What happened to Ahmed Halawa does not represent official policy of the government and the security establishment. [The paper] pretended to forget that the Security Forces have many wanted [criminals] who have been arrested since the start of the security activity in Nablus, and no harm occurred to any of them…

In light of all the misleading and the non-innocent messages that were in the Al-Quds editorial, we say that the paper did not sound the voice of the majority of the citizens, who demand to put an end to all of the displays of anarchy, the unruly behavior, the taking of protection money by force, and the threat to domestic peace.

Likewise it did not sound its ‘professional’ voice regarding the crimes that the Hamas movement carried out and continues to carry out – murder, torture, and the violation of all laws in the Gaza Strip…

If the Al-Quds paper, its policy, and its positions are available to the highest bidder, the Palestinian government will not pay it a thing. It will find countries and internal and external sources, political and partisan, that are willing to pay. Then we will see the paper [published] in a language that is not Arabic, and with a [national] affiliation that is not Palestinian.”