PA embraces Russia and China; rejects US, West and attacks Zelensky
- Russia and China can “build a new world free of chaos and terror” – official PA daily
- China isnot “subjugating states and peoples, taking control of and dominating their resources, and stealing their natural resources” whereas “large European states and the US” have a “complex of racial superiority” and are seen “as opponents of morality” – official PA daily
- US is responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “to preserve its global position, defend the unipolar system, and stop the waves of change in the global system” – official PA daily
- Zelensky also responsible due to his “blind subordination to the plan of Washington, which entangled him in its proxy wars at the expense of the Ukrainian national interests – and caused the outbreak of a war with Russia… the Biden administration is attempting to entangle him more and more in the furnace of war” - official PA daily
- Abbas trusts China and the communist party “as a world power”because of “the courage of the Chinese leadership, the capability of China and other states in the world to oppose hegemony and double standards” – senior Fatah official
- Abbas’ visit to China was “the crowning glory of the strategic historical ties between Palestine and China” – senior Fatah official
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has never hidden that he supports Russian President Vladimir Putin, and while other heads of state boycotted the Russian leader entirely after his invasion of Ukraine, Abbas has instead emphasized his support and admiration for Ukraine’s attacker.
In a phone call between Abbas and Putin on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim “Sacrifice Feast” holiday in July – a year and a half after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine - Abbas stressed his support for the Russian leader and wished his country “continued progress and prosperity”:
Official PA TV newsreader: “His Honor [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] briefed his Russian counterpart [Vladimir Putin] on the recent developments in the Palestinian cause, and he emphasized his support for Russia’s internal stability and wished it continued progress and prosperity.”
[Official PA TV News, July 1, 2023]
The official PA daily underlined Abbas’ support for Putin the next day, stating in a headline that “Russia’s internal stability is very important to him.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 2, 2023] So while Putin has been condemned as a war criminal by Western countries because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and its repeated targeting of civilians, the PA continues to express support for Russia.
Following the PA official position, a regular columnist of the official PA daily turned history on its head and blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for purposes of territorial expansion, on the United States. He called it America’s war “to preserve its global position, defend the unipolar system, and stop the waves of change in the global system.” He also blamed Zelensky’s “blind subordination to the plan of Washington, which entangled him in its proxy wars at the expense of the Ukrainian national interests – and caused the outbreak of a war with Russia.” Zelensky is not able to free himself, he wrote, “because the Biden administration is attempting to entangle him more and more in the furnace of war.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 16, 2023]
Earlier, a regular columnist of the official PA daily praised both Russia and China as powers able to “build a new world free of chaos and terror,” - somewhat ironic considering Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, and China’s toward the Xinjiang Province.
Columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul made this statement after the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its wish to “to hold a consultation meeting between the Arab League, the states of the region, and Russia regarding the issue of a peace agreement in the Middle East.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25, 2023]
Another “close friend” of Abbas’ is China’s President Xi Jinping. On the recent occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of the veteran Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Abbas expressed the Palestinian “admiration” for China and its “achievements”:
”[Abbas] praised the achievements of China, which is continuing its victorious journey that is full of successes in all fields, while preserving its achievements and its leading and strengthening position in the world. Therefore, its journey has justly received our admiration and the admiration of [the world] states.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, July 23, 2023]
Moreover, Abbas “expressed his great pride in the historical and firm ties between the two states and the two peoples, which are based on deep friendship, solidarity, and cooperation.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, June 14, 2023]
But Abbas doesn’t settle for writing letters. In June he visited China and President Jinping to mark the “occasion of 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two friendly states.” Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki stated that Abbas’ visit had “special and great implications, because it constitutes the crowning glory of the strategic historical ties between Palestine and China.” [WAFA, official PA news agency, June 11, 2023]
In another statement, Zaki praised China for being “devoid of the complex of subjugating states and peoples” as opposed to “large European states and the US” who he classified as “opponents of morality.” Zaki ended by explaining why Abbas believes in China:
”The reason for the confidence that [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas places in the PRC’s capabilities as a world power and in the communist party is the courage of the Chinese leadership, the capability of China and other states in the world to oppose hegemony and double standards, and its devotion on everything concerning dealing with the Palestinian right.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2023]
Regular columnist for the official PA daily Muwaffaq Matar wrote that China has given the Palestinian revolution weapons – i.e., supported Palestinian terror:
“China, which gave the Palestinian revolution weapons, is prepared today to increase what it is giving and what is necessary to the State of Palestine in the fields of energy, health, education, and training staff.”
Matar also pinned the PA’s hopes for a future as a member state of the UN on China, expecting it to support the PA at the UN:
“We are convinced that the People’s Republic of China will act as an impetus for Palestine in achieving the goal of full membership in the UN General Assembly.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2023]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Abbas is invested in the development of the Palestinian-Russian ties and the PA’s support for China, while PA leaders have defined the US as the enemy. Senior Fatah official Abbas Zakimentioned above defined the US as follows: “We have many friends in the world, while the US has retreated, and it is the enemy and Israel is its claw in the region.” [“Fateh TV” YouTube channel, Aug. 29, 2022] Abbas himself has added: "We don't trust America… We don’t trust them and don’t rely on them, and we won’t accept under any circumstances to America being the sole party in resolving the problem."
[YouTube channel of Cairo-based Alghad TV, Oct. 13, 2022]
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Headline: “The [PA] president emphasizes to Putin in a phone call that Russia’s internal stability is very important to him”
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call in which the ties between the two states and the two friendly peoples and the ways to strengthen them were reviewed.
The Russian president congratulated President Abbas and the Palestinian people on the occasion of blessed Eid Al-Adha (i.e., the Muslim “Sacrifice Feast” holiday).
President Putin emphasized Russia’s permanent position, which supports the Palestinian people on everything concerning realizing its hopes and aspirations for freedom, independence, and establishing its independent state whose capital is East Jerusalem.
President [Abbas] briefed his Russian counterpart on the developments concerning the Palestinian cause. He emphasized that Russia’s internal stability is very important to him, and he wished it continued progress and prosperity.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 2, 2023]
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
“After actor clown [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky was appointed president of Ukraine, he no longer distinguishes between his role in the theater as an actor and his job as a diplomat responsible for the Ukrainian people …
This was after he got entangled in the dangerous American game and agreed to serve as the spearhead in America’s proxy world war to preserve its global position, defend the unipolar system, and stop the waves of change in the global system, which is beginning to lean towards a multipolar world…
He completely and deliberately ignored Russia’s role in the Eurasia region, encountered danger… due to the blind subordination to the plan of Washington, which entangled him in its proxy wars at the expense of the Ukrainian national interests – and caused the outbreak of a war with Russia, whose results were not taken into account.
The American and Western European aid increased his insanity and his blindness to the dangerous developments…
In order to placate him, they [US] promised to give more financial and military aid – F-16 jets, sophisticated cluster bombs, and all types of sophisticated weapons – in addition to long-term security guarantees. [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the central figures in his leadership viewed this as a dangerous crossing of Russia’s red lines…
This requires the stage actor and crazy politician to stop and reexamine his dreams while awake… in order to defend Ukraine’s supreme interests and distance the specter of war from the Ukrainian people, by resigning from the role of American puppet. However, it appears that it is difficult for the comedian who has impersonated a politician to leave the tunnel of arrogance and political immaturity, because the Biden administration is attempting to entangle him more and more in the furnace of war, whose loss is known in advance.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 16, 2023]
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
Headline: “Developing the Russian initiative”
“An article by the Russian news agency from Thursday, June 22, [2023,] said that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to hold a consultation meeting between the Arab League, the states of the region, and Russia regarding the issue of a peace agreement in the Middle East…
This call comes following an escalation of the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian Arab people and the understanding of its dangers, and also of the consequences of the Zionist barbaric loss of restraint under the auspices of the sixth government of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu on the situation in Palestine in particular, in the Arab homeland, and in the Middle East. In addition, Russia has a personal interest in restraining the Zionist fascists and returning the Arab-Zionist conflict to the starting point as an existential conflict and not a conflict over borders, and the impact of this is on approximately 1.5 million Russians in Israel…
If the Russian bear truly wants to strengthen its role and the role of its partners in the BRICS organization (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), it must use them in each of the global issues to impose a new reality and international worldview…
Russia, China, and their allies have a golden opportunity to break the Zionist-American taboos if they want to build a new world free of chaos and terror.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25, 2023]
Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul is also a former PLO Central Council member.
Headline: “The [PA] president congratulates his Chinese counterpart on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party”
“[PA] President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas congratulated his Chinese counterpart [President] Xi Jinping on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of the veteran Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In the congratulatory telegram, His Honor [Abbas] praised the achievements of China, which is continuing its victorious journey that is full of successes in all fields, while preserving its achievements and its leading and strengthening position in the world. Therefore, its journey has justly received our admiration and the admiration of [the world] states.
The president wished President Xi Jinping health, happiness, and constant success, and also wished China and the Chinese people continued progress and prosperity.
On the occasion of the event, he also again expressed his great pride in the historical and firm ties between the two states and the two peoples, which are based on deep friendship, solidarity, and cooperation. In addition, he expressed his appreciation for its firm positions that support our people and its just cause at all levels and in all the international forums.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, July 23, 2023]
Excerpt of a column by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The path of freedom and liberation between Palestine and China”
“China, which I began to get to know around 50 years ago, is now the great People’s Republic of China (PRC), a friend of the Palestinian people, and one who unlimitedly supports its national liberation movement.This is civilized China, both historically and at present, which is striving for a secure, thriving, and progressing future for the world. This is China, devoid of the complex of subjugating states and peoples, taking control of and dominating their resources, and stealing their natural resources. It is free of the complex of racial superiority and the colonialist invasions and attacks, which… have forced many peoples to classify large European states and the US as opponents of morality and the true values of politics, which are supposed to arrange in actuality the ties between states and peoples…
The reason for the confidence that [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas places in the PRC’s capabilities as a world power and in the communist party is the courage of the Chinese leadership, the capability of China and other states in the world to oppose hegemony and double standards, and its devotion on everything concerning dealing with the Palestinian right (the Palestinian cause) [parentheses in source]. This is in accordance with international law and the decisions of the international institutions, and in a way that protects the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2023]
Headline: “The Arab political parties participating in the Chinese Communist Party conference emphasize that the PLO must be protected”
“The Arab political parties and forces participating in the fourth session of the dialogue conference between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the political parties in the Arab states emphasized the need to protect the PLO as the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, and also [to protect] the people’s right to defend its land and its existence, and to set out against the Israeli aggression…
[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas conveyed a message to the fourth session of the dialogue conference between the CCP and the political parties and forces in the Arab world. The message was read on his behalf by General Commissioner of Fatah Movement Branches Abroad and Fatah Central Committee member Samir Al-Rifai.
The president said that the dialogue conference between the CCP and the political parties in the Arab states is an important cultural event, which will strengthen the friendship, cooperation, and exchange of knowledge between China and the CCP on one side and the Arab states and the Arab political parties on the other side.
He noted with praise the great interest that China and the CCP are showing in tightening the Chinese-Arab ties, particularly the firm historical ties and mutual relations of aid between the CCP and Fatah, and also [the ties] between the two states, which are characterized by constant development. [Abbas said that] the best proof of this is the results of his recent visit to China, which was crowned by an announcement on establishing ties of strategic cooperation and the signing of a number of agreements, which are capable of strengthening the ties.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 16, 2023]
Headline: “Abbas Zaki: The [PA] president’s visit to China has special significance, and we anticipate its full support for Palestine’s full membership at the UN”
“In an interview with [the official PA news agency] WAFA today, Sunday [June 11, 2023, Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas] Zaki said that [PA President Mahmoud Abbas’] visit [to China] has special and great implications, because it constitutes the crowning glory of the strategic historical ties between Palestine and China, and because this is President Mahmoud Abbas’ fifth visit to Beijing since 2005, in which the first visit was held at the time of previous [Chinese] President Hu Jintao in May 2005, and a visit in 2010 to the Shanghai [Cooperation] Organization, and two more state visits in 2013 and 2017.
The president’s visit to Beijing comes on the occasion of 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two friendly states, and as part of the two Palestinian and Chinese leaderships’ roles to strengthen and tighten the strong mutual ties in all fields.
Zaki explained that the visit is the crowning glory of China’s strengthening role in the Middle East, after the Arab-Chinese Riyadh Summit for Cooperation and Development in December 2022, and also after China extended its auspices over the renewed ties between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Syria’s return to the Arab League.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, June 11, 2023]
Headline: “President Abbas, Chinese counterpart Xi agree on establishment of Palestine-China strategic partnership”
“President Mahmoud Abbas and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today agreed on the establishment of the Palestine-China strategic partnership.
The announcement came as President Abbas held talks with his counterpart Xi in Beijing in a step that underscores the strong relations between both countries.
President Abbas expressed his appreciation to China for agreeing to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner pending the approval of the other SCO member states, while considering that SCO would offer the peoples worldwide the equitable opportunity to access development away from hegemony and exploitation.
As part of enhancing cooperation with China within the Belt and Road Initiative, President Abbas expressed aspiration for activating the China-Palestine Joint Economic and Trade Committee through the investment insurance and soft loans provided by the Chinese Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE), as he highlighted the importance of establishing a free trade zone between both countries.
Commenting on Israel’s complete disinterest in peace, President Abbas stated that the current extremist far-right Israeli government neither believes in peace nor in the realization of the two-state solution in line with international law, elaborating that Israel has been proceeding with colonial settlement expansion, land pillage, forcible expulsions, enactment of racist laws; all of which are an integral part of Israel’s decades-long brutal settler-colonial and apartheid policies against indigenous Palestinians intended to undermine the two-state solution and forcibly displace indigenous Palestinians and steal their land.
He expressed appreciation to China for its support to Palestine in international forums as well as for its clear positions on the Palestinian question, manifest in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2017 four-point proposal and the 2021 initiatives on it in addition to the three-point vision for the implementation of the two-state solution.
Touching upon the intra-Palestinian reconciliation, President Abbas pointed that efforts were still underway to achieve reconciliation and end the division based on the political program of PLO and recognition of PLO as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which would pave the way towards the formation of a national unity government.
He thanked China for supporting the Palestinian people’s inalienable and just rights, Palestine’s application for full membership of the United Nations as well as for offering humanitarian and development support.
He reiterated Palestine’s unwavering support to the one-China policy, recognizing Taiwan as an integral part of China, and opposition to politicizing human rights issues.
Meanwhile, President Xi, as reported by China Global Television Network (CGTN), hailed the establishment of a Chinese-Palestinian strategic partnership as “an important milestone in China-Palestine relations that builds on past achievements and heralds a brighter future.”
He told President Abbas that China is willing to continue to provide assistance to Palestine within its own capabilities to help ease humanitarian difficulties and carry out reconstruction.
Xi reiterated China's firm support for the Palestinian people's just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights.
“We have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights," Xi told Abbas.
"Having encountered epochal global changes and new challenges in the Middle East, China is ready to strengthen its coordination and cooperation with Palestine to promote an all-encompassing, just and longstanding resolution of the Palestinian issue," Xi added.
He reiterated his support to the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State.
“The fundamental solution to the Palestinian issue lies in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital," Xi said.
He expressed his country’s willingness to play a positive role to help the Palestinians achieve internal reconciliation and promote peace talks with Israel.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, June 14, 2023]
Excerpt of a column by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The meeting of Palestine and China”
“Today [June 13, 2023, PA] President Mahmoud Abbas will begin a state visit in China, which will last three days, on the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This is President Mahmoud Abbas’ fifth visit in Beijing since 2005. The visit has special and prominent significance, not only because of the nature of the historical, tight, and developing relations between Palestine and China, but also because of the strengthening position of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) among the peoples and states of the region, and also in the world. This is because of the respect that the Chinese leadership’s policy embodies towards states, their interests, their values, and their sovereignty, and since it does not have the colonialist-imperialist tendency that has characterized the relations of large European colonialist states and of the US…
The PRC is interested in liberating the peoples– not only from the hegemony of the colonialist states, but also with a cultural liberation that will eventually lead to wider and deeper openness, and to a meeting between the cultures of the world’s peoples, under the umbrella of peace and respect for the states’ sovereignty, the will of their peoples, and their independent national decisions. We think that the idea of a cultural meeting constitutes an inferiority complex for the prime imperialistic and colonialist state in the world (the US) [parentheses in source]. The US views China as the number one strategic enemy, because China has the components of an economic and military world power, stable political rule, increasing growth, and most important of all – cultural components that enable it to expand the horizons of its relations with the world states, because they are the purest and most solid fuel that is necessary for continuing to hold relations that are virtually void of material interests. This is in contrast to relations with colonialist states, which through their policies seek to destroy the cultural structure of the peoples, in order to facilitate the process of containing them and subjugating them…
China has recorded successes in the Middle East and increased the weight of its political and economic presence. It has succeeded in creating important breaches in the wall of American hegemony in the Middle East, to the point that large Arab states have begun to take action to tighten the economic and political ties with Beijing, after the theory of the strategic ally collapsed, which the US advanced in the world…
We are convinced that the PRC will act as an impetus for Palestine in achieving the goal of full membership in the UN General Assembly. The world power that fully recognized the PLO will be active in realizing this Palestinian achievement for peace, security, and stability in the region and the world…
China, which gave the Palestinian revolution weapons, is prepared today to increase what it is giving and what is necessary to the State of Palestine in the fields of energy, health, education, and training staff, while we need a world power that will stand alongside us so we will wrest our freedom and our independence, and that will support the Palestinian refugees’ right of return…
The PRC was the first non-Arab state in the world that fully recognized the PLO after its establishment in 1965, when Chinese leader Mao Zedong met with PLO Executive Committee Chairman Ahmad Al-Shaqiri and his entourage on March 17, 1965. One of the results [of the visit] was the opening of a PLO office in Beijing in May of the same year…
The statement summarizing the visit noted the following: ‘The Chinese side again says that the Chinese people firmly supports the Palestinian Arab people’s just struggle against Israel and the aggressive American administration. It also supports its demand to return to its homeland and take back its full rights in Palestine.’ This is the PRC, which the Palestinian people respects.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2023]