The PA is considered by the international community to be a peace partner to Israel, but that does not prevent Fatah, headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, from declaring war on Israel and siding with its enemies.
Shortly after the reported attack by the Israel Air Force (IAF) on a convoy carrying Hezbollah terrorists and Iranian military officials last Sunday, in which Jihad Mughniyeh, commander of Hezbollah operations in the Golan Heights and son of Hezbollah chief Imad Mughniyeh, was killed, Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction sent a delegation to convey condolences to the Hezbollah terror organization, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports.
“We are resisting the same enemy,” declared Rifat Shanaah, director of Fatah’s Lebanon branch, who headed the “high-ranking delegation.”
The delegation reportedly “laid three wreaths on the grave of Martyr Jihad Mughniyeh… on behalf of the embassy of the State of Palestine, the PLO and Fatah,” PMW reported.
Speaking “in the name of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement – Fatah; in the name of the PLO and the resisting Palestinian people,” Shanaah said: “We hereby express our heartfelt condolences to [our] brothers in the Hezbollah leadership and to the families of the Martyrs. We are in the same trench, and are resisting the same enemy,” according to Palestinian news agency Ma’an.
Shanaah emphasized “adherence to the principle of struggle and Jihad between us and our brothers in Hezbollah”: “Cowardly acts such as these [i.e., the reported Israeli airstrike]… merely strengthen our adherence and determination to resist this enemy… We will adhere even more to our goals and Palestinian national principles… and that of struggle and Jihad between us and our brothers in Hezbollah and all the forces acting to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem.”
Abbas’s Fatah party was quick to greet Mughniyeh as a “hero” and a “Martyr,” lauding him on Facebook: “Rest in peace, a hero’s rest, and give greetings to your father from the free men. Martyr (Shahid) Jihad Mughniyeh.”
Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein, an Abbas adviser, stated: “We convey to Hezbollah our best wishes for its Martyrs, and are certain that its reaction is inevitable and that it will not pass over this crime in silence.”
Hezbollah has since attacked Israel, killing two IDF soldiers and wounding seven on Wednesday in a cross-border anti-tank missile attack.
By United with Israel Staff
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