As been repeatedly told by me – majority of the Palestinians – if not all, are supporters of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza Strip, according to MEMRI, while Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party have not yet condemned the October 7 Hamas pogrom in Israel, Jibril Rajoub, Fatah official and Chairman of Palestinian Football Federation justified cruelties of Hamas, including slaughtering Jews and raping Israeli girls and women calling it a “natural reaction” to the “occupation and part of a defensive war by the Palestinian people”. Rajoub is seen as a successor to Mahmoud Abbas.
Jibril Rajoub said that Israel is to blame for the attack, and warned that it may be the first of many, and that “the next explosion, far more violent, will be in the West Bank.” He added that Hamas is part of the Palestinian fabric, and expressed hope that October 7 will usher in a new phase of Palestinian unity.
According to MEMRI, Jibril Rajoub said, “What happened on October 7 did not come out of nowhere. The ongoing crimes of the occupation are to blame for it, because it was part of the Palestinians’ defensive war. It will surely be the first of [multiple] explosions, and the next explosion, far more violent, will be in the West Bank…
“I say to everyone, especially to the Egyptians and the Jordanians, who are the ones who suffer the most from this ongoing conflict that also threatens the regional and global stability, that the explosion of October 7 was a natural reaction to this terror [by Israel], for the leaders of Israel represent a new Nazi model. The quagmire of this fascist occupation has become huge”.
Asked about the chances of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, Rajoub answered: “First of all, I say to everyone that blood is thicker than water. Hamas is and will remain part of the [Palestinian] national fabric, part of the [Palestinian] struggle and the Palestinian political fabric. This campaign [i.e., the Gaza war] will be a springboard for attaining Palestinian national unity, with one people, one leadership and one goal: the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with complete sovereignty over all the Palestinian territories”.
Meanwhile, Al-Aloul, Deputy Chairman of Fatah made similar remarks, blaming the October 7 Hamas pogrom on Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians and warning that “the next explosion” may “soon” occur in the West Bank. He too said that Hamas is part of the Palestinian people, and added that Israel will not be able to eliminate Hamas.
Al-Aloul said, “Trying to understand what happened on October 7, we must consider the circumstances that preceded it and led up to it. The most important point is that what happened in the Gaza Strip was inevitable, and I am referring to the following: In the recent period we warned the world – the Europeans and the Americans – that if things continued as they were, they could lead to an explosion. We stressed that the situation must be addressed. What happened before October 7? The Palestinian people suffered a huge and enormous injustice. An abnormal state of constant and intense injustice, especially [since the advent] of the latest Israeli government… This situation bred rage that led to an explosion. We are not the only ones saying this, the entire world has been talking about this… We say that the ones responsible for what happened are those who oppressed the Palestinians, carried out murders, gave the extremist settlers free reign, seized lands, and besieged Gaza, the ones who attack Al-Aqsa and renounce all the rights of the Palestinian people. It was all these factors that caused the events of October 7…
“I hope that what happened [on October 7] will be a clear message that the world will understand. [The world] must understand that, unless it starts to provide the Palestinians with a political horizon and with hope, this issue will remain as it is. If the events of October 7 are not handled by creating a political horizon towards [establishing] a Palestinian state, they will recur in a year, or five years, or ten years. This is just common sense…”
Another figure who spoke in this vein is Munib Al-Masri, a well-known Palestinian businessman and millionaire, who, before Abbas’ election to the presidency, was mentioned as a possible successor to the previous president Yasser Arafat. In an article published in the Palestinian Al-Quds daily, he too called the Hamas attack a “natural reaction” and a “legitimate right”, anchored in international law. He congratulated the Palestinian resistance and “its legitimate struggle”, which, he said, had “restored the Palestinian cause to its rightful place at the top of the international agenda”.
Meanwhile, the Central Media Department of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) issued a series of press releases in Arabic on its Telegram channel, condemning the US Administration’s accusations of that Israeli hostages were mistreated, saying that such attacks aim to defame the Palestinian resistance factions and justify the ongoing “genocide” of the Palestinian people.
The PFLP called for targeting US interests, embassies, and military bases in the region, saying the US is “spearhead of the aggression” in the Gaza Strip.
The PFLP, designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization which belongs to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), although it considers both the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip illegal since neither has held elections for years.
