In a November 19, 2024 article, Mahmoud Abu Al-Hija, editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Authority (PA) mouthpiece Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, directed scathing criticism at Hamas and its conduct in Gaza, saying that this movement has produced nothing but destruction and that its "absurd rocket displays" only provided Israel with excuses to declare war on the Gazan people. He explained that Gaza under the PA "was on a path to a future of prosperity and cultural development," and could have become "the Palestinian Singapore," but, after Hamas' takeover, the wars it triggered, including the current one, torpedoed all of those plans. Abu Al-Hija also directed implicit criticism at Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel, claiming that its military analyst Fayez Al-Dwairi presents a distorted picture of the reality in the Strip and ignores the appalling situation there. The forces that brought these wars upon Gaza, he concluded, will soon be required to account for their actions and answer for the huge difference between Gaza's condition before Hamas took it over and its dire condition today.
Mahmoud Abu Al-Hija (Image: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, PA)
The following are translated excerpts from Abu Al-Hija's article:[1]
"Before we ask what benefit we have derived from the [Al-Aqsa] Flood, [i.e., Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel], we must ask what benefit we derived from the [previous] wars Hamas waged against Israel since it carried out its coup against the legitimate Palestinian Authority... Hamas gave these wars high-flown and resolute names that bear no connection to reality, names taken from obsolete Salafi books and from the movement's populist speeches, such as 'the Battle of Al-Furqan,'[2] 'the Stones of Baked Clay,'[3] and 'the Eaten Straw.'[4] These are just names: no victory was achieved, no stones of baked clay were hurled [at the enemy], and the occupation was not eaten like straw!!!
"Before these wars, Gaza was on the path to a future of prosperity and cultural development... After the PA established a [sea] port and an airport in [Gaza], towers were built over the dunes and there was a sovereign [border] crossing through which Gazans could travel for diverse purposes, [such as] vacationing, tourism, trade, studies and the like, with a Palestinian passport that allowed them entry to sister Arab countries and friendly foreign countries.
"How promising was [the future of] Gaza, which was poised to become the Palestinian Singapore under the legitimate government [of the PA] and its policies and development plans. But six wars undermined this promise, and the seventh war, 'the [Al-Aqsa] Flood,' destroyed it! It was of course Israel who started these wars, but it was Hamas that provided it with pretexts with its bombastic messages and its absurd rocket displays that have never achieved, do not achieve and will never achieve any deterrence against the occupation and its wars, under any circumstances and in any way.
"The six wars caused more than 4,000 martyrs and more than 23,000 wounded. The seventh war has caused more than 150,000 martyrs and wounded, and left horrific heaps of rubble that will take five years to clear away from the body of the Gaza Strip, which is full of wounds and mass graves!
"Reality speaks volumes, not in words but only in the bodies of the victims, the wails of the widows, the groans of the injured, and the suffering of the hungry and thirsty. It speaks volumes [by showing us] the ruins – [ruins] that the virtual battle maps presented on the screen of the lying satellite channel [referring to Al-Jazeera] cannot cancel or erase, even with the prattle of its military analyst [Fayez Al-Dwairi]...
"All that remains to be said is that our wounded [Palestinian] people, especially in the Gaza Strip, are the ones who now compare their situation before the seven wars to their condition after these wars, and especially after the last one, whose flames are still raging. From now on, there is no way to avoid these comparisons, and soon they will form the basis for a re-examination, a demand for accountability, and a full application of justice against those who enabled this catastrophe, for the blood of the victims cannot be subject to any bargaining intended to turn a blind eye to all of this."
[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), November 19, 2024.
[2] This was Hamas' name for the round of fighting with Israel in December 2008-January 2009. In the Quran, "the Day of Al-Furqan" is a name for the Battle of Badr, in which the Muslims were victorious despite being vastly outnumbered.
[3] This was Hamas' name for the round of fighting with Israel in 2012. It is taken from several Quranic verses in which the enemies of Allah are pelted with "stones of baked clay."
[4] This was Hamas' name for the round of fighting with Israel in 2014. It is taken from Quran 105:5, in which the enemies of Allah are consumed like "eaten straw."
