Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on its official media in which he expressed his condolences to Lebanese Hizbullah for the death of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah who was killed on September 27, 2024, in an Israeli attack on Beirut's southern Dahiyeh district, a known Hizbullah stronghold. In his message, Abbas claims that Israel is waging “genocide against the Palestinian and the Lebanese people.”
Similar statements were released by the PLO and the Fatah movement, which are also headed by Abbas.
It is notable that these statements are being issued despite the acute tension between the leadership of the PA and Iran and Hizbullah which, in accordance with instructions from Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, continue to arm and operate terrorist militias in the West Bank with the aim of perpetrating attacks against Israel and toppling the PA government.[1]
This condemnation from the PA leadership, headed by Abbas, is part of the double-dealing policy that he has adopted which, on the one hand, opposes the interference by Iran and Hizbullah in the West Bank, while at the same time exploits the Nasrallah assassination to incite against Israel and to accuse it of aggression and genocide against the Lebanese people. This corresponds with the official PA line that relates to the killing of Palestinian terrorists as aggression against innocent civilians.[2]
This report reviews the condolence messages issued by the PA, the PLO, and Fatah:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: Condolences On The Martyrdom Of Nasrallah; Israel Is Waging Genocide Against The Palestinian And The Lebanese People
On September 28, 2024, President Abbas issued a statement of condolence on the occasion of the death of Nasrallah. The statement released by the PA news agency Wafa, that also appeared on Abbas’s Facebook account, read, “The president of the state of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, sends today, Saturday [September 28], condolences to the Lebanese Hizbullah for the act of martyrdom by its secretary-general, the sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
“His honor also sends warm condolences to the government of Lebanon and the Lebanese people, the brother, for the martyrdom of the civilian victims resulting from the oppressive Israeli aggression, and the continuation of the war of extermination against the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people.”[3]
Poster with condolence message on the Facebook account of President Abbas (Source: Facebook.com/President.Mahmoud.Abbas, September 28, 2024)
Statement From PLO Executive Committee: “The War of Extermination Against The Palestinian People And The Lebanese People Must Stop Immediately”
Similar messages of condolence to the Hizbullah terrorist organization were published on the same day by additional PLO and Fatah movement elements. For instance, the PLO Executive Committee, headed by Abbas, also expressed “its condolences to Lebanese Hizbullah on the martyrdom of its secretary-general, the sheikh Hassan Nasrallah,” as well as “warm, heartfelt condolences for the martyrdom of the civilian victims [killed] as a result of the Israeli aggression and the ceaseless attacks on Lebanon.” The statement declared that “the war of extermination against the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people must stop immediately.”[4]
Chairman Of The PLO Palestinian National Council: A Heinous Crime Directed At The Martyr Hassan Nasrallah
In the name of the PLO Palestinian National Council, its chairman Rawhi Fattuh eulogized “the martyr Hassan Nasrallah and his comrades who rose to heaven as the result of the heinous crime of the assassination perpetrated by the forces of the Israeli occupation.” The statement read, “This heinous crime, directed at the martyr Nasrallah and his comrades, is the continuation of the aggressive policy of the Israeli occupation and a desperate attempt to impose its hegemony on the region by means of bloodshed and cowardly assassinations.”[5]
Fatah Movement: Nasrallah Assassination – Bloody Crime
The Fatah Movement as well, which is also headed by Abbas, eulogized “the martyr Hassan Nasrallah who was martyred along with several commanders of the organization as the result of an assassination operation perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army in the framework of a systematic war of extermination against the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people.” It its statement, the movement wrote that, “This bloody crime, as the result of which civilian children and women also died, will only increase the strength and resolve of Lebanon,” and “the members of the movement and its fighters in Lebanon will not hesitate to take on their roles and support their brothers the Lebanese in the framework of the instructions issued by the Palestinian leadership which is represented by the president Mahmoud Abbas, to the national institutions and our aid organizations.”[6]
Cartoon In PA Daily Following Nasrallah Assassination: Netanyahu Drinks The Blood Of Lebanon
In addition to the statements reviewed above, the PA Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily published a cartoon that depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a background of destruction caused by Israeli missiles, drinking from a bottle of blood labelled “Lebanon,” while a similar bottle labelled “Palestine” lies on its side on the ground near his feet.
Cartoon in PA dailyAl-Hayat Al-Jadida depicting Israeli PM Netanyahu as a bloodthirsty destroyer (Source: Alhaya.ps, September 29, 2024)
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11507, The West Bank – A Ticking Time Bomb, August 14, 2024; and MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11329, Palestinian Authority (PA) And Fatah Harshly Criticize Iran: It Is Undermining The PA And The Jordanian Regime Using Its Proxies – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad And Muslim Brotherhood, May 15, 2024.
[2] MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11573, Palestinian Authority Presents Terrorists Who Perpetrated Attacks As Innocent Young Civilians Killed By Israel, September 19, 2024.
[3] Wafa.ps, September 28, 2024.
[4] Wafa.ps, September 28, 2024.
[5] Wafa.ps, September 28, 2024.
[6] Wafa.ps, September 28, 2024.
