Fatah Official Abd Al-Fattah Dawla Criticizes Al-Jazeera For Downplaying The 'Honorable Role' Of Fatah And Palestinian Authority Security Forces In Clashes With Israel In The West Bank

Fatah official Abd Al-Fattah Dawla criticized Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) for downplaying the role members of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are playing in clashes with Israeli military in the northern West Bank, in Jenin, and elsewhere during a September 6, 2024 interview with Awda TV (Palestinian Authority). He said that Fatah and Palestinian Authority security forces members are present on the scene, but Al-Jazeera is not showing the  "honorable role " they are playing. Dawla said that it does not even attribute Fatah's martyrs to Fatah, while it highlights  "the martyrs " of Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He claimed that people should attend the funerals in order to realize that a  "large number of these martyrs " belong to Fatah and the PA security forces. Dawla said:  "We know how to fight. […] If you exclude Fatah, you will fail. "

Abd Al-Fattah Dawla:  "We take part in the confrontation and in fending off the aggression against our Palestinian people. So members of Fatah are present on the scene, alongside the Palestinian Authority which is not excluded from this aggression... "

Interviewer:  "Some citizens are asking themselves: What is the Palestinian Authority doing with regard to what is happening in the northern [West Bank]? And what about the plan that is beginning to be formed by the Minister of the Interior, regarding Jenin, after this aggression? "

Abd Al-Fattah Dawla:  "Brother, as long as the people watch Al-Jazeera TV, they are not going to see them and the honorable role played by Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. Al-Jazeera does not show all this and does not even refer to Fatah's martyrs as 'martyrs.' They refer to [killed] members of the Al-Qassam Brigades or the Islamic Jihad as 'martyrs,' but if they are from Fatah, they call them 'fighters.'

"If they keep watching Al-Jazeera, they will not see the glorious fighting image presented by Fatah and the Palestinian Authority for our people. So people need to see both sides of this and participate in the martyrs' funerals, in order to know that a large number of these martyrs are from Fatah and from the security forces.

"We know how to fight and how to reap the fruits of our fight against the occupation. We are the ones who coined and shaped the principle of fida'i activity of 'The gun sows and politics reaps.' We are the ones who always say that guns are not used for political goals, are used by highway robbers and people who have gone astray.

"Our struggle is based on sound and patriotic foundations. If you exclude Fatah, you will fail. There can be no popular or other confrontation without Fatah. If Fatah would have not been practically outlawed in the Gaza Strip, and its members were not be forbidden from carrying even sticks, not to mention guns – it would have played a significant role in the fighting there. Some of our small armed groups managed to do that, and they performed notable acts of heroism and sacrifice in the Gaza Strip."