Hamas has turned into an enemy for Fatah instead of Israel, says senior official

A senior Hamas official has claimed that the Islamic movement has turned into an enemy as far as Fatah is concerned, instead of Israel. Dr Mousa Abu Marzouk, criticised Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf, without naming him, saying that he has made Hamas his main enemy rather than the Zionist state.

Writing in Al-Masry Al-Yawm on Thursday, Abu Marzouk said, “Hardly a day goes by when he does not invent a story about Hamas and use it to make many accusations.” The same person, added the Hamas official, claims that the movement interferes in Egypt’s affairs, using articles written by Egyptians to support his argument.

“He portrays Hamas as being in a state of war with Egypt, and at other times talks about its involvement in Syrian affairs. He forgets that Hamas is paying for its non-interference in the affairs of any of the Arab states. Even when faced with hostility, it does not return the hostility, leaving time and truth alone to solve the problem.” Good relations with Arab countries are “indispensable”, he insisted.

“The Fatah spokesman accuses Hamas of abandoning resistance in order to consolidate power; is it Hamas which negotiates with the Zionists or recognises their state or cooperates with their security agencies against the Palestinians?” asked Abu Marzouk as he accused Fatah of putting words into his mouth. “I invite the spokesman and anyone else to look at what I really said on a number of issues; don’t take Fatah’s word for it.”

He called on Fatah to reassess it’s stance on national issues and work in the interests of the Palestinian people.

Ahmed Assaf accused Hamas of trying to switch the reconciliation mediator’s role from Egypt to Qatar and Turkey. “He is basically blaming Egypt for the failure of Fatah and Hamas to reconcile their differences,” he alleged. According to the Fatah official, the blame lies solely with the Islamic Resistance Movement. He called Hamas’s pre-emotive move against a faction within Fatah in 2007 a “coup”, resulting in the damaging split that still exists.