Palestinian Authority media hails Egyptian army crackdown on protesters

Several media outlets affiliated to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah praised the Egyptian army’s killing of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo on Wednesday.

Prominent PA and Fatah leaders expressed their delight at the massacres carried out in Egypt at the hands of the army. Some of them hoped that events would be repeated in Gaza against Hamas.

Whilst the official PA news agency did not mention the massacres, the PA’s official TV reported the interim government’s figures on the number of causalities and reported that the Muslim Brotherhood members had attacked the police and the army.

Head of the Fatah Bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council, threatened Hamas with violence if they continued to ignore calls for internal negotiations. However, Fatah and PA had already suspended talks on reconciliation when they signed up for peace talks with Israel.

The Fatah spokesman in Europe, Mohamed Nazzal, also vowed Hamas would the same violence as the Muslim Brotherhood had in Egypt.

PA and Fatah consider Hamas to be an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Prominent Fatah leader in Gaza and former PA ambassador to Yemen, Yaha Rabah said, “The great Egyptian army has left political Islam in Cairo in tatters.” He expected that the same would happen to Hamas in Gaza.

Meanwhile, PA negotiator exploited the regional and international media’s focus on Egypt and met Israeli peace envoys discreetly.

The PA had been expected to respond to the Israeli announcement of further settlement construction the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem before the resumption of talks. Chief Palestinian negotiation, Saeb Erekat, has previously said that continuation of building could undermine peace talks.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad media outlets have also echoed the army and the interim government’s reports on the massacres in Egypt. They highlighted news reports that connected Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood and those that connected Hamas to the chaos in Egypt.