Abbas faces backlash for skipping Haniyeh's funeral after attending Peres's

A number of activists expressed their objections in the media on Friday to the absence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from the funeral of the elected Palestinian Prime Minister and head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The activists criticised Abbas’s absence from Haniyeh’s funeral after he attended the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres. However, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Abbas sent Deputy Chair of the Fatah Movement Mahmoud Al-Aloul and Secretary of the Central Committee of the movement Jibril Rajoub to Doha to participate in the funeral.

The funeral ceremonies for the elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh took place in the Qatari capital, Doha, after Friday prayers at the Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, the largest in Qatar. He was then buried in the Founding Imam cemetery in Lusail.

Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, led thousands of worshippers in the funeral prayer for Haniyeh and his guard, which was attended by thousands.

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