The Palestinian presidency and the rest of the factions rejected the ongoing campaign by Germany and Israel against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The campaign was launched against the backdrop of remarks in which Abbas compared crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians to the Holocaust.
The spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, expressed strong disapproval of the incitement campaign against Abbas by various parties.
He stressed that this “persistent vicious campaign” aims to undermine the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian people’s rights and Abbas’s national plan, which won't give up Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctities at all costs.
He denounced the double standard practiced internationally, citing the world’s silence on the brutal crimes the Israeli occupation had committed and continues to commit on daily basis, whether by killing children, storming cities, or attacking the headquarters of human rights institutions, and other unfortunate crimes.
During his visit to Berlin last week, Abbas accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” in response to a question about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants.
Standing alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Abbas referred to a series of historical incidents in which Palestinians were killed by Israelis in the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel and in the years following.
“From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts,” said Abbas.
His remarks were met with outrage in Israel and the West, particularly Germany.
He issued a statement calling Nazi Germany's Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed, “the most heinous crime in modern human history.”
Abbas’s answer was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust that occurred in the last century, said a statement published by Palestine’s official news agency Wafa, adding that he condemns the mass murder “in the strongest terms.”
Despite the clarifying statement, Berlin police opened a preliminary investigation against Abbas, accusing him of possible incitement to hatred after receiving a formal criminal complaint.
Fatah deputy chief Mahmoud al-Aloul said the campaign against Abbas is an attempt to escape from key obligations related to the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.
“It is also a way to evade answering questions related to ending the occupation and settlement, as well as all the crimes committed against our people.”
Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Hussein al-Sheikh said some parties insist on advancing the incitement campaign and reversing, falsifying and distorting the facts despite Abbas’s clarifying statement.
Palestinian factions also expressed support for Abbas.
In a phone call with Abbas on Saturday, deputy secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Jamil Mezher stressed rejection of the incitement campaign against the president.
Mezher said the PFLP supports Abbas’s courageous positions that reflect those of the Palestinians and their just cause.
“This incitement campaign undermines the rights of the Palestinian people and their historical narrative.”
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also rejected the campaign and denounced the action taken by the Berlin police in this regard.
