Abbas’s Fatah warns Jerusalem Arabs against UAE funding

The PA leadership has in recent weeks urged Palestinians to refrain from insulting symbols and persons of the Gulf states.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting to discuss the UAE’S deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Ramallah last month. (photo credit: MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/REUTERS)
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting to discuss the UAE’S deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Ramallah last month.
(photo credit: MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/REUTERS)
The Palestinian ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday stepped up its attacks on the United Arab Emirates and accused it of stabbing the Palestinians in the heart with a dagger.
Fatah also warned residents of east Jerusalem of the “Emirati money dipped in Palestinian blood,” an apparent reference to claims that the UAE is planning to fund various projects and individuals in the city in cooperation with the Jerusalem Municipality.
Palestinian officials, meanwhile, refused to comment on the arrival of an Israeli delegation in Bahrain on Sunday for a series of meetings and signing of declarations, including one establishing full diplomatic relations and peace between the two countries.
The PA leadership has in recent weeks urged Palestinians to refrain from insulting symbols and persons of the Gulf states. The move came as part of the PA’s effort to ease tensions with the UAE and Bahrain, the two countries that recently decided to establish relations with Israel.
Shadi Mtour, Secretary-General of Fatah in Jerusalem, said that the purported UAE funding comes while Israeli authorities ban the PA from operating in the city. He warned Palestinians not to cooperate with such projects, whether directly or indirectly.
An Israeli law passed in 1995 bans the PA from engaging in political, diplomatic, security or security-related activities within the area of Israel, including east Jerusalem.
Mtour again condemned last week’s visit by an Emirati delegation to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, dubbing it a “dagger in the Palestinian heart.” He said that it was “a patriotic and religious duty to confront to preserve our holy sites and our land.”
The Fatah official claimed that another Emirati delegation is planning to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque this week. He urged the “free Arabs and peoples and friendly governments to take a serious stance that ends this Emirati persistence in falling into the arms of the occupation.”
Mtour also warned that any visit to Jerusalem that is not done in coordination with the Palestinian leadership “is tantamount to an intrusion and not a visit, and it will be rejected by everyone.”


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