Palestinian factions censure Abbas’ call for 'Gaza attack'

Palestinian resistance movements have strongly condemned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for what has been perceived as a call for the Arab states to take military action against the Gaza-based Hamas.

“These statements only serve Israel and target the Palestinian resistance. Israel wants to isolate Gaza from Muslims and Arab nations. Such remarks seem to serve that purpose. We also believe that these statements are to create hostilities among Muslims, Arabs alike, and undermine the Palestinian resistance,” Dawood Shebab, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told Press TV as thousands of protesters marched in Gaza City on Sunday to express disgust over Abbas’ “unpatriotic and hurtful” comments.

The protesters also said the 80-year-old, Ramallah-based Abu Mazen no longer represents the Palestinian nation.

Meanwhile, Hamas termed Abbas’ call for military action as another conspiracy against the Gaza Strip.

“In the past, he used to threaten us with Israeli forces, and on other occasions, he said his forces would return to Gaza on top of tanks provided by Arab armies. Now, he is threatening us with a joint Arab military force to attack Gaza,” Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, told the demonstrators.

Speaking at the 26th Arab League summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, Abbas made a reference to the Saudi airstrikes against Yemen, demanding a similar military operation in Palestine.

“I hope that the Arab countries will take the same policy they employed in Yemen for all Arab countries suffering from internal conflict - like Palestine, Syria, Libya and Iraq,” Abbas said.

On March 26, the Al Saud regime unleashed deadly air raids against Yemen in an attempt to restore power to fugitive Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries. The Yemeni parliament did not approve his resignation.

Gradually, as the Yemeni government failed to provide security and properly run the affairs of the country, the Ansarullah fighters started to take control of state matters to contain corruption and terror.

The fugitive president fled Aden to the Saudi capital city of Riyadh after Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced toward Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base, and where he withdrew his resignation.

The Houthis, however, say Hadi lost his legitimacy as president of the country after he escaped the capital in February.

Hadi left the 26th Arab League summit in Egypt for Saudi Arabia on Saturday, and his Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said he will not return to Aden “for now.”

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