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Qatar has long been the main Arab supporter of the terror group Hamas, providing refuge for its leaders, and helping to finance its terrorism. Qatar is also the owner of the media giant Al Jazeera, which provides a steady stream of pro-Hamas propaganda on its many platforms. Israel banned Al Jazeera from operating inside the country last May. Now Fatah, the armed wing of the Palestinian Authority, which is battling Hamas for control of the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria, has done the same. More on the PA’s crackdown on Al Jazeera can be found here: “Fatah announces intention to ban Al Jazeera from operating in the West Bank,” Jerusalem Post, December 23, 2024:
Fatah reportedly announced on Monday its decision to ban the Qatari state-owned media Al Jazeera from operating in the West Bank, according to Israeli media, citing Palestinian reports.
Fatah accused the Qatari news outlet of incitement amid the clashes between the Palestinian Authority security forces and terrorist factions in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Inside Jenin, Fatah security men and Hamas members have been battling for control for several weeks. On Al Jazeera, there is only criticism of Fatah which, as part of the Palestinian Authority, is depicted as a lackey of the Israelis. In fact Fatah is only trying to hold onto power, not to help Israel, but to help itself. It knows that should Hamas take control of Jenin, it would kill or expel Fatah members from the city, just as it did to Fatah in Gaza in 2007.
Fatah condemned the Qatari-headquartered network saying it was sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular.” It encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network….
In other words, Fatah is furious that Al Jazeera is supporting Hamas, carrying stories that criticize the Palestinian Authority for its security cooperation with the IDF, and for the rampant corruption of its upper echelon.
The battle among rival Palestinian gunmen —belonging to Fatah or Hamas — for control of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria is not receiving the attention it deserves. Jews are news, but in this battle, unlike in Gaza and southern Lebanon, both sides consist of Palestinian Arabs. If Hamas should prevail over Fatah in Jenin, and then take over the other major Arab towns in Judea now, leading to a collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Israel will likely be presented with another Hamastan, akin to that it has just been battling in Gaza for 15 months. More and more Iranian weapons are being smuggled to Hamas in Judea and Samaria via the porous border with Jordan. To uproot Hamas, should it defeat Fatah throughout Judea and Samaria, would require Israel to engage in a ground invasion that it would dearly like to avoid, as it is already involved in a five-front war. That is, it is still fighting Hamas in northern Gaza, still enforcing through airstrikes any attempts by Hezbollah to violate the terms of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon, still firing, at the Houthis in Yemen who have been hurling missiles that have even reached Tel Aviv. And, of course, the IDF is preparing for what is likely to come after January 20 — a massive attack by the IDF on Iran’s nuclear facilities, including those at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. Under these circumstances, the IDF does not want to have to be bogged down in a fight with Hamas in Judea and Samaria. While Iran has been supplying weapons to Hamas in Judea and Samaria, the IDF has been quietly supplying some weapons to Fatah.
Even though the Palestinian Authority continues both to reward, and to incentivize, Palestinian terrorists through its “Pay-For-Slay” program, the men of Fatah, the PA’s armed wing, do not themselves engage in terror attacks. Hamas, as a local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, is ideologically rigid, while Fatah is intent on ensuring that the Palestinian Authority remains in power, in order that it may continue with its corrupt ways, its leaders — with Mahmoud Abbas leading the way — managing to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money to their own pockets. Abbas and his two sons Tarek and Yasser are said to have amassed a family fortune of $400 million, but more is always welcome. And there are all those loyalists in Ramallah who also need, as a condition of that loyalty, to receive their cut of the aid money.
Right now, there is a standoff in Jenin between Hamas and Fatah. Fatah is determined to remain in order, its spokesmen say, “to restore law and order.” But if it looks as if Fatah is losing, rather than the IAF conducting airstrikes on Hamas to support Fatah — which would only increase Hamas’ popularity among the “Palestinians” in Judea and Samaria — the Israelis should keep Fatah well-supplied with weaponry, and seal off the pipeline of Iranian weapons that are being smuggled from Iran through Jordan to Hamas.
The PA wants to show the world that it can restore its rule to areas in Judea and Samaria where Hamas has challenged it, for the PA is hoping to convince others, especially the Arab donors — Saudi Arabia and the Emirates — who will have to bankroll the reconstruction of Gaza, that it can be trusted to rule over Gaza. Israel, of course, also needs to be convinced of the PA’s fitness for taking control of the Strip. That will be a much harder sell.
To trust any faction wishing to “govern” the Arab population in either Gaza or Judea-Samaria is unthinking recklessness.
Yes, we’ hear stories of the “good relations” in Judea-Samaria between the Jewish population and the Arabs and surely there are a number of Arabs raised to adulthood in Israel who genuinely consider themselves Israelis and are both aware and grateful for the education and opportunities that are afforded them in Israel in comparison with Arabs living in Gaza. That said, Israel is in a predicament that requires serious contemplation because many Arabs both in Judea-Samaria and throughout Israel have subterranean existing hostilities and resentment toward the Jewish people. Surviving in a country where you resent the Jews but hide it knowing that obvious disdain will only cause you trouble, the preponderance of Arabs who are Muslims have a simmering brew of anger needing only opportunity to be become another coalesced group coordinating attacks against the Jewish nation.
Ceasing to allow Al Jazeera is putting a bandaid on an already festering wound and much more about the PA amassing the power to become THE conduit through which a new confrontation will surely emerge.
Hamas, the PA and any other group or individual who wishes the power and authority to “govern” Gaza are the same entities who wish for the complete annihilation of the Jewish people “from the river to the sea”.
Wanting peace and friendly relations with these masked marauders should only be with Gaza being essentially rubble, rebuilt under Jewish control and Arabs residing in Gaza and throughout Israel need to be sent packing to Arab nations. We Jews were unceremoniously thrown out of Arab countries when Israel became a nation. Everything owned by Jews was confiscated and they fled with what they could carry, most coming to Israel.
Today, Israel would be able to purchase Arab-owned land and businesses at a fair price so they would be able to start afresh in Arab countries. Those in Gaza would be given flat amount and sent on their way. The nation of Israel is a Jewish nation. Leaving Arabs in the country is playing Russian roulette and just asking for a future war and the additional carnage of our people. Judea-Samaria should be under Jewish control-OERIOD
Given that Qatari donated homes in Gaza were designed to double as military bases, Israel cannot afford to let Arab countries rebuild Gaza, unless under direct Israeli supervision.