
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
When Hamas and Fatah split in 2007, both of them claimed to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority.
Most of the world recognized Fatah's claims that they formed a new government for the PA, even though its creation violated the Palestinian constitution.
But Hamas maintained its own claim to be the legitimate government, and it has never relinquished that claim, even though it too is not the government under the Palestinian constitution. Which means that Hamas duplicated all of the governmental ministries of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, at least on paper.
Including a Foreign Ministry.
The Hamas Foreign Ministry page doesn't mention Hamas - it claims to be the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
It is a strange site. It occasionally issues statements, such as the most recent one from October 27 condemning cartoons that hurt Muslim feelings. It held a Zoom session on mediation techniques in early October.
But nowhere does it say who the actual Hamas foreign minister is, or the names of anyone who works at the ministry, or even its address. Press releases are simply signed "Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Palestine."
Even Iran doesn't recognizes this ministry as having any legitimacy, as the Palestinian "embassy" in Tehran is run by the PLO (at least as of 2016.)
Between the PA and Hamas, the Palestinians have two illegitimate governments.

Related Posts:
02/17 Links Pt1: Israel negotiating release of Israeli woman held in Syria; NYT Op-Ed Pushes Utopic, Unrealistic Israel/Palestine Vision; Elliott Abrams: The Deterrent Message Iran Needs to HearFrom Ian: Israel negotiating release of Israeli woman held in Syria Israel and Syria are intensively negotiating a prisoner exchange deal with Russian mediation, in which two incarcerated residents of the Israeli Golan could… Read More
The Daylight Biden Is Putting Between The US and Israel Is Just a Phone Call Away (Daled Amos) During those eight years [of President Bush], there was no space between us and Israel, and what did we get from that? When there is no daylight, Israel just sits on the sidelines, and that erodes our credibility w… Read More
Cartoon of the Day: The Iranian mob … Read More
Is Naim Ateek of Sabeel antisemitic?There was a cryptic press release from Canadian Friends of Sabeel:As announced previously by CFOS, CFOS commenced a defamation action against B’nai Brith Canada arising out of an April 2018 article published by B’nai Brith in… Read More
02/16 Links Pt2: Why are Jewish groups fighting the IHRA antisemitism definition?; Peter Beinart’s Latest: a Call to Ease Sanctions on Iran; Bari Weiss: Gina Carano and Crowd-Sourced McCarthyismFrom Ian: ‘Dehumanizing’ Murder of Ilan Halimi Solemnly Remembered Amid Continued Threat of Antisemitism in France A modest crowd of around 100 people gathered in Paris on Sunday afternoon to commemorate the 15th anniversary… Read More