Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy head of Fatah, threatened anyone who opposes the movement in the wake of the criticism that resulted from the killing of PA critic Nizar Banat.
In a speech given in Ramallah, Aloul said, "Do not provoke the Fatah movement, as it will not have mercy on anyone."
Al-Aloul told critics to "stop these polemics."
He added, "This movement supports the national unity of all Palestinians, and calls on everyone to protect the struggle."
The message is that any infighting takes away from the battle against Israel, and ends up strengthening the Zionist enemy.
Al-Aloul said that opposing Israel is the main challenge for Palestinians, and they could not afford any internal dissent which he called "secondary conflict."
"O others, who are taking us towards a secondary conflict, where are you going? Is this not in the interest of the occupation? We are fighting a battle against the occupation, isn't this a relief to the occupation? We tell you that we are in Fatah support unity, pluralism with other opinions, but we have the ability to distinguish [between legitimate opinions and opposition to Fatah.]
And who makes the decision of what kinds of criticism is legitimate and which kind results in beatings and imprisonment? Why, it is people like Al-Aloul!
