Did Abbas demand Hamas release the hostages unconditionally? If so, PA/Fatah media aren't admitting it. ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Did Abbas demand Hamas release the hostages unconditionally? If so, PA/Fatah media aren't admitting it.

Times of Israel reports:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called terror group Hamas “sons of dogs,” and told the terror group to release hostages it is holding in order to eliminate what he said was Israel’s pretext to continue its war in Gaza.

“The first priority is to stop the war of extermination in Gaza. It must be stopped – hundreds are being killed every day,” Abbas said in a speech. “Why don’t you hand over the American hostages?”

Addressing Hamas as “sons of dogs,” the PA president told the terror group to “release those you’re holding and put an end to this story. Shut down their [Israel’s] excuses. End it.”

He further called on Hamas to cede control of Gaza to the PA, give up its arms, and become a political party.

“Hamas must hand over Gaza responsibilities and hand over its arms to the responsibility to Palestinian Authority and transform into a political party,” Abbas said.

The speech as provided by the official Wafa news agency is quite a bit different:

Undoubtedly, implementing this comprehensive vision, which has become an Arab-Islamic vision by decision of the emergency Arab summit held recently in Cairo, based on the Egyptian-Palestinian plan presented to that summit, requires the fulfillment of the following conditions:

First: The existence of a political horizon based on ending the Israeli occupation and implementing international legitimacy resolutions, including the establishment of an independent, sovereign, contiguous, viable, and recognized Palestinian state, which would be a full member of the United Nations and live in security and peace alongside Israel.

Second: Israel's complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, ensuring clear and sustainable mechanisms for the flow of essential supplies and reconstruction requirements to the Gaza Strip, and the release of prisoners, hostages, and detainees.

Third: Halting all Israeli military operations in the West Bank, halting settlement activity and settler attacks, and halting the violation of the sanctity of holy sites in the West Bank and Jerusalem. A comprehensive truce must be achieved in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, including confidence-building steps and creating the conditions for launching a serious political process that leads to a just and comprehensive peace in accordance with the principles and resolutions of international legitimacy.

Fourth: Adopting a comprehensive plan for recovery and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, based on the principle of preventing the displacement of the Palestinian people from the Strip—that is, "reconstruction without displacement." This plan was actually adopted at the recent emergency Arab Summit in Cairo, and requires international cooperation and partnership for its implementation.

Sada News quotes more of what he said, and while its description says Abbas said Hamas should release the hostages, the longer speech only said,

To be frank with you, and to dot the i's and cross the t's regarding our internal national affair, I find it necessary to say before you: Hamas, since its coup against Palestinian national legitimacy in 2007, and its work throughout this period to separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and Jerusalem, passing through six devastating wars it caused on the Gaza Strip, and of course without absolving the occupation of responsibility, has inflicted severe damage on the Palestinian cause, and provided the occupation with dangerous free services, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and provided this criminal occupation with free pretexts to implement its conspiracies and crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent of which was the detention of hostages.

I don't see "sons of dogs" mentioned in either transcript. But Hamas media says that is what he said, and it condemned him for it:

In a statement broadcast on state television, Abbas attacked Hamas, saying, "You sons of dogs, hand over the hostages and that's it," referring to the Israeli soldiers held by the resistance in the Gaza Strip. Observers considered this a "dangerous precedent in Palestinian political discourse ."

Sometimes Abbas goes off script, so it is possible he went beyond what he meant to say - and now the PA is covering it up.