Hamas deplores Bin Sultan’s attack on Palestine leadership

The Hamas movement on Thursday rejected the statements of a Saudi official in which he attacked Palestinian leaders, describing them as “ungrateful”.

This came in a brief statement of the Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri on Twitter, in response to the remarks made by former Secretary of the Saudi National Security Council Bandar Bin Sultan, during an interview with Al-Arabiya on Wednesday evening.

Bin Sultan stated: “It is difficult to trust them [the Palestinian leadership] and to do something for the Palestinian cause with them around,” adding that “this will not affect our attachment to the cause of the Palestinian people.”

He affirmed that the Palestinian leaders turned their backs on the Palestinian cause, and appreciate the help of Turkey and Iran, more than the support offered by the Gulf states and Egypt.

Bin Sultan claimed that Gaza is “exporting terrorism and crime to Egypt,” at a time when the Egyptian authorities spare no effort to solve the issue and lift the siege on the Gaza Strip.

In response, Abu Zuhri retorted that these statements “only serve the Israeli occupation,” describing them as “shameful”.

In a tweet, the Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash weighed in: “For the record, Bin Sultan gave an honest account of the commitment of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states towards the Palestinian cause.”

Tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the United Arab Emirates have recently escalated following the signing of a normalisation agreement between the Emirates and Israel, in violation of the Arab Peace Initiative that links normalisation with ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

Source: Middle East Monitor