Major Palestinian factions have condemned comments made by a senior official of Fatah which, they insist, offend Christians in the local community. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Islamic Jihad have condemned the remarks made by Jibril Rajoub on an Egyptian television channel, in which he mocked Christians who vote for Hamas as “the community of Merry Christmas”.

According to Hamas, Rajoub’s comments are “offensive statements that insult our religion, our people, our history and our values.” A copy of the movement’s press release was sent to Arabi21.

“Palestinian citizens have full rights and should not be discriminated against on the basis of race, religion or gender,” insisted Hamas. “The movement rejects such descriptions of Christians among our people.”

Hamas added that it takes pride in the fact that Christians and people of other faith groups give their votes to the resistance movement. “A basic democratic standard is the belief that all the people have the right to vote freely and to forge alliances in the manner they desire.” It drew attention to the fact that “discrimination among citizens on religious grounds is a form of racism that is rejected and detested.” What Jibril Rajoub said, explained Hamas, “is a form of intellectual terrorism that is alien to our people’s customs.”

The Islamic Resistance Movement also noted Rajoub’s attempt “to incite sectarian disputes and do a disservice to the Islamic religion by claiming that the Islamisation of society runs contrary to the history, culture, conduct and civilisation of our people.” Such efforts, stressed Hamas, are dangerous and rejected.

Archbishop Atallah Hanna from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem also denounced Rajoub’s remarks: “We denounce, reject and condemn these statements that not only insult Palestinian Christians but also the entire Palestinian people.” He used Facebook to point out that such comments “are alien to our national culture.”

In a letter addressed to the Fatah official, Archbishop Atallah reminded him that the Palestinian Christians “are not the community of Merry Christmas but are the children of the first Christian Church whose mission emerged out of Palestine. We are proud of our affiliation to the original Oriental Christianity whose light first shone in this Holy Land.” Palestinian Christians, he said, are not some commodity imported from the West. “We shall never relinquish our affiliation to Palestine, no matter how much they incite against us or how much they abuse us. Palestine will remain our identity, our homeland, our history and our dignity.”

Rajoub’s affront to the whole Palestinian people was also mentioned by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which described his comments as “despicable”. In a communique, the PFLP stressed that an apology to the people is insufficient for Rajoub to atone for his statements, which are “alien to the culture and values” of the Palestinians. The organisation called for him to account for what he said. “We need a firm stand to be taken so that comments like this are never repeated.”

Furthermore, claimed the PFLP, such remarks are not a slip of the tongue, but an expression of the autocratic approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority. “The PA has produced arrogant leaders who perceive the unity, culture and identity of our people as nothing but a threat to their interests, their influence and their normalisation with the [Israeli] occupation.”

Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, said that Rajoub’s remarks were “inappropriate and offensive” to the people of Palestine, their culture and their Islamic and national traditions. “Such irresponsible statement from a man in a senior position of responsibility causes offence to our Palestinian Christian brothers, who happen to be a fundamental component of the matrix, life and struggle of our people.”

The spokesman for the movement affirmed its rejection of abuse directed against any section of the people of Palestine. “An apology may put an end to any attempt to exploit his remarks in order to incite sedition within the Palestinian community.”

In its apology, the Fatah Movement in the Bethlehem district of the occupied West Bank also demanded that Rajoub, who is the Central Committee member and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, should himself “apologise to our people and to Palestine.”

Rajoub, a former senior official in Palestinian National Security agencies, said that Hamas had brought nothing to Palestine “but ruin and destruction.” His remarks must be viewed in the context of the run-up to local elections in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip scheduled for next month.

Translated from Arabi21, 4 September 2016