The U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza – which broke out following the Hamas October 7 terror attack in Southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and about 240 were kidnapped – has sparked intense criticism from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its officials and harsh accusations against the U.S.
Like Hamas and the Iran-led resistance axis, the PA leaders, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, blame the U.S., and President Joe Biden personally, for the war in Gaza and for what they call a "genocide" and a "war of extermination" against the Palestinian people. According to the Palestinian officials the U.S. is responsible for the war due to its direct aid for the Israeli war effort, and also because it is not using its leverage on Israel to force it to end the war. The U.S. veto on December 8, 2023, of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to the war exacerbated the Palestinian attacks on the U.S., and Abbas called to "hold it to account" for this.
In an article he wrote in A-Ayyam, Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abu Saif called to change the world order in order to neutralize America's influence on UN resolutions, and said that the world deserves better leadership than the leadership provided by the U.S. An article in Al-Quds, by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), called the U.S. "the head of the serpent" and claimed that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is running the war of extermination against the Palestinian people. An article posted by PLO Central Committee member Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul on his Facebook page included antisemitic motifs, presenting the U.S. as a Nazi country that is "roasting the Palestinians in crematoria" as a sacrifice to the tycoons and to Israel.
It should be noted that the PA and its officials have so far refrained from condemning Hamas’ October 7 terror attack, and its officials have even justified the attack as a "natural response" to Israel's policies and threatened that a similar attack would occur in the West Bank.
The following are translated excerpts from statements by PA officials and from articles in the Palestinian dailies that blamed the U.S. for the war and accused it of complicity in a genocide against the Palestinians.
In a November 18, 2023 televised speech, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said: “I call upon U.S. President Joe Biden – for he, and nobody else, bears special responsibility [for the Gaza war] due to his global status and his immense influence on the Israeli occupation – to immediately intervene and put an end to [Israel’s] aggression. President Biden, I call upon you… to end this humanitarian tragedy, or even genocide, against our innocent people – for history will not forgive anyone [who is responsible for it] – and help our besieged people in the Gaza Strip.”
In further remarks on December 9, one day after the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, Abbas said that America's policy makes it “complicit in the genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.” He added that this policy “has begun to pose a danger to the world and to international security and peace,” and warned of “a religious war that will threaten the entire world.” The U.S. veto is a mark of shame that will pursue it for many years to come, he concluded.
Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, who also serves as the PA Deputy Prime Minister and Information Minister, likewise accused the U.S. of complicity in “crimes of extermination,” saying: "I repeat our demand that the U.S. administration fulfill its responsibility and stop the extermination of the Palestinian people… and the massacres and war crimes that the Israeli occupation insists on committing in front of the world, in flagrant violation of international law." He stated further: “Since Biden became president, he has not kept even one of his promises. Without completely ending the occupation, in accordance with the UN resolutions, there will be no security and no peace…”
In a December 10 conference in Doha, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh also slammed the U.S., saying: “The U.S. vetoed the UNSC resolution calling to end the war, and we must hold it to account, for it is part of the attack on the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”
In an article published following the U.S. veto at the Security Council, Palestinian Culture Minister ‘Atef Abu Saif stressed the need for a new world order not controlled by the U.S. He wrote: “Although the U.S. veto is not [something] new, and is not supposed to surprise us, it comes at a time when the world expected the massacres committed against our people to be handled with a bit of respect… The U.S. [considers itself] above the law. It considers itself greater than the entire world order, and sees no problem in violating this order and paralyzing it. This country behaves as though it is greater than everyone, and considers [others] as mere extras [in its film], while it runs the world. It can do as it pleases and take positions as it wishes, and nobody can stand in its way…
“This leads us… to the need for a new world order. Sadly, all the efforts of the other world countries have not availed to mend the world order, whose efficiency the U.S. is thwarting and many of whose activities are nullified by [America’s] refusal and stubbornness. The world was a better place during the Cold War, for example, when there was someone to say ‘no’ to this arrogance and stubbornness. Back then there were active forces – including ones that were not superpowers – which held conferences and gatherings in which they stood up to America’s violence towards the world and its destruction of the world’s prevailing system of values. [But when] that era passed, everyone sadly started to jostle for a place on the Americanization bandwagon. This means that you have to give up all your positions and support those of the U.S., or at least keep silent… Back then, before the Berlin Wall fell, all was well in the world. [Back then] there were moral people, but they are absent from the world that is controlled by the U.S., which is rooted in oppressing the peoples and attacking anyone who stands up to America.
"The structure of the present world order is no longer suitable for running the world. The five countries [with veto power in the Security Council] do not have the right to decide for everyone… It is vital to add some other countries to this exclusive veto club, or else to abolish the veto mechanism altogether… The veto mechanism is sterile. It prevents the world from being humane and takes it back to the age of barbarians fighting each other. As a matter of fact, the entire concept of this international organization [i.e., the UN] must be reexamined, [given that] Washington claims that it funds [the UN] and is therefore entitled to dictate its policy. The world deserves a better leadership than that of the U.S.”
Wissam Al-Rafidi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), wrote in Al-Quds that the U.S. is "the head of the serpent" and is running the war against the Palestinians along with the "entity" (i.e., Israel): We will carefully consider every declaration made by the senile old man Biden, by Blinken, the commander of the extermination offensive, and by the small group of spokespersons and advisors, and compare them to the reality of the [Gaza] Strip and of our people there, in order to expose the truth: [that] the American imperialists and their infant, the [Zionist] entity, are the greatest liars in history.
"We were youths who cheered at demonstrations. We learned from [Che] Guevarra, who called the U.S. the head of the serpent… Dr. George Habbash[16] [also] reiterated that 'America is the head of the serpent'… Today we have discovered as a people, through the blood that was spilled in an attempt to exterminate our people [in Gaza], that what [Che] Guevarra said, and what the Wise Man [George Habbash] repeated again and again, is the absolute truth and that America is [indeed] the head of the serpent."
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