Al-Jazeera was not only supporting Hamas, but other Islamist groups such as al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood, Fatah official tells 'Post'.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHjp.services1(photo credit: )
Several Fatah officials in the West Bank have called on the Palestinian Authority to boycott Al-Jazeera under the pretext that the TV network is serving as a mouthpiece for Hamas.
The officials also accused Al-Jazeera of incitement against their party and the PA leadership in Ramallah.
Dozens of Fatah operatives have also signed a petition urging the PA to ban Al-Jazeera from operating in the West Bank.
Fatah claimed that Al-Jazeera has been openly inciting against its representatives for the past few years. It said the incitement reached its peak last June when the station appeared to support Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.
Over the weekend there were renewed calls in Fatah to boycott Al-Jazeera in protest against its coverage of the last IDF operation in the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Ministry last week began refusing requests for its representatives to appear on the station because of what it deemed as heavily biased coverae of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
According to Fatah officials, the station appeared to endorse Hamas's charges that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank government were behind the Israeli operation, A senior Fatah official in Ramallah claimed that Al-Jazeera was a "Hamas TV."
The official told The Jerusalem Post that Al-Jazeera was not only supporting Hamas, but other Islamist groups such as al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood.
"We should have thrown them out a long time ago," he said. "This station is very dangerous because it supports terrorism and seeks to undermine moderate Arabs and Muslims."
Najat Abu Baker, a Fatah legislator, said she had launched an initiative in the West Bank designed to organize a general boycott of Al-Jazeera.
She accused Al-Jazeera of playing a major role in escalating tensions between Hamas and Fatah.
