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Rabat – The Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Samidoun, issued a sharp response to recent inflammatory remarks by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, who disgracefully referred to Palestinian resistance fighters in Hamas as “sons of dogs.”
Samidoun condemned Abbas’s “disastrous” speech delivered during the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council meeting in Ramallah, accusing him of parroting anti-Palestinian rhetoric that aligns with Israeli, American, and European demands — specifically, those calling for the disarmament of the resistance and the return of Israeli captives from Gaza.
Although Abbas claimed to prioritize halting the ongoing genocide in Gaza, his statements regurgitated the Israeli narrative — falsely framing the genocide as a response to hostages, instead of confronting the reality: that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians lies at the heart of Israel’s settler-colonial project.
Samidoun made clear that Abbas’s remarks are no surprise. They are consistent with the PA’s long-standing silence, inaction, and complicity in the face of Israeli occupation and war crimes — whether in Gaza or the West Bank.
Since the start of the year, Israel has displaced over 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, while the PA itself has killed 21 Palestinians and detained hundreds more simply for participating in the resistance, or even for peacefully speaking out or demonstrating in support of Gaza.
Manufactured ‘unity’
In his speech, Abbas called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and the unification of Palestinian political factions under the PLO. But Samidoun strongly rejected the legitimacy of the PLO Central Council meeting itself — boycotted in advance by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian National Initiative.
According to Samidoun, “The Central Council meeting had nothing to do with building a united national front or confronting the genocide. It was simply a platform for appointing a ‘vice president’ of the PLO from Abbas’s inner circle — fully backed by the United States and European Union.”
This, Samidoun asserts, was another mockery of the Palestinian cause, aligning it with the very forces complicit in occupation, apartheid, and genocide, thereby capitulating to the enemies of Palestinian liberation.
Samidoun accused the PA of acting as an extension of the Israeli occupation — undermining, rather than representing, the Palestinian struggle. “It serves Zionist and imperialist interests while disguising itself in Palestinian symbols,” Samidoun stated. “Meanwhile, the true forces of resistance — from Palestine to Yemen, Lebanon, and beyond — are confronting genocide and fighting for full liberation from Zionism and imperialism.”
The speech sparked outrage from across Palestinian society. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) withdrew from the council meeting in protest. “The only true path to Palestinian national unity is through resistance, led by those committed to liberation,” affirmed Samidoun. “It cannot include those who imprison, assassinate, and betray the people for the benefit of the occupiers and their backers.”
Voices from the Resistance
Hamas themselves have denounced Abbas’s remarks, noting that the PA President “repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression on our people,” said senior official Basem Naim.
Prominent liberated prisoners also condemned Abbas’s remarks. Fakhri Barghouthi, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, said the meeting “does not represent the Palestinian people, but rather hijacks their voice and will.”
Nael Barghouthi — freed after 45 years in Israeli captivity, the longest political imprisonment in history — also spoke out, denouncing Abbas’s attacks on the resistance and the PA’s mistreatment of former prisoners.
Samidoun noted that while Abbas vilified the resistance that liberated Nael Barghouthi and over 1,700 prisoners since October 2023, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) were simultaneously raiding Barghouthi’s hometown and threatening to demolish his home — even harassing his wife, Iman Nafeh, herself a former prisoner.
The Assembly of the Families of the Prisoners also condemned Abbas’s speech, which failed to mention the 10,000 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons — many without charge, including children, and all under, well-documented, brutal and inhumane conditions. “Where is the president’s concern for our prisoners?” they asked. “His words insulted the resistance and ignored the suffering of our people.”
‘A stab in the back’
The Assembly of Martyrs’ Families also denounced the speech as a betrayal of the sacrifices made by generations of Palestinians. “It is a stab in the back of our martyrs, our resistance fighters, and the people of Gaza and the West Bank, who are engaged in an existential struggle for survival,” the statement read.
“Where was the Palestinian leadership for the 564 days of aggression? Where was the PA when Gaza was being starved, bombed, and annihilated?” asked the assembly.
“We, in the Assembly of Martyrs’ Families, affirm that resistance in all its forms is a legitimate right of our people. It is not up for abandonment, and we do not accept its compromise or authorize anyone to relinquish it,” they added.
Samidoun’s remarks join a growing number of Palestinian voices who stress that Abbas’s words and the Central Council’s agenda reflect neither the will nor the interests of the Palestinian people. Contrary to the lies repeated by the occupation and its allies, the genocide in Gaza is not about hostages — it is about destroying the Palestinian people and advancing a colonial project.
If Israel truly sought the return of the hostages, it could have achieved that through multiple opportunities including the shortly-lived ceasefire agreement of January 19. But doing so would have required withdrawing its forces from Gaza — a step incompatible with its real aim: the complete annexation of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of its people.
