Al-Qaida censured Hamas for agreeing to a Palestinian Authority coalition
government. Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman Zawahri, said in a statement released Sunday
that Hamas’ power-sharing pact with the more moderate Fatah faction last month
betrayed the jihad against Israel.
“The leadership of Hamas surrendered to the Jews most of Palestine,” Zawahri
said in the statement. “They sold all that so they are allowed to keep a third
of the government, and what a government!”
Under the deal signed in Mecca, which has yet to be implemented with the
formation of a government, Hamas agreed to “respect” past peace
deals with Israel but did not honor Western demands that it renounce terrorism
and recognize the Jewish state. Nonetheless, Zawahri called the move an accession to the “U.S. Satan and his
Saudi agent.”
“The leadership of the Hamas government has committed an aggression against
the rights of the Islamic nation,” he said.
