After two of the Palestinians’ most notorious Islamic terrorist groups, Hamas and Fatah, agreed that the nation of Israel has no right to exist, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas appears to be distancing himself with the factions in preparation of his meeting with President Donald Trump on May 3 to spur a pro-Palestinian foreign policy.

Last month, leaders of Fatah announced on official Palestinian Authority TV that their jihadist organization and Hamas – which have been competing for political power and discussing the formation of a unity government for years — agree that Israel has no right to exist, stressing that they refuse to recognize the State of Israel.

“The Fatah Movement never demanded that Hamas recognize Israel,” Fatah Central Committee member and Commissioner of Treasury and Economy Muhammad Shtayyeh told Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) on its Topic of the Day on March 26. “To this moment, Fatah does not recognize Israel. The topic of recognition of Israel has not been raised in any of Fatah’s conferences.”

Competing factions unified on anti-Israel stance

Hamas leadership also believes that Israel must be wiped off the face of the map and make room for a Palestinian takeover.

Mahmoud Al-Zahar, who serves as a member of the Hamas movement’s political bureau, declared that his group’s new charter to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is just one strategic move in its ultimate plan predicated on Hamas’s openly admitted belief that all of Israel is actually “Palestine.”

“Our principles say that our land is all of Palestine – including the land that is under occupation [i.e., Israel],” Al-Zahar proclaimed on the Lebanese television channel Al-Mayadeen. “[Establishing a state in the West Bank and Gaza] is a tactical step that does not harm the right of the Palestinians to all of the land of Palestine.”

The Islamic faction leader went on to stress that not all the Jewish people are the Hamas movement’s enemies – just the ones who occupy “Palestine.”

“We are not a copy of Fatah,” Al-Zahar emphasized, according to PMW. “We are not a copy of a failed project.”

PA maneuvering for American support

Even though Abbas is not shy about sharing Hamas’ and Fatah’s hatred for Israel, the Muslim leader has shown signs of loosening the P.A.’s ties with Hamas in order to gain favor with Trump.

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may be trying to distance his Ramallah-based government from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip by cutting off funding for electricity to Gaza,” CBN News reported. “But the two groups still hold their hatred for Israel in common.”

After not having to tone down his anti-Israel rhetoric during the eight years of the pro-Palestinian Obama administration, Abbas is evidently feeling pressure to change his anti-Semitic tone with the pro-Israel Trump administration.

“Trump is arguably the most pro-Israel president in the White House for years,” CBN News’ Tzippe Barrow noted. “That may be making Abbas a little jittery.”

While politicians have been propagating the idea of a peaceful Palestinian state coexisting alongside Israel for decades, Zionist Organization of America National President Morton Klein argues that the facts indicate that negotiations for a durable settlement with Israel are nothing more than a belabored myth.

“The idea that the Palestinian Arab leadership and society accept Israel and desire a durable peace settlement with the Jewish State is one of the most persistent myths that one hears repeated endlessly,” Klein insisted, according to CBN News.

However, in an apparent attempt to convince the United States that the P.A. is taking measures to work with Israel, officials of the Arab government informed the Jewish State that it will cut off its funding of Gaza’s power.

“Ahead of the meeting in Washington, P.A. officials told Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Thursday it won’t pay for electricity anymore that Israel supplies to Gaza,” Barrow informed. “Hamas shuts down Gaza’s sole power plant from time to time ostensibly due to fuel shortages – rationing electricity to residents to as little as four hours a day.”

Yet Gaza’s electricity crunch is nothing new, as Hamas has done little over the past decade to stabilize the flow of electricity – much of which is supplied from outside its territory.

“Israel provides 125 megawatts of electricity to Gaza – about 30 percent of its daily needs through 10 power lines,” Barrow pointed out. “Egypt provides 27 megawatts – plus another 60-80 megawatts – through a power station that’s also been offline due to lack of fuel. Since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007, power outages are by no means a new phenomenon.”

Abbas: world must recognize ‘Palestine’ as a state

Despite the fact that two competing factions within the territory governed by the P.A. refuse to recognize the State of Israel, Abbas has consistently demanded that the United Nations (UN) force the recognition of Palestine as a State. He recently told the global “peacekeeping” agency that the best way to preserve the two-state solution and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is for all nations to agree that Israel must surrender its land to the Palestinians.

“We call on countries that have recognized Israel and believe in the two-state solution to defend and support this solution by recognizing the State of Palestine,” Abbas declared on February 27 while giving his address to the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to the Jerusalem Post.

He petitioned the council to force a unilateral acknowledgement of a Palestinian state as an act of championing so-called “human rights.”

“Palestine will remain the greatest test for this council, and its success in defending human rights in Palestine will determine the sustainability of human rights across the world,” Abbas orated as the first of 107 international dignitaries to address the council on the first day of the month-long session. “We must not fail this test.”

Israeli Ambassador to the UN in New York, Danny Danon, condemned the global agency for continuing its anti-Israel agenda by hosting Abbas and highlighting his speech above all others to open the session.

“It is no surprise that this council – which has long been divorced from reality – has chosen once again to provide a platform for Palestinian smears against us,” Dannon contended, as reported by the Post. “It is time that Abbas and the Palestinian leadership understand that a new era has dawned at the UN in which speeches and one-sided initiatives against Israel will not succeed. The only way forward is through direct negotiations with Israel.”

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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.

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