Fatah accuses Iran of sowing chaos in West Bank
Faction controlling Palestinian Authority says it will act against outsiders trying to ‘exploit the blood of our people’
The main Palestinian faction in the West Bank accused Iran on Wednesday of trying to spread chaos in its territory, and said it would oppose operations from outside that had nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.
Fatah, the movement that controls the Palestinian Authority, said it would not allow “our sacred cause and the blood of our people to be exploited,” and said it would act against any interference from outside aimed at harming security forces or national institutions.
Israel has long accused Iran of helping Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas in Gaza, which led the October 7 attack on Israel in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 253, and which has become more deeply entrenched in the West Bank over recent years.
Last month, the IDF said security forces had stopped advanced weapons, including anti-tank mines, from being smuggled into the West Bank.
In the past, Iran has not denied providing support to the armed groups, saying whatever backing it gives is at the request of the Palestinians.
The statement from Fatah came as the Palestinian Authority asked the United Nations Security Council to vote this month to make it a full UN member, a move that would add to mounting global pressure for a two-state solution with Israel.
The West Bank has been at the heart of decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who want the area as the heart of a future independent state that would also include Gaza and have East Jerusalem as its capital.
Since October 7, IDF troops have arrested some 3,700 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,600 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 450 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. More than a dozen Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians over the last six months.
