PA’s al-Sheikh walks back criticism of Hamas: ‘The real terrorism is the occupation’
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh appears to walk back his recent criticism of Hamas, rejecting calls that it is a terror organization.
“Even as the world talked and demanded that Hamas be designated as a terror organization, who stood up the world? Was it not Abu Mazen who stood in front of the UN and declared, ‘No, Hamas is not a terror organization?'” al-Sheikh says, referring to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“The real terrorism is the Israeli occupation. The real terrorism are the settlements. The real terrorism is the crime being committed against the Palestinian people. We’ve done our homework… and know very well what our priorities are and how to defend our internal front,” al-Sheikh adds.
Last week, al-Sheikh told Reuters that Hamas needs to reconsider its approach following the ongoing war. It was the latest comment made by a senior PA official criticizing Hamas, which has seen a major boost in popularity in the West Bank since October 7 at the PA’s expense.
In an attempt at damage control, al-Sheikh says that his words to Reuters were “distorted.”
“The Palestinian Authority was the first to defend the resistance,” he tells Al Jazeera.
“What we need now is the isolation on the international stage of the extremist Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu,” he continues. “The Oslo Accords have died and been buried under the chains of Israeli tanks.”
The remark falls in line with what Netanyahu has said in recent weeks, vowing not to repeat the Oslo formula in which Israel and the PLO recognized one another and took steps toward Palestinian self-determination alongside Israel.
He defends the PA’s inability to stand up to the more powerful Israeli government, saying Ramallah is under “the Israeli hammer” and does not have a “million soldiers” to confront Israel. Al-Sheikh adds that the PA doesn’t want to see the same level of killing and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank that it is currently seeing in the Gaza Strip.
He acknowledges that the “path of negotiations” with Israel advocated by the PA has hit difficulties due to the “extreme right-wing Israeli government” and says the Palestinian people should decide in elections “whether the national doctrine is armed resistance [against Israel] or a political settlement [with Israel].”