Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf reportedly recently claimed that Hamas's Izzidin el-Qassam fighters were being trained by the American marines.

The shameless invention is apparently aimed at tarnishing Hamas's image, a goal Fatah has utterly failed to accomplish despite years of strenuous but desperate efforts and millions of dollars spent at the expense of legitimate needs of our increasingly impoverished people.

It is really pathetic that "spokespersons" who are paid hefty salaries in order to promote our just cause and expose Israeli criminality and oppression waste their time and energy indulging in endless mud-slinging against Hamas, a glorious resistance movement that has withstood Israel's genocidal aggressions against our people in Gaza.

But the word "shame" doesn't seem to exist in Fatah's lexicon which explains the group's persistence in spreading lies and half-truths about Hamas.

A modus operandi of lies

The latest canard coming from Fatah spokesman is not an isolated act of depravity and moral shamelessness. Fatah's entire discourse vis-à-vis Hamas has always been based on lies, insinuations and innuendos.

In fact, it is hard to detect any modicum of truth in anything said or published by Fatah (the PA) about Hamas.

In fact, Fatah has a history of seeking to besmirch the image of Hamas.

On numerous occasions, Fatah claimed that Hamas was colluding with Israel against the "national leadership," the very same leadership that entered into an ignominious alliance with Israel under the rubric of "security coordination"

In a previous article, published several years ago, I described "security coordination" with Israel as a malignant cancer upon the collective conscience of the Palestinian people.

Hence, it is really hard to fathom how Palestinians claiming to be true nationalists could allow themselves to stoop to this level of treason and national apostasy.

Moreover, Fatah leaders repeatedly accused Hamas of seeking the establishment of a "tentative state" by reaching a separate peace deal with Israel.

In fact, the shameless lie continues to be parroted by Fatah spokesmen like Assaf who seem to have lost the moral ability to make a distinction between truth and falsehood.

In recent years, Fatah, apparently in order to obtain a certificate of good conduct from the military junta in Cairo, charged that Hamas had been trying to establish an alternative Palestinian homeland in the Sinai Peninsula in coordination with the democratically elected President of Egypt, Dr. Muhammad Mursi.

Interestingly, in all its accusations and canards, Fatah never produced any shred of evidence corroborating its claims, apart from citing "informed sources" and "reliable officials."

Fixation on Hamas

Fatah calls itself (Harakato-Tahrir al Watani al Felestini) or "the Palestinian national liberation movement''.

However, given Fatah's total fixation on Hamas, especially since the latter's appearance in 1987, many Palestinians are wondering if Fatah is still committed to the liberation of occupied Palestine from the Zionist enemy or is just fighting Hamas on behalf of that enemy.

Indeed, a fleeting look at Fatah's TV propaganda and statements made by an army of poor or mediocre Fatah spokespeople would give Fatah an extremely low mark as far as the its patriotic credentials are concerned.

A few days ago, a collaborator (Palestinian informer working for the Israeli domestic security service, the Shabak) boasted about his collaboration with the enemy of his people.

The man, who hailed from the town of Dura and is now living in the town of Askalan, said the "work" he did then (in the 1980s-90s) was being done in broad daylight by Fatah leaders such as Mahmoud Abbas and Jibril Rajoub.

"What else would you call security collaboration between the PA and Israel."?

No one can write off Fatah from the glorious book of the heroic struggle against the Israeli occupation. It would be dishonest to even try to do so.

However, the Fatah of today is not the Fatah of yesterday. The Fatah of Abu Mazen is not the Fatah of Abu Ammar, despite the latter's many flaws. It is certainly not the Fatah of Abu Eyad and Abu Jihad.

The difference is not just a minor deviation from the right path, which could be justified by the changing circumstances; it is rather a shameless apostasy from honorable patriotism to dishonorable treachery.

Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist and political commentator living in Occupied Palestine. 

©  EsinIslam.Com