Senior Fatah official: We reject any court ruling classifying al-Qassam as a terror group

Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath expressed his rejection of the Egyptian court ruling on al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas as a terrorist organization, stressing that al-Qassam Brigades is a “resistance team and not a terror group.”

“The Hamas Movement is an integral part of the Palestinian political fabric that we seek to achieve unity with and we reject accusing its armed wing of charges amounting to terrorism; al-Qassam is a resistance team and not a terror group,” Shaath, a member of the Fatah’s central committee, said in remarks to Palestine newspaper.

He pointed out that the Egyptian court verdict was a preliminary ruling and could be appealed against by the Palestinian side, calling for necessarily sending a lawyer to Cairo to work on that.

As for the way to solving any problem with Egypt, the Fatah official said that achieving the Palestinian national unity would contribute to overcoming any tension in the relations with Cairo and lead to the opening of border crossings and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.