PLO condemns US designation of Haniyeh as terrorist

CAIRO – 01 February 2018: On Thursday, Saeb Erakat, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organization condemned the U.S. State Department and U.S. treasury’s move to designate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a global terrorist.

In statements published on the official Facebook page of the Palestinian movement Fatah, Erakat called on the Palestinian factions to patch up any rift between them by addressing the causes of the division and to stand against any attempts to foil the national reconciliation to achieve a Palestinian national unity.

Along with the Haniyeh, the U.S. treasury also put Egypt-based Hasm and Lewa’ al-Thawra on its global terrorist list.

“These designations target key terrorist groups and leaders — including two sponsored and directed by Iran — who are threatening the stability of the Middle East, undermining the peace process, and attacking our allies Egypt and Israel. Today’s actions are an important step in denying them the resources they need to plan and carry out their terrorist activities,” U.S. Secretary General said in a statement.

Lewaa al-Thawra is a terrorist group that is mostly active in Egypt’s Qalyubia and Menoufia governorates.

After announcing its formation in August 2016, the group claimed responsibility for the October 2016 assassination of Brigadier General Adel Ragai, commander of the Egyptian army’s Ninth Armored Division, outside his home in Cairo. In 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing outside a police training center in Tanta, the State Department said in a statement.

Hasm's beginnings date back to July 2016, when the group claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior policeman named Mahmoud Abdel Hamid in Fayoum. Hamid was the head of the investigations department in Fayoum’s Tamya district.

In Arabic, the word “hasm” means decisiveness. Lately, Hasm has been associated with nearly every terrorist attack in Egypt during the last year. However, the Islamic State terrorist group has been responsible for nearly three major attacks.