Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Sochi, Russia November 23, 2021. Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via REUTERS

Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas has never hidden the fact that he supports Russian President Vladimir Putin. While other heads of state boycotted the Russian leader entirely after his invasion of Ukraine, Abbas has instead emphasized his support and admiration for Ukraine’s attacker.

In a phone call between Abbas and Putin on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim “Sacrifice Feast” holiday in July — a year and a half after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — Abbas stressed his support for the Russian leader and wished Russia “continued progress and prosperity”:

Official PA TV newsreader: “His Honor [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] briefed his Russian counterpart [Vladimir Putin] on the recent developments in the Palestinian cause, and he emphasized his support for Russia’s internal stability and wished it continued progress and prosperity.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV News, July 1, 2023]

The official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida underlined Abbas’ support for Putin the next day, stating in a headline on July 2 that “Russia’s internal stability is very important to him.”

So while Putin has been condemned as a war criminal by Western countries because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and its repeated targeting of civilians, the PA continues to express support for Russia.

Mirroring the PA official position, a regular columnist of the official PA daily turned history on its head and blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was conducted for the purposes of territorial expansion, on the United States.

The writer called it America’s war “to preserve its global position, defend the unipolar system, and stop the waves of change in the global system.” He also blamed Zelensky’s “blind subordination to the plan of Washington, which entangled him in its proxy wars at the expense of the Ukrainian national interests — and caused the outbreak of a war with Russia.” Zelensky is not able to free himself, he wrote, “because the Biden administration is attempting to entangle him more and more in the furnace of war.” This article appeared in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, on July 16, 2023.

Earlier, a regular columnist of the official PA daily praised both Russia and China as powers able to “build a new world free of chaos and terror,” which is somewhat ironic considering Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, and China’s toward the Xinjiang Province.

Columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul made this statement after the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its wish to “to hold a consultation meeting between the Arab League, the states of the region, and Russia regarding the issue of a peace agreement in the Middle East.”

Another “close friend” of Abbas’ is China’s President Xi Jinping. On the recent occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Abbas expressed the Palestinian “admiration” for China and its “achievements”:

[Abbas] praised the achievements of China, which is continuing its victorious journey that is full of successes in all fields, while preserving its achievements and its leading and strengthening position in the world. Therefore, its journey has justly received our admiration and the admiration of [the world] states.” [emphasis added]

[WAFA, official PA news agency, July 23, 2023]

But Abbas doesn’t settle for writing letters. In June, he visited China and President Xi, to mark the “occasion of 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two friendly states.”

According to the official PA news agency WAFA, Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki stated that Abbas’ visit had “special and great implications, because it constituted the crowning glory of the strategic historical ties between Palestine and China.”

In another statement, Zaki praised China for being “devoid of the complex of subjugating states and peoples,” as opposed to “large European states and the US” who he classified as “opponents of morality.” Zaki ended by explaining why Abbas believes in China:

The reason for the confidence that [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas places in the PRC’s capabilities as a world power and in the communist party is the courage of the Chinese leadership, the capability of China and other states in the world to oppose hegemony and double standards, and its devotion on everything concerning dealing with the Palestinian right.

Regular columnist for the official PA daily Muwaffaq Matar wrote that China has given the Palestinian revolution weapons — i.e., supported Palestinian terror. Matar also pinned the PA’s hopes for a future as a member state of the UN on China, expecting it to support the PA at the UN:

“China, which gave the Palestinian revolution weapons, is prepared today to increase what it is giving and what is necessary to the State of Palestine in the fields of energy, health, education, and training staff.”

…

“We are convinced that the People’s Republic of China will act as an impetus for Palestine in achieving the goal of full membership in the UN General Assembly.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 13, 2023]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Abbas is invested in the development of the Palestinian-Russian ties, as well as the PA’s support for China, while PA leaders have defined the US as the enemy. Senior Fatah official Abbas Zakimentioned defined the US as follows on Fatah’s YouTube channel: “We have many friends in the world, while the US has retreated, and it is the enemy and Israel is its claw in the region.”

Abbas himself added:

We don’t trust America. … We don’t trust them and don’t rely on them, and we won’t accept under any circumstances to America being the sole party in resolving the problem.

[YouTube channel of Cairo-based Alghad TV, Oct. 13, 2022]

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.