Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolas MaduroReuters

Palestine, the official paper of the Hamas terrorist organization, on Thursday published an article accusing the Palestinian Authority (PA) of abusing humanitarian aid set aside by Venezuela for needy Palestinian Arabs, promptly fattening its own pockets with the aid.

Journalist Faiz Abu Shamala of the paper wrote that after last summer's war launched by Hamas against Israel, and as a protest against Israel's policy of taking military action in the hostile enclave of Gaza, the Venezuelan regime decided to give 1,000 scholarships to Palestinian Arab students studying medicine.

Conditions of the scholarships stipulated that the students be from a science department with grades over 80, and that they hail from poor families unable to fund studies in Europe at a year's tuition of 30,000 euros.

According to the Hamas paper, the PA didn't honor the terms of the scholarships, and began selling the Venezuelan scholarships for $7,000 each to students studying humanities, businessmen, laborers and others.

Reportedly the deception caused a storm at Venezuelan universities, and a backlash in the country against the PA.

Abu Shamala said that as a result of its duplicity, the PA lost the opportunity to train 1,000 Palestinian doctors, harmed relations with Venezuela, as well as the "good name" of the Palestinian Arabs.

He said the move amounted to "sticking a knife" in the back of the "Palestinian nation."

The claims brought by Abu Shamala serve Hamas's propaganda message, which aims to portray the PA as steeped in bribery and treachery, and thereby position Hamas to replace it in terms of leadership and authority.

The two sides have been bitter rivals for years, although both call for the destruction of Israel.