Majid Al-Fitiani, secretary of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, headed by Fatah leader and Palestinian Authroity (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday sent a letter to Hamas, calling on it to return to national values and accept Palestinian political legitimacy.
In the letter, which was quoted by the official PA news agency Wafa, Fitiani said that the "bloodthirsty coup" carried out by Hamas in the summer of 2007, when it violently took over Gaza, affected the national interest and resulted in tragic consequences.
"You must return to the values of resistance, nationalism and political legitimacy if you really want to remove the Israeli occupation and liberate Palestine," he wrote. "The coup is a dark page in Palestinian political life and the history of the Palestinian resistance."
Fitiani accused Hamas of adopting an agenda of foreign elements that led it to the pursuit of false political illusions and caused destruction for millions of Palestinian Arabs.
His comments reflect the policy of the PA, which has been exerting economic pressure on Hamas for several months in an attempt to persuade it to transfer the reins of power in Gaza back to Fatah.
This policy expresses the PA's official recognition that it has lost control over Gaza and that an independent Hamas-controlled political entity exists there.
A unity government between Hamas and Fatah collapsed in 2015 when PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas decided to dissolve it amid a deepening rift between the sides.
Since the unity government was dissolved, Hamas and Fatah have held several rounds of reconciliation talks in Doha, Qatar – but with no success.