From: Khaled Abu Toameh
To: "Dr. Aaron Lerner"
Sent: Sunday, 30 September, 2007 05:43
Subject: Fatah hoaxes

In the context of the Hamas-Fatah power struggle, Fatah
officials and security agents have distributed a video
documenting the alleged killing of a 16-year-old girl in the
Gaza Strip.

But it has emerged that that the footage was taken in Iraq,
where a 16-year-old girl was killed for "dishonoring" her
family.

Fatah claimed that the victim was Nahed Juha, a 16-year-old
girl who was indeed killed together with her two sisters,
Lina and Suha, in the Gaza Strip last July.

Fatah security officials even provided reporters
with two "eyewitnesses" who claimed that that had witnesses
the lynching of Nahed Juha.

For the past few years, both Fatah and Hamas have been
involved in a smear campaign against each other. The two
parties have devoted tremendous efforts to manipulate the
media, often feeding reporters with false information.

Last week Fatah managed to sell another hoax to reporters
when it claimed that its security forces had discovered
rocket launchers in Bethlehem that were directed against
Jerusalem. It later turned out that the "rockets" were
simple pipes that has been set up by children who were
trying to imitate Hamas.