ISMAIL Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister in Gaza, has saluted the Palestinian people for their steadfastness in the harsh battle.
‘They have become the pride of all free men in the world’, he said.
‘During Operation Cast Lead, the white flag was never raised, and in Operation Pillar of Defence, we have created a historic epic.’
He said: ‘We are satisfied with the calm agreement, which constitutes a basis for halting the aggression on our people in Gaza and on which we can establish things that protect our Palestinian people for the future.’
During a speech delivered at the Rashad al-Shawwa Centre in Gaza City on Thursday, 22 November, Haniya stressed: ‘Our main objective will be to remove the occupation so that our people can establish their free state on the whole of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.’
He added: ‘We have a huge responsibility to protect our people and commit to the agreement, so long as the occupation commits to it.’ He called on all sides to abide by it and asked the specialised sides to follow up on this. He also warned the occupation: ‘If you start up again, we shall do the same.’
He said: ‘I am proud to be the prime minister of this mujahid people and I am grateful to God for enabling us to shoulder this trust in the shadow of the victories the resistance has created.’
He dedicated this great victory to the martyred leaders Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, Yasser Arafat, Fathi al-Shiqaqi, Abu-Ali Mustafa, and Ahmad al-Jaabari, whose blood was the reason for this victory and for gathering the people and the nation round the option of jihad and resistance.
Haniya said that the mujahidin have rewritten history and inaugurated a new phase in the history of the struggle. They have also waged a battle with great power, manliness, and courage, thwarted the schemes of the enemy, and confused his accounts.
Haniyah saluted the martyrs and wounded of the military wings and the factions operating in the field and thanked Egypt and its President Muhammad Mursi, who has restored to his country its role and status, and its amazing regional role; he thanked all those who supported the resistance, in particular Iran.
Haniya said he believed the occupation waged this losing war as part of a wrong strategic reading of the situation, having had the aspiration that the occupation’s leaders would enter the elections from their widest doors, but everything happened from a different strategic angle
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He stressed that the policy of assassinations of all leaders and cadres of our people did not achieve any of the results the occupation was aspiring for. In fact, they were a real motivation for resistance and the rise of the people.
He praised the steadfastness of the resistance which surprised the enemy with its strength, accuracy, discipline, depth of response, and constancy in the field, pointing out that the occupation was surprised by the unification of the Palestinian people round the blood of the martyrs, the resistance, the constants, and the resistance leaders.
He drew attention to the fact that the occupation was taken by surprise by the intifadah of our people in the occupied bank, whose streets were transferred into arenas of clashes, all the way to occupied Jerusalem. It was also surprised by the solid Egyptian stance.
He noted that among the goals of the war was to try and read the changes and transformations in the region and to see whether they were real or not. But the Egypt of the revolution surprised the occupation with its stance and insistence on not abandoning the Gaza Strip.
He praised the quick reaction of the Arab League hours after the aggression, when it held a meeting in Cairo, and when the ministers visited Gaza under Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi.
He also praised the interaction of the Palestinian leaderships, not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.
He listed all the equipment the occupation used to conduct its war including tanks, warships, war planes, and psychological media and war. But all this did not work in its interest: ‘It seized the moment to get out of the mire of this battle and stop the attacks it had waged on Gaza.’
Haniya said that the resistance entrenched many concepts during this battle, including that this victory confirmed only one truth, that we have succeeded in uniting construction and resistance. The government has embraced the resistance project.
He affirmed that the resistance project is the most capable one to realise our objectives, stressing that the unity and solidarity of the nation round the resistance constitutes the shortest route to the liberation of Palestine.
He added that the resistance has changed the rules of the game with the occupation and confused its military and political accounts. He affirmed that ‘the idea of the invasion of Gaza has ended and will never ever return, with God’s permission.’
He said: ‘Gaza is not the weakest link as the occupier imagined; in fact, Gaza can never be broken. This battle has proven that the enemy will have to think long and hard before waging any other war with any regional country that has a strong will for defiance and steadfastness.’
He said that victory in this battle is an important step down the road to the liberation of the whole Palestinian soil, and the resistance has carried out the confrontation on behalf of the nation. He called on the nation to adopt a comprehensive strategy to support our Palestinian cause.
