PALESTINIAN Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on Friday called on the participants in the Paris meeting of the donor states to stand by the Palestinian people and bring about an end to the occupation rather than focusing merely on economic and humanitarian actions.
In a statement following Friday prayers, Haniya said: ‘The world’s commitment to the Palestinian people is natural
‘Our people are staggering under the occupation and the international community must bear the responsibility with regard to the economic and humanitarian situation and its political aspects.’
Haniya went on to say: ‘At the same time, we indicate that our cause is first and foremost political and not that of livelihood or economic.
‘We want the occupation to leave, the entire people to regain their rights, the refugees to return to their homes, to restore Jerusalem, and the prisoners to be released. This is our message to the Paris conference. It is a clear demand.’
Dr Ahmad Yusuf, the political adviser of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, said that Palestinians were firing ‘these primitive rockets from Gaza to send a message to the international community that the Palestinian people are under occupation.’
He said: ‘As well, we are firing these primitive rockets to signal to the Israelis that if these rockets today are primitive and not deadly, the Palestinians have the ability to develop them and make them more accurate to cause casualties on the Israeli side equal to the casualties among our people.’
He said: ‘The Al-Qassam rockets are fired in response to Israel’s practices in launching incursions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
‘We know very well that these rockets will never make us achieve a balance of terror with the Israelis and will never be sufficient to deter the Israelis from carrying out incursions in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.’
He added that Hamas was now prepared to meet with Fatah after ‘a Muslim country’ made gigantic efforts to put this initiative into effect. He stressed that the anticipated meeting will most probably be held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after the Id al-Adha holiday.
Dr Yusuf added: ‘The disagreement between the two movements is weakening Abu-Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas) who wants to reach understandings regarding a final-status solution.
‘Therefore, as long as there is disagreement with the Hamas Movement, Abu-Mazen cannot enjoy popular support, and this will weaken him before the Israeli negotiator.
‘Without the support of Hamas, he will not be able to make conditions or stick to the Palestinian constants. In these circumstances, Abu-Mazen cannot show strength.
‘He must reunite the Palestinians, arm himself with the Arab position, and win the respect of the world to find sufficient support in these negotiations.
‘If we remained in this situation, we would become a ball kicked by the Israelis and the Americans.’
Dr Yusuf revealed that despite the EU’s ban on meetings with the Hamas Movement, as a terrorist organisation, the Gaza Strip has recently witnessed many visits by Europeans and Americans.
He added: ‘We are meeting with Americans and Europeans, and Gaza city has been witnessing visits by European and American delegations regularly to acquaint themselves with the internal situation and meet with and listen to Hamas leaders and government officials.
‘They want to hear our views on the issue of achieving peace, stability, and security in the region.
‘He affirmed that Europe is showing much interest in acquainting itself with the internal Palestinian situation, noting that he senses the sincerity of the Europeans. The Americans, however, are still serving internal agendas and their positions are biased towards the Israelis. They are trying to manipulate the internal Palestinian situation.
‘The Europeans are trying faithfully and honestly to acquaint themselves with the Hamas Movement.
‘They are trying to find a solution with a view to establishing relations with Hamas as a movement representing Islamic moderation and to make these relations as a model for the West’s dealing with Islam.’
He added that secret meetings often take place away from the media and the cameras, because the EU still prohibits any dealing with Hamas.
Yusuf added: ‘In the end, we are one people and we need each other.
‘The unity of ranks and stands will support Abu-Mazen in the negotiations with the Israelis, who wager on the current division and who consider Gaza to be his point of weakness.’ He continued: ‘The Israeli plan is to set up a Palestinian state in Gaza, swallow all strategic locations of the territories of the West Bank, and give Jordan what is left of the West Bank territories.
‘Therefore, it is essential to end the estrangement and maintain the unity between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip so that the Israelis will not take the West Bank on its own.’
Yusuf criticised the Annapolis conference, saying that it gives the Israelis one more year to implement their plans, which are aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem, completing the construction of the separation wall, and seizing the land.
Yusuf holds Fatah responsible for the non-commencement of dialogue. He said: ‘Fatah is obstructing dialogue. The recent speech of President Abu-Mazen, in which he set conditions for holding dialogue between the two movements, including recognising the PLO and all articles of the PLO Charter, is considered to be a disavowal of all concepts that were agreed upon in the Cairo agreement in March 2005, in which it was agreed to rebuild the PLO so that Hamas would join it.’
He added: ‘Had Abu-Mazen come to Gaza (after Annapolis), we would have told him ‘enter ye here in peace and security’.
Yusuf concluded: ‘There are moves by Arab and Islamic parties to push Abu-Mazen towards holding dialogue with Hamas. However, he is avoiding this and is dragging his feet because he does not want dialogue.
‘These parties will urge him to hold dialogue following the end of President George Bush’s visit so that the circumstances will be conducive to dialogue.’
Yusuf said: ‘Once this dialogue is held, these Arab parties will see the degree of flexibility that Hamas will demonstrate . . . All we want is to rebuild the security agencies on professional foundations and to assert the political partnership and peaceful rotation of power . . . . We are a movement that accepts the rules of the game. If this government does not demonstrate its competence, it will leave office, just like any Western democratic regime.’
He called on Abu-Mazen to follow the example of Yasser Arafat, who left this world to stay in the memory of his people as a leader who rebelled against the US and Israeli will, and who paid his life as a price for this position. Arafat refused to make concessions at Camp David and did not give the Israelis a foothold in Jerusalem.’
