SAMI Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas leader in Gaza on Wednesday made a statement about the fighting that is taking place in Gaza between Hamas and the Fatah movement.
He said: ‘I would like to reiterate that this confrontation is not between Hamas and Fatah but rather between Hamas, together with the good people among the Palestinians, against an Israeli-US-regional current that is presenting itself as Palestinian in order to implement this regional-international-Israeli conspiracy.
‘This is why we in Hamas are clear and decisive about not differentiating between the battle that is taking place in the streets of Gaza against the collaborative current and the battle that is taking place – or rather took place – in Sederot.
‘It is a unified plan against the Palestinian people.’
Abu-Zuhri continued that ‘what is going on right now in the streets of Gaza is the true implementation of the Dayton plan,’ adding that the United States had funneled financial assistance to the ‘criminal current.’
Abu-Zuhri went on to say that ‘we had given a chance to the Egyptian security delegation and to all the noble people within the Fatah Movement and the factions to end the crimes perpetrated by the criminal current,’ noting that ‘we were facing ugly crimes not witnessed even during the occupation period’ and explaining that ‘Hamas had no other option but to confront the criminal group.’
He noted that the Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, ‘stormed the various security headquarters and succeeded in taking control of most of them.’
He added that ‘in order to prevent any political exploitation of the events, I would like to state clearly that we have taken control of these locations for security reasons, not political ones.
‘Our goal is not to assume control of the streets of Gaza or the PNA or to carry out a coup against the PNA, as these people have been claiming. We want to bring back calm to the streets of Gaza and eliminate security lawlessness.’
Abu-Zuhri added: ‘Some people may raise an eyebrow after they hear this, but in the northern Gaza Strip, after we took control of the military posts, not one bullet is being fired.
‘People are walking the streets in total safety, and the matriculation exams are taking place calmly.
‘In other words, the areas that the Al-Qassam Brigades have entered are 100 per cent safe and secure.’
Reiterating that ‘the one and only purpose of this operation’ was to regain security, Abu-Zuhri said that ‘once we complete this step, the government and all its security services will enforce law and order in these areas.
‘It will enforce law and order with regard to all parties, not just one group. We are talking about all parties, including the sons of the Hamas Movement.’
Abu-Zuhri continued: ‘I would like to stress with utmost clarity that President Mahmud Abbas is fully responsible for everything that is going on in the streets of the Gaza Strip.
‘Once again: The President is fully responsible, because the Presidential Guard has perpetrated most of the crimes, and it is answerable to him. In addition, all the criminal murderers use the Presidential Headquarters as a staging point.’
Hamas has also warned against transferring the fighting to the West Bank.
Hamas in the West Bank has issued a statement rejecting the regrettable events in the Gaza Strip and at the same time denouncing the attacks that have taken place against its premises in the West Bank towns of Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarem in the past two days.
‘In its statement, Hamas also rejected the attempts to export the sedition to the West Bank and stressed that it stood against anyone who tries to conflagrate the situation in the West Bank.
Hamas said: ‘In this regard, we will not respond to a call by some for an ultimatum that if the violence does not stop in the Gaza Strip, it will be transferred to the West Bank because what is happening is not within the framework of unilateral or individual responsibility but is a comprehensive state of lack of confidence. A solution can only come through joint work within the framework of national responsibility.’
Hamas added: ‘Realising the size of the tension, we submit to President Mahmud Abbas the following four points, which we see as an initial arrangement to stop the situation from deteriorating further and find a solution:
‘1) To act firmly against any attempt to transfer the events to the West Bank. This is considered a basic guarantee for the unity of the occupied homeland and for protecting the last rampart of the national cause. It is also considered a real test of the security services’ ability to protect the citizens, especially in view of the security campaign carried out by the security services in the West Bank.
‘2) To call on all the masses of our people to take to the streets and stop the current fighting without relying on appeals and statements. Let our kinfolk in Gaza and Rafah who took to the streets this morning be an example to us.
‘3) To respond to the contacts held by the Hamas leaders with the Egyptian brothers, whether with the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza or with Egyptian minister Umar Sulayman in Cairo, because the interruption of contacts widens the gap and the isolation of the political leadership of society leaves the events hostage to reaction and counter-reaction.
‘4) To quickly hold a meeting within the framework of the Cairo dialogue, which must be a comprehensive national dialogue that will extract us from the state of permanent tension and that will offer clear and drastic solutions. All the current events are the result of political oscillation and national vacillation.’
Meanwhile a Fatah leader, Samir Mashharawi, has accused Hamas of mounting a coup against the presidential elections’ results by attacked the security compounds, trying to seize control of the security apparatuses, and occupying Al-Muntada and pointed out that Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades warned the National Security centres ‘to evacuate them before attacking them.’
He said the Hamas movement ‘has torn the Palestinian social fabric apart and created feuds between the families as a result of the policy of assassinations it is following’ and asked: ‘What is the position of a person from Fatah when his brother is killed at the hands of Hamas?’
Mashharawi went on to say: ‘There is absolutely no ambiguity that there is a coup against the Palestinian legitimacy by a bloody extremist trend.’
He referred to Hamas’s repeated violations of all the internal calm agreements, foremost of them the Mecca one, adding that ‘there are leaders in the Hamas movement who were hurt when they lost their seats in the government and were not pleased by this.’
He denounced strongly Hamas’s targeting of Jamal Abu-al-Jidyan, the secretary of the Fatah movement in north Gaza, calling him ‘a fighter, a struggler, and former prisoner of the Israeli occupation and wanted by Israel.’
He noted that Fatah’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire reflected its good intentions and doubted those of Hamas.
He also accused Syria and Iran of training the Hamas elements and said Hamas used the millions of dollars it had obtained to buy weapons to back its military force and noted that it did not use them in the resistance, saying it killed only two Israelis since the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in May last year.
He added that the aim of Hamas is to establish a statelet in the Gaza Strip similar to what Taleban did in Afghanistan and referred to the threats made to the female presenters in the Palestinian television channel for not wearing the veil.