Hamas: Gaza pullout a victory
Preying on the sum of all Israeli right-wing fears, Hamas says an Israeli pullout from Gaza would be a victory for the Islamist terrorist group, whose power continues to grow in the coastal territory
GAZA - Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza this July would constitute a victory for Hamas, senior leader Mohammed al-Zahar told "The Tmes" of London newspaper on Thursday, despite the government's pledge to smash terrorist groups in the area before the end of the pullout.
”Very simply, nobody can deny that if Israel is going to leave the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, that was because of the intifada, because of the armed struggle, because of the big sacrifices of Hamas for this goal. It was not because of negotiations, or the goodwill of Israel, or the Americans or Europeans,” Zahar said.
The four-year-old Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 and effectively ended when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas declared a cease-fire in February.
Some terrorist groups, including Hamas, agreed in March to abide by the truce until the end of the year at the most. They fired dozens of rockets and mortar bombs last week after Israeli troops killed three Palestinian teenagers in Gaza who the army said had tried to flee to Egypt to smuggle in weapons, and threatened to officially break the cease-fire and carry out larger attacks.
Zahar did not comment on whether the group, which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, would continue to abide by the ceasefire after Israel evacuates all 8,000 settlers from Gaza in the summer.
“It depends on what Israel does,” he said. “Now Israel is talking about reorganization. We do not accept reorganization. We are looking for withdrawal, real withdrawal, and not to violate our sovereignty.”
Power threat
He also said Hamas would seek to gain more political influence among Palestinians with its participation in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in July, ahead of the Gaza pullout. After boycotting the last parliamentary elections in 1996, the group now poses a threat to Abba’s Fatah faction.
“We have three options: either to be the majority and to ask others to participate according to our program; second, to be a minority and participate in government; or to be a strong political opponent in the parliament. If we are a majority, we are going to establish the government, or will form the Cabinet,” Zahar said.
Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks for decades, has been swiftly gaining power among Palestinians, especially in Gaza, since the start of the uprising.
Our goal is to reform and reconstruct buildings, to replant trees, to flourish our people economically, to keep the mood of the Palestinian people anti-occupation, to move towards a new strategy: co-operation with the Arabs, not co-operation with the Israelis,” Zahar said.
