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'Cease-fire is a trick'
Hamas official Khaled Mashal tells Cairo conference that quiet in territories, 'resistance' will continue
By Roee Nachmias
The head of Hamas's political bureau, Khaled Mashal,
told a Cairo conference almost three weeks ago that the fight against Israel will continue "so long as the occupation continues."
Originally reported in the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, Mashal's speech was given at a conference attended by authors and experts on the Palestinians. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors Arabic-language media, publicized the article this weekend.
Mashal expressed concern about the Palestinian Authority taking over land evacuated by Israeli settlers. He also told those gathered that an independent Palestine along side Israel – as a temporary state of affairs – would not be a problem for Hamas.
Discussing his movement's goals and achievements, Mashal said that Hamas had managed to avoid fighting with the PA.
He also said that the group conveyed to the world that "the problem was not the Palestinian people or the Palestinian resistance but the occupation."
The quiet is misleading
Regarding the lull in violence, Mashal said, "Hamas controls its military wing and it can maintain discipline amongst its people ... The lull for Hamas is tactic of resistance, while for the PA, it's an alternative to resistance."
"No occupation in history disappeared without resistance. Without resistance, negotiation is worthless," he added.
Mashal said that, once an independent state of Palestine emerges, Hamas will become a political party, but that does not mean that it would accept the borders with Israel as permanent.
Once the settlers are gone
The Hamas official also worried that, instead of handing it over to the public, PA bigwigs would take for themselves Gaza land previously held by Israeli settlers.
"There's a concern that a fight will break out over the spoils," he explained.
He said that Hamas would neither take part in any post-Israeli power struggle in Gaza, nor accept a situation where only one Palestinian faction is in control.
| First Published: | 04.16.05, 23:45 |
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