The following are excerpts from a Hamas rally held in Damascus, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 21, 2006.
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We are in Favor of Iran Having Nuclear Weapons, Not Just Energy for Peaceful Purposes
Anwar Raja, PFLP representative in Lebanon: "The Muslim Iranian fighting people now possess nuclear capabilities. My brother, the Iranian representative sitting here, let me tell you that we, the Palestinian people, are in favor of Iran having a nuclear bomb, not just energy for peaceful purposes."
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Poet Abu 'Ardh: "Oh, you who want peace..."
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Abu 'Ardh: "By Allah, I will not accept your peace, even on an inch of the land. Only traitors and dogs accept humiliation."
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"Jerusalem, do not bother to cry out - they do not hear you.
"They want dancing slave girls, and if there are none, they bring some over.
"They open the doors of the banks, and purchase them at any price.
"God forbid if they ever hear of the revolution - they fight it, wherever it may be.
"If the Prophet Muhammad himself were to join this revolution, they would issue a fatwa pronouncing it a heresy.
"They have betrayed the moral values of pan-Arabism.
"They have prostituted pan-Arabism.
"If this pan-Arabism joins them - a curse upon its mother and its father."
Man: "That's enough..."
Abu 'Ardh: "I've only got the judges and thrones left..."
Man: "You're embarrassing us..."
Abu 'Ardh: "Just a couple of minutes...
SUPPORT OUR WORK
"Oh, fighting people of our great nation - what are you waiting for, their vile summit?"
"Tomorrow they will say that the Koran is too old, and we must renew its verses, and renew the ancient past.
"Some of its verses make their close friends angry.
"Instead of bismillah, we will read Bush-millah, the Merciful."
Man: "Well done!"
"Bush is an Accursed Satan"
Abu 'Ardh: "Forget it - one hundred thousand times. Bush is an accursed Satan. We praise Allah alone. He is our lord.
"Some rulers... Some rulers... Some rulers make their pilgrimage to Washington.
"Their mufti is Mr. Bush, and they make another pilgrimage to London."
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"The Right of Return Must Be Guaranteed - to Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, and Everywhere"
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: "Let us renew our commitment not to neglect any of our principles: Palestine in its entirety is our land."
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"This does not mean that if they withdraw from any inch of land, we will refrain from spreading our rule over it. Every inch of land without relinquishing an inch. This is our goal and our motto. We will never give it up.
"Our second principle is that the right of return must be guaranteed - to Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa and everywhere."
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Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al: "Some of our people are conspiring against us. They are implementing a premeditated plan to foil [the Hamas government]. The day has not yet come for us to expose them and put them to shame.
"From this pulpit I declare: The day will soon come when we reveal all the facts. We will confront our people and nation with the deeds of these lackeys, who are sacrificing the interests of the homeland.
"I'm not saying they are doing this for their personal interests. Their efforts are in the service of the enemy. They are playing a role in the starvation of their own people, and in the anarchy in security."
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"What we have in Palestine is not a shadow government. In Western democracy, a shadow government is the government of the opposition party, which prepares for when it comes to power. But what we have today is a parallel, or even substitute, government, which robs us of our authorities, and robs the people of their rights.
"Therefore, those who are conspiring... Opposition is a natural right, and they are entitled to oppose us, just as we did in the past. This is their right. But there is a difference between opposing and conspiring."
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"The [Tel Aviv] martyrdom-seeking operation was described [by Abu Mazen] with a term that, by Allah, I cannot even utter. Does the shame not lie with those who remain silent in face of the siege and starvation of their people?
"They say that all responsibilities lie with the government, but that the authority lies with the president and the PLO. So what, they don't have the authority to serve the people?
"The [Hamas] ministers told me that when they entered their offices, they found that their predecessors had stolen all the armchairs, the desks, the tea, the coffee, and the notebooks. Now that's shameful.
"Does the shame lie with the guy who blew himself up in Tel Aviv?"
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"Brothers, does the shame lie with a guy who blows himself up in Tel Aviv, or with someone who goes to eat and get drunk in Tel Aviv?"
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Our Government Protects the Mujahideen
Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al: "True, our government does not conduct resistance itself, because there is a distribution of roles - the government governs, while the factions carry out the resistance, but our government is like a large tent, which protects the mujahideen and in it they find refuge."
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"Three things can be done by those of us who are outside of Palestine. The first thing... Not only by the Palestinians, but also by the Syrians and the entire Arab and Islamic nation.
"First of all, we must respond to the fundraisers."
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"Secondly, your brothers in Gaza and the West Bank have marched against the siege, condemning the Zionist, American and European siege. What did you do? What did you do in the Yarmuk refugee camp? What did you do in the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan? What has been done by the Arab capitals? Where are the Arab and Muslim masses?"
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"Thirdly, what is required of you, my dear brothers... continues to quote [blindly] and does not read the Koran. Oh, yes... I have it."
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"It is not the role of either Hamas or the Palestinian factions to expose the hypocrites in the Palestinian and Arab arena. Today, in the age of the internet, satellite TV, and the media, your third role is to expose the facts. Anyone who knows something should make it public. If you think there are hypocrites and collaborators in our region - a fifth column that cooperates with the Zionists and Americans - We want to expose them."
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"I Call Upon All Scholars to Follow in the Footsteps… of the Great Scholar, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi"
Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al:"Today, the great scholar, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, may Allah protect him, said some wonderful things in his Friday sermon. I call upon all scholars to follow in the footsteps of Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi."
