Following are excerpts
from an interview with Hamas leader
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, which aired on Dream 1 TV on July 21, 2011:
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
We in Gaza conducted a plan of resistance in order to drive the occupation
out. The plan was accomplished, and not a single settler or soldier
remains on the Palestinian land in Gaza. Our plan is to continue this
approach. Today, we have completed the liberation of Gaza, and your
plan does not… At this moment in time, we say to you, first of all:
We want Palestine in its entirety – so there will not be any misunderstandings.
If our generation is unable to achieve this, the next one will, and
we are raising our children on this. Palestine means Palestine in its
entirety, and Israel cannot exist in our midst.
Interviewer: But
that was your past rhetoric. Today, you are talking about the 1967 borders…
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
I swear by Allah, this is what is on our minds.
Interviewer: Today,
you are talking about the 1967 borders.
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
Fine, but this is a phase. This is just a phase.
Interviewer: When
Abu Ammar [Arafat] used to talk about conducting struggle in phases
and about give and take, you accused him of treason…
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
No, we never accuse anyone of treason. We talk about security cooperation
and leave the interpretation up to you. Let me explain to you the difference
between Fatah and us on this issue. We talk about the liberation of
the pre-1967 territories, but we do not recognize Israel on a single
inch of our land. In other words, this land will remain ours, and when
the balance of power changes, we will regain it. We will regain the
land, even if we have to do so inch by inch.
So the difference between
Fatah and us is clear. They sold out 78% of the Palestinian lands and
consider them to be Israeli lands. They consider only 22% of the land
to be Palestinian, and even that is subject to negotiation. Therefore,
anyone who says that Hamas has accepted the 1967 borders… I would
like to make something clear: We will establish a state on any piece
of land, but without giving up on any piece of Palestinian land.
Interviewer: That
was not what you said in the past.
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
We have not changed our rhetoric.
Interviewer: So
there has been a development…
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar:
There has been no development and no deterioration. That is an actual
interpretation of what we have achieved. We said in the past and we
continue to say: Palestine in its entirety is Islamic waqf
land, which cannot be relinquished.
[…]
Mahmoud Abbas is engaged
in political gymnastics. He made a new jump. After one jump – the
signing of the reconciliation agreement – he's now jumped to the so-called
"September realization of statehood." I don't know who invented
this term. "Realization" means the demand for one's rights.
Who on earth gave him the right to mock the people, and to tell them
that a state is on the way?
Now, he is incapable
of obtaining the status of UN member state. He cannot achieve it, because
the US veto will thwart him. Until now, he has been unable to obtain
even the status of non-member state, because he needs nine countries,
which is 50% plus one, in order to obtain this status in the UN General
Assembly. So what does he want to gain?
You are facing somebody
whose plan has been torn to shreds, whose pond has gone dry, and you
cannot find even a single frog in it. Now he takes us to September,
and he postpones this reconciliation and its fulfillment until September,
in case circumstances change and they can get a state. Besides, let's
assume that he obtains a full-fledged state, that there is no veto,
and everything is fine – how will he implement this in practice, when
the US is unable to convince the Israeli occupation to stop the settlements
for even three months? How will he establish this state in practice?
You are facing aimless, kangaroo-like political jumping about. Hamas
knows the goal of its platform.
We liberated Gaza through
resistance. We want to conduct resistance in the West Bank as well.
The problem is the security cooperation and the occupation.
[…]
