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Following are excerpts from an interview with Nabil Amr, Palestinian ambassador to Cairo, which aired on Al-Mihwar TV on January 12, 2009:
Nabil Amru: During the six-month hudna period, 30 Palestinians were killed. When [Hamas] was told that he hudna could be renewed for six more months, and that we would try to reduce the figure from 30 to 10, for example, they said: "No. This is tantamount to a slow death." So 1,000 [casualties] is okay? Jumping from 30 to 1,000 is okay?
Interviewer: And 5,000 wounded.
Nabil Amru: You jump from 30 casualties in six months to 1,000 in 20 days, and 4,000 wounded? If the war had continued for six months, the Palestinian people would have been annihilated. These decisions, which are not carefully thought out, are similar to banging your head against the wall.
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Regretfully, while some fighters were in the battlefield, the leaders and decision-makers were in secure places.
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By now, these tunnels have two levels and rail tracks. Many things go through them – weapons and even drugs are smuggled through. Customs people stand at the tunnel exit, and as soon as the smuggler gets out of the tunnel, people from customs search him, collect taxes, and sometimes confiscate the goods. A "tunnel economy" has developed. This tunnel economy is detrimental to the Palestinians, because no economy in the world is based on smuggling. This is also detrimental to security.
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