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Jul 07, 2022
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Senior Fatah Official Jibril Rajoub: Hamas Must Decide Whether They Are A Palestinian Patriotic Movement Or An Islamist Movement; Saudi Arabia Has Assured Us It Will Not Normalize Relations With Israel Until The Palestinian Issue Is Resolved

#9681 | 04:12
Source: Asharq TV (Saudi Arabia)Mayadeen TV (Lebanon)

On July 7, 2022, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub appeared in interviews on Asharq TV (Saudi Arabia) and on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon). He said that Hamas must decide whether it is a Muslim Brotherhood organization with an Islamist agenda, or whether it is a Palestinian national movement with an Islamic outlook. He said that Fatah can accept the latter situation, but that the former has proven to be a failure. In addition, Rajoub said that the only way to ensure stability in the Middle East is to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. On the subject of the potential establishment "Middle Eastern NATO" about which reports have been spreading, Rajoub said that Saudi Arabia has assured the Palestinians it would not normalize relations with Israel until the Palestinian issue is resolved.

Jibril Rajoub (Asharq TV): "The U.S. government cares about its own interests and national security. Part of its national security is connected to stability in the Middle East, and there can be no stability or security in the Middle East, or in the world, with resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, along with solving the refugee problem according to UN resolutions, which guarantee the Right of Return, compensation, and so forth. The U.S government is aware of this.

[...]

"Hamas does not have the right to impose its agenda on the Palestinians or anyone else. Hamas has no right to hold on to Gaza. It carried out a coup in Gaza and seized it by military force. By keeping its hold on Gaza, Hamas is destroying the [Palestinian] national enterprise. There, I believe that the national wing [within Hamas] — having seen the defeat of political Islam in the entire region — must introspect and behave like Palestinians with an Islamic affiliation, whose homeland is in Jerusalem, Hebron, Gaza, and Jabalya, and not elsewhere... Their ideology needs to be patriotic. I believe that by clinging to their rule in Gaza, Hamas has given a bad example.

[...]

Rajoub (Mayadeen TV): "Our brothers in Hamas need to decide whether they are part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Palestine, or part of the Palestinian national liberation movement while having an Islamic affiliation. The second option is acceptable to us. I believe that the patriotic element in Hamas should have the upper hand. In addition, are we a liberation movement that aims to establish a Palestinian state, or a liberation movement to spread Islam and fight I don't know what? This is the foundation on which we believe we can build a partnership. After all, in 2006 we were in power, we held elections, we did not rig those elections, and we honored the results. Mahmoud Abbas appointed Ismail Haniyeh as prime minister, but then it was Haniyeh who staged the coup, and the rest is history. Nevertheless, unity is our only option.

[...]

"We — all the Palestinian national forces — still put our trust in the Saudi position and believe that the Saudis will object to any normalization [with Israel] and to the assimilation of Israel in the Middle East, before the Palestinian issue is resolved. We have received promises from a number of Arab parties, who are expected to take part in that conference, that it would not come at the expense of the Palestinian cause, and that it would not serve to reinforce the occupation, by establishing a united front, a NATO, a MATO, or whatever..."

Interviewer: "At first, they called it 'Arab NATO,' then it became 'Middle East NATO'..."

Rajoub: "I have no idea what our Bedouin brothers decided to call themselves...? God help us. We have guarantees that Saudi Arabia will not allow normalization [with Israel] before the Palestinian problem is resolved."

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