25 April 2009

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said Wednesday that US foreign minister Hillary Clinton's remarks about her administration's refusal to deal with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas stem from the American fear of the Zionist lobby and the ignorance about the Palestinian reality.

In a televised statement to Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Hamdan considered that Clinton's remarks revealed a striking contradiction in the American administration's policy towards the region the thing which is detrimental to its reputation in the Middle East.

The Hamas official pointed to the speech addressed to the British House of Commons by Khaled Mishaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau, saying that the video conferencing indicated that there is a big European willingness to listen to Hamas and assess its position despite the attempt by some Palestinian and Arab parties to affect this European tendency.

For his part, Dr. Yahya Mousa, a member of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, stated, in response to Clinton's remarks, that the American administration is not eligible to be an unbiased party in the region or to sponsor a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis.

In a press release received by the PIC, Dr. Mousa highlighted that Hamas refuses to recognize the Israeli occupation, saying such recognition would be a serious breach of the Palestinian constants.

The Hamas lawmaker stressed the need for making a unified strong Arab position in support of the Palestinian people rather than the policy of begging and pleading at the threshold of the White House, adding the force is the only thing respected by the US.

He noted that the American administration started to pursue a new policy towards Iran and Latin America because these countries expressed strong positions against the US, saying that the Arabs should understand this lesson well.

Israel issues reports to acquit its leaders from committing war crimes

Dr. Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas official, said Wednesday that the report issued by the Israeli occupation authority that says Israeli occupation forces acted during the war on Gaza according to international law is a Nazi policy aimed to exculpate Israeli war criminals.

In a press statement received by the PIC, Dr. Radwan underlined that the IOF troops try, through such reports, to clear their names of committing war crimes in Gaza and to appear as if they respect the international law.

"How did their alleged report justify the murder of families of Abu Eisha, Al-Samoni, Al-Wadia, Ba'lousha and many other families who were eradicated in cold blood by their army? And how did their report explain the killing of 40 Palestinian citizens in Al-Fakhurah school before TV cameras?" The Hamas official questioned.

In another context, MP Mushir Al-Masri, the secretary-general of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, on Wednesday warned the IOA of escalating its repressive measures against the Palestinian prisoners in its jails, the latest of which was its decision to impose the orange uniform on them.

In a press statement received by the PIC, MP Masri said that the prison administrations' persistence in humiliating the prisoners would have serious repercussions, holding the IOA fully responsible for the safety of prisoners.

The lawmaker stressed that all these attempts used by Israel to pressure the Palestinian resistance to make concessions on the prisoner swap deal would not succeed, but rather it would make the resistance more eager to capture Israeli soldiers to swap them for Palestinian detainees.