8 May 2009

GAZA, (PIC)-- Fawzi Barhoum, the spokesman of Hamas Movement in Gaza Strip, has strongly deplored talks on reviving the Arab peace initiative, describing attempts to revive the initiative as "blowing in ash [to rekindle the fire]."

According to Barhoum, the Israeli occupation authorities had rejected that initiative since it was tabled in 2002, and that it had practically buried it after it invaded the West Bank and killed hundreds of Palestinian citizens shortly after the initiative was proposed.

He also underlined that the current Israeli cabinet has unveiled the real face and the bad intention of the occupation after Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu, and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly rejected peace settlement with the Palestinians.

In this regard, Barhoum pointed out that such stubborn Israeli stands should have propelled the Arabs to take more stern and more decisive stands in dealing with the occupation instead of talking about a "buried" initiative, underscoring that the official Arab stand has many cards that it could use to bridle the Israeli aggression, and to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land.

Palestinian constants should not be compromised

Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas's political bureau, said Thursday that no one is entitled to compromise the Palestinian national constants or negotiate them, warning that no solution to the Palestinian issue would pass at the expense of those constants.

He also made it clear that his Movement wouldn’t accept less than what had been agreed upon by all Palestinian factions in 2006, and as stipulated in the "national harmony document" , stressing that the Palestinian land isn’t for sale nor is it for bargaining.

These remarks were made in a televised message addressing a rally organized in Gaza city in commemoration of two Hamas leaders Said Siyam , the late PA interior minister, and Dr. Nizar Rayyan who were assassinated by the IOF troops during the monstrous Israeli war on Gaza last January.

During his speech, Mishaal confirmed that the resistance was his Movement's strategic option to liberate Palestine, and to restore to the Palestinian people the legal rights that were usurped by the Israelis since 1948.

"The resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people as long as the occupation persisted, and thus, no one has the right to block the Palestinian people from arming and defending themselves' underlined Mishaal.

Moreover, he made it clear that his Movement wouldn’t compromise the resistance option under any circumstances, underscoring, "we are steering the resistance, and we have many options in this regard".

"The cause of the problem is not the rockets fired from Gaza, but rather it is in the Israeli aggression, the persistent settlement activities, the apartheid wall, and the judaization of the Palestinian land," Mishaal pointed out.

Finally, Mishaal underlined that his Movement was and still is striving hard to achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation, and to restore the Palestinian national unity; but he urged Fatah faction and the Ramallah-based PA leadership to get rid of the foreign influence and dictates that, he stressed, derail all the efforts in this course.