One Year On... Gaza more Defiant
One year on, Gaza is defiant. Defiant of all the forces that attempted to crush it in operation cast lead. Defiant of all policies targeting its unity and strong will. Defiant of all instigations. Defiant of all disgraceful Arab attempts to starve every child left in Gaza. Defiant of every Zionist attempt to dehumanize and deform the innocent trembling voice of the suffering-yet-strong Gazans, may they be victorious.
On the anniversary of the "official" end of Zionist war on Gaza and the beginning of the more-grave cold or silent war on the Palestinian territory, head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal vowed Palestinians will never back down from resisting the ‘Israeli' occupation.
Speaking to a large crowd of supporters in the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday, Meshaal saluted the over 1,400 Palestinians who lost their lives during the three-week long ‘Israeli' onslaught and tens of thousands of others who were wounded and displaced, highlighting national unity, solidarity among the Muslim community and faith in God as key to what brought about victory for Gazans.
Meshaal acknowledged the ‘Israeli' upper hand in military prowess, but assured that Tel Aviv would never be able to defeat the Palestinian nation and their resistance, vowing to fight a fierce battle and defeat ‘Israel', in the event of another war against the Gaza Strip. He vowed Hamas would never abandon the rights of the Palestinian people and would not back down from its principles in the face of the enemy's efforts to isolate the movement.
Meshaal also ruled out dependence on anyone other than the Palestinian nation, saying collaboration with ‘Israel' as a "humiliating" act doomed to failure.
The senior Hamas member vowed that the Islamic Palestinian movement would never back down from resistance against the Zionist occupation, highlighting the need for reconstruction of Gaza and lifting the crippling Israeli-imposed siege on the impoverished population of the coastal sliver. He called on the upcoming Arab League summit, scheduled for March in Libya, to put the issue high on the agenda.
"We will not change until we have achieved the rights of our refugees outside Palestine and liberation of occupied territories... and we will never recognize the Zionist entity," Meshaal stressed.
Meshaal accused the enemy of disrupting prisoner exchange talks, asserting that occupation soldier Gilad Shalit would not be released until Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist prisons are released.
He further warned against the illegal entity's excavations near Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds, saying the sanctity - the second holiest site for the Muslim world - could collapse any minute, catching the Islamic nation by surprise.
The Palestinian leader called for solidarity among Palestinians to liberate the West Bank from Zionist occupation and warned Western-backed diplomatic channels would only benefit the occupation and its allies in the United States and US President Barack Obama's administration.
He recalled recent expressions of frustration by Obama and his special envoy to the Middle East with the stalled peace process in the region, asking, "How could a frustrated person bring us liberation and victory?"
