Hamas Official: Palestine United, Shares Responsibility of Liberation, ‘Israel’ Counting Its Days

By Staff, MEE

Head of Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the diaspora Khaled Meshaal called for a comprehensive uprising in “all locations” of historic Palestinian territory – al-Quds and the Old City, the West Bank, and inside the ‘Israeli’-occupied territory itself.

Meshaal said that the Arab countries that had normalized relations with the Zionist entity had not only stabbed Palestinians in the back, but also damaged their own interests by risking inciting a popular revolt.

In Palestine, Hamas had noticed a surge in popular support as a result of its decision to launch missiles at the occupied territories in response to the ‘Israeli’ regime’s attacks on al-Aqsa mosque and the residents of Sheikh Jarrah.

Meshaal hailed the Palestinians who were one people with one cause and called for a “comprehensive uprising in all locations. That support came in areas outside its traditional control and where its members have been subject to continual arrest, in the West Bank and among Palestinian citizens of the ‘Israeli’-occupied territories.

Meshaal also said that the primary function of leadership was struggle and resistance, and leading Palestinians towards freedom and liberation.

Listing the areas that share the responsibility of liberation, Meshaal named al-Quds, where danger is looming over al-Aqsa, over Sheikh Jarrah and the Old Town and the whole of al-Quds; the West Bank, where there is occupation, settlements, severing ties and land confiscation; and the 1948, where there is racial discrimination, the attempts to expel and banish our people in the 1948 using the law; also, the resistance in Gaza; and even in the diaspora.

Asked what would cause Hamas to fire rockets again, Meshaal said the ceasefire was not only contingent on an end to ‘Israeli’ attacks on Gaza, but to the end of incursions by ‘Israeli’ security forces into al-Aqsa, and an end to the displacement of Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and East al-Quds.

“The battle was ignited for those reasons. Resistance rocket swill stop from Gaza according to that,” he said.

However, he went on to say that every area under occupation could choose its own form of resistance.

“There is no one form that is good for everyone and at a single moment.”

In the same context, the Hamas official said the latest conflict had highlighted the role of Palestinians living within the borders of 1948 Palestine.

“They gave a message that we are a genuine part of this people and that [they] come to the aid of al-Aqsa, Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Gaza just as does every other Palestinian coming to the aid of his other brother,” he said.

The Zionist regime was also paying a price for racist policies and violations of the rights of its Palestinian citizens which had exposed the entity’s “brittleness”, he added.

“It's become obvious to all Palestinian, Arab and Islamic masses, and to the free people of the world that ‘Israel’ is counting its days and that this occupation, settlement, colonial entity has no future in the region.”

Asked who took the decision to fire the missiles, Meshaal said the movement had a single leadership, but each part of it takes its own decisions.

“When the al-Qassam leadership takes a decision in performing the battle, it decides in accordance with the strategy and the general movement’s decision. The same applies to those who work in the fields of mass mobilization or political relations. These are detailed decisions in work avenues. They spring from the central decision made by the movement’s leadership.”