Hamas Official on Group’s Founding Anniversary: Only Option for Liberation of Palestine Is Armed Resistance

By Mustapha Awada

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas was founded on December 14, 1987. Its founding coincided with the outbreak of the intifada of stones in occupied Palestine that same year. 

The group was established by the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood working in the Palestinian arena, inclduing the martyr Dr. Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi and Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar.

Hamas' military factions were known at their inception as the Palestinian Mujahideen that were focused on resisting the Zionist occupation. In 1991, Hamas’s military wing became known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

With the expansion of Hamas' presence and its proven efficiency in confronting and resisting the occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the movement worked in various fields, including politics, diplomacy, media, culture, aid, and education.

On the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Hamas movement, Al-Ahed News sat down with the head of the movement's international relations office, Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk.

According to Dr. Abu Marzouk, the last few decades have seen the Hamas movement “overcome great challenges and complex circumstances.” 

“The ‘Israeli’ enemy with its unlimited resources and the world's foremost power represented by the United States of America as well as local and regional powers joined forces against the movement to eradicate it and eliminate the resistance of the Palestinian people. This only intensified the movement’s upward trajectory and amplified the weakness and retreat of the Zionist enemy and its allies.”

Hamas's elements of strength

The Hamas official explains that “the movement proceeded according to a vision, insight, and awareness of the elements of power and with the ability to maneuver. These are some of the main pillars that formed a lever for the movement's strength:

-        The movement depends on the power of right: The movement stems from the right of the Palestinian people to liberation and return. This reassures the movement of the correctness of its choices and the nobility of its goals.

-        Popular power: The movement exists within the ranks of the Palestinian people at home and abroad. It works within the frameworks of the people and the elites as well as weaving solid relations with the Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world, which gave it a soft power that is unparalleled in our Arab and Islamic world.

-        The solid strength of the movement: The movement has a military force with a reasonable amount of armament in light of the suffocating siege and a landscape that does not serve hit-and-run actions. However, it is a resistance group that possesses moral strength and a high fighting spirit.

-        Its organizational strength: Despite attempts to eradicate it and the great conspiracies it faces, the movement maintained its organizational strength under the darkest circumstances. This enables it to translate the resources of its power to become the force that has the primary influence on the Palestinian scene on the one hand, and on the other hand, this force is widespread as the Palestinian people spread out.

-        Institutional work within the movement and the strength of its cohesion: Despite all the twists and turns it went through, the movement holds internal elections every four years in an unprecedented phenomenon in the region. This is in addition to it being a resistance movement confronting the Zionist project.

The slogan of the 35th founding anniversary: Palestine from the sea to the river

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announced the slogan of its 35th launch anniversary this year. It is embellished with the map of Palestine from the sea to the river and from Naqoura to Umm al-Rashrash, adorned with the Palestinian keffiyeh. On its right side is a rifle with the flag of Palestine fluttering over it.

Abu Marzouk said this slogan “carries important connotations, which are constants and goals of the movement. The movement cannot accept Palestine lacking one inch of it, and it is as we knew it from the sea to the river and from Umm al-Rashrash to Naqoura. The movement also asserts that the holy city is in the heart of conflict and that armed resistance is the choice of movement.”

Tangible progress in Hamas's relations with the Palestinian factions

Regarding the relationship with the Palestinian factions, Abu Marzouk explains that “the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has achieved tangible progress in its relations with the Palestinian factions.

“Today, along with its brothers in the resistance factions, they lead the joint operations room -  a pioneer of the armed resistance in Palestine.

“The movement provides financial support, expertise, and weapons to factions of various intellectual orientations. This reflects positively on the conflict, as it works to expand the area of participation of others in fighting and resisting the enemy.

“The movement has relations with all Palestinian factions and coordinates with them continuously, bilaterally and collectively. This underscores the unity of the national position in many of the major stages that our Palestinian cause underwent."

Individual operations constitute the spirit of resistance of the Palestinian people

In his interview with Al-Ahed, Dr. Abu Marzouk states that “one of the most important reasons for the continuation of the Palestinian resistance is its flexibility in dealing with the circumstances surrounding it. Therefore, the resistance does not stop if it faces a challenge.

“The Palestinian youth possess epic will. They invent the means to fight despite the strict monitoring and draining of resources, and we see how the will to fight among the Palestinian youth and amid scarce capabilities paved the way for overcoming the impossible.

“We all witnessed how martyr Uday al-Tamimi alone and with a weapon that had malfunctioned managed to confuse the entire entity. Instead of chasing him, he chased them until he met Allah as a martyr.

“We also witnessed how martyr Mujahid al-Najjar drew a weapon that was more than seven decades old and fought with it in more than one round until he was martyred.

"Perhaps the individual operations constitute the spirit of resistance of the Palestinian people when its resistance factions are besieged.

“The authorities’ pursuit of the resistance factions, especially Hamas, under the pretext of avoiding the Gaza experience or by the Zionist entity to dry up the sources of resistance created an incentive for action that is not related organizationally. The task is difficult to implement within an organization."

The Palestinians in the occupied interior are on the first line of contact

Moussa Abu Marzouk sends a message to the Palestinians in the occupied interior, describing them as “the first line of contact with the Zionist project. 

“This places a heavy burden on them in the project of liberation and ending the ‘Israeli’ occupation.

“They are capable of forcing the expulsion of the population of the Zionist entity. They are a human power to be reckoned with. They are in friction with the entity and its internal contradictions.

“Their confrontation with the entity affects it. Perhaps the Al-Quds Sword Battle in May 2021 proved to everyone the importance of the role of the Palestinians inside and the power of their influence. What the media showed and did not show proves that they obstructed the plans of the occupation."

Abu Marzouk believes that Palestinians living in the occupied interior face “great challenge coming from right-wing forces and ‘Israeli’ extremism and plans to confront the Palestinians, which will increase the gap between the Palestinian society and the occupation and will create a contradiction between the national and Zionist projects."

Building bridges between the components of the nation is in favor of the Palestinian cause

Touching on the restoration of relations between Hamas and the Syrian state, Abu Marzouk said that "the Arab region is witnessing many differences and internal conflicts. The weakening of the region and the squandering of its resources and the weakness of its immunity against external interference is leading to real losses. For this reason, the movement believes in the need to overcome disagreements and build bridges of trust and cooperation between all components of the nation.

“This will be in the interest of everyone and the Palestinian cause at a time when internal confrontations are exhausting the entire region.”

Unity between factions and countries of the axis of resistance: The reality is promising

The Hamas official elaborated further on the existing coordination between Hamas and the movements and countries of the axis of resistance in the region. 

“There are different conflicts in terms of their components in the region and multiple projects. Perhaps confronting the Zionist project in the region requires popular consensus, and there is a breach due to the fragility of the situation and its exploitation by the Americans by integrating the Zionist entity into the region. From here, there were two teams – one identifying with the American project and policy and another confronting it.

“However, there are many who reject the Zionist entity. Those who are not organized within vessels that reject the entity in a practical way outnumber those who found frameworks that unify their efforts against the Zionist project.

“As leaders in the resistance, we must work to mobilize all the forces of the nation and increase coordination with other forces rejecting the ‘Israeli’ occupation. We must raise the level of involvement in confronting the American project because the policies of dictation are external and do not enjoy popular support and there is no link between them.

“The Zionists tried to create goals and set up ties, but they failed. As for the forces of resistance confronting the Zionist project and the American policies, there is no doubt that there is one political line, which is confronting the Zionist entity and not recognizing it, even if these forces differ in some respects.

“What is important is to raise the level of their involvement in confronting the entity from political, material, and moral support to direct engagement. What we hope for is greater than the reality, and the reality today is promising.”

The Arab people are partners in the battle

Abu Marzouk praises the Arab people who are sticking to Palestinian rights. He expresses gratitude to all the Arab and Islamic people and the free people of the world who make historical stances in adhering to Palestinian rights, rejecting all temptations of normalization, and keeping the Zionist entity as a strange and anomalous entity in our Arab region.

“In fact, this is one of the main safety valves for our Palestinian cause, and we are really unable to express our gratitude because this is everyone’s cause and not ours alone. They are partners in this battle, and perhaps what the Arabs, Muslims, and free people of the world demonstrated in the 2022 World Cup of rejecting the Zionist entity and welcoming the Palestinian cause made the Zionists say that it is a Palestinian World Cup because it showed the true destination of Muslims and Arabs and the true position towards the Zionist entity.”

He concludes the interview by saying, "The Arab and Muslim peoples must translate words into action and actions into programs and projects. Palestine needs many, and Palestine needs everyone."