Zahhar: We welcome unconditional dialogue under Arab auspices
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a Hamas prominent leader, announced in response to the speech of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas welcomes any new orientations towards the national dialogue under Arab auspices, despite the Gaza events stirred up Monday by Fatah-affiliated mutiny trend in which four of Hamas cadres were killed."With all sincere intentions, we extend our hands for unconditional dialogue with Abbas and Fatah, a dialogue involving all the Palestinians and addressing all the files based on the national accords represented in the Cairo agreement, the national agreement document and the Makkah accord in order to achieve a real partnership in all areas; we welcome the dialogue to be under Arab auspices," Dr. Zahhar stated Tuesday in a press conference.
In his statement, the Hamas leader called for halting the media campaigns, pursuits and arrests, and for releasing all political detainees in the West Bank prisons, affirming on behalf of Hamas that there are no political prisoners in Gaza and no one gets arrested because of his political affiliation."He called for combining efforts to revive the PLC"s role and to release the imprisoned MPs and speaker, emphasizing the national need to stop the security coordination with the Israeli occupation.
He also urged Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to work on ending the suffering of the Gaza pilgrims and to allow them to return via the Rafah crossing and not to succumb to external pressures.Regarding the Gaza riots that took place Monday, the Hamas leader charged that the Fatah mutiny trend in Gaza is seeking to restore the state of lawlessness to Gaza streets after six months of stability and security, adding that the caretaker government will bring the criminals to justice.Describing Abbas"s speech on Monday as confused and contradictory, Dr. Zahhar said that although the focus of the speech was mostly on dialogue, but with careful reading, "we can simply say that that Abbas did not change his intransigent position which brought the Palestinian arena to this impasse in the national relations".
He added that Abbas reiterated his preconditions which alienate the thoughts and political visions of others and make Hamas and the other Palestinian factions a cloned pattern of Fatah beliefs, ideas and policies which proved failure and the majority of Palestinian people voted against.Abbas wants to blackmail [the factions to take certain] stands before the start of dialogue, which hits the initiative of dialogue before it starts!" the Hamas leader elaborated.Regarding Abbas"s call for holding early elections, Dr. Zahhar opined that this call reinforces the coup against the democratic legitimacy because its integrity is questionable in light of the continued attempts to deny the other through the policy of detention and repression exercised by the PA security apparatuses in the West Bank against Hamas cadres and institutions or through banning Hamas from exercising any political and social activities.
The Hamas leader lashed out at Abbas for describing the heroic acts of Palestinian resistance as chaotic, asserting that resistance is a sacred right and the choice of free peoples.He added that the real chaos is the frivolous negotiations held by the PA leadership through moving from one country to another without tangible results, pointing out that the Gaza Strip was liberated through Palestinian resistance not by the sterile negotiations which have brought woes to the Palestinian people