Hamas marks anniversary by refusing to recognize Israel - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Mon, 14 Dec 2009

Gaza City - Hamas will never recognize Israel and will liberate all of historic Palestine, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya defiantly promised tens of thousands of people who packed a Gaza City square Monday to celebrate the Islamist group's 22nd anniversary. "Palestine, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river is an Islamic entity that cannot be subject to concessions at all," Haniya declared in a one-hour speech before a sea of people waving green Hamas flags.

The movement, he said, was not content with what he called the liberation of Gaza - a reference to Israel's 2005 withdrawal of its troops and settlers from the salient - but was seeking the liberation of all of historic Palestine.

"We will never recognize the State of Israel," he declared, repeating statements made in the past by other Hamas leaders.

Western countries, led by the United States, have imposed a diplomatic boycott on Hamas since it won the 2006 Palestinian elections, and refused entreaties to change its charter to recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence, and honor previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Haniya's oral statements at the rally were echoed by a printed statement from the movement's armed wing, the Ezz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade.

"Liberating Palestine is our goal," it announced, "the resistance is our way, Jerusalem is our capital, refugees are our people who must return home and prisoners are Palestine's heroes who we are working to free as our priority."

Haniya also called for President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement to reconcile with it and end the sometimes violent political rift that has endured for two and a half years.

The two movements have been at loggerheads since June 2007, when Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip routed security personnel loyal to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and seized full control of the salient, in effect supplanting PA authority.

Efforts to heal the rift have so far failed.

An opinion poll released Monday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, indicated that Fatah would easily defeat Hamas if elections were held now - 43 per cent to 27 per cent.

Abbas would also easily defeat Haniya in presidential elections, the poll found - 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

Observers said Monday's rally was crucial to Hamas to prove that its popularity has not declined, despite last winter's devastating Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, which human rights groups said killed around 1400 people, mainly civilians, and despite a crippling Israeli blockade of the enclave.

Consequently, the movement pulled out all stops to ensure a large turnout. Schools closed early so pupils could attend the gathering, and Hamas organized buses to bring participants from all over the Gaza Strip.

By the time the rally got underway in the early afternoon, al- Katib square in south-west Gaza City was festooned with Hamas flags and portraits of dead Hamas icons, including the movements founder, Ahmed Yassin, killed by Israel in 2004, and Said Siam and Nezar Rayyan, two senior leaders killed in last winter's fighting.

Hamas leaders had promised a "surprise" at the rally, but this turned out to be Haniya's stated willingness to enter into a national unity government with Fatah, rather than an announcement of a deal with Israel exchanging an Israeli soldier held in the Strip for three and a half years, as pre-rally speculation had it.

Others said it was possible the movement, which refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence, could have unveiled a new type of rocket capable of reaching deeper into Israel than the missiles usually launched from the enclave.