Hamas Spokesman Condemns Gaza Incursion, Criticizes Abbas, Bush

Text of report by Qatari government-funded, pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 15 January

[Interview with Fawzi Barhum, official spokesman for Hamas, via satellite from Gaza, by Tawfiq Taha in the studio - live]

[Taha] The Israelis described what happened in the Gaza Strip today as a routine operation. How do you view this operation?

[Barhum] In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. This really reflects the criminal and terrorist mentality with which the Israeli occupier plans his repeated attacks and crimes against he Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people, specifically against the Palestinian resistance, headed by the Hamas Movement. Consequently, messages began to arrive in the form of scores of martyrs and hundreds of wounded, and through the siege, strangulation, and bombardment of Palestinians with planes and tanks. Today, the occupier is using all types of weapons of destruction against our Palestinian people, targeting the elderly, men, houses, and Palestinian resistance. This shows that the stage that followed Bush’s visit to the region was one of blood, killing, and continuous attacks on Hamas and the resistance and on the Gaza Strip in particular in the hope that these might affect the morale of the resistance and of the Palestinian people and undermine popular support for the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The occupier says this is a routine operation. This means there will be more routine operations against the resistance and all Palestinians with US planes and weapons, which definitely give support to the Israeli occupier in committing these crimes.

[Taha] You and media sources in Gaza said more than once that the coming stage would be a stage of Israeli escalation against Gaza and that the Israelis got a green light to do so from the US President. What is this based on?

[Barhum] It is first based on the US President’s statements in Annapolis when he said there are gangs in the Gaza Strip that should be uprooted. Olmert also spoke clearly and said: We cannot conclude peace with the PNA as long as Hamas is present in the Palestinian equation.

It is very regrettable that a few hours before meeting with PNA President Mahmud Abbas, President Bush said: Hamas is a bunch of gangs and we cannot give a Palestinian state to the Palestinians as long as Hamas exists. It should be uprooted.

A few hours later, intimate meetings were held with criminal Bush. The US Administration and Bush in particular shamelessly made statements in Ramallah and Tel Aviv against Hamas, thus giving an excuse to these Israeli attacks on our land and people.

[Taha] The Israelis admit that the operations they carry out in the form of aerial or artillery bombardment and limited incursions will not stop the firing of rockets from Gaza or end the armed Palestinian resistance from Gaza. Why do you think they do not then advance into Gaza?

[Barhum] It is clear that the Israeli occupier has left Gaza and will not return to it again. But before the Annapolis conference, they drew up a military and security plan for intensive and extensive strikes against select targets and perhaps against the infrastructure of the resistance. They aim at influencing the daily life of our people in Gaza, in addition to the siege and strangulation imposed on them so that they can confuse the Palestinians and make the masses embracing the resistance abandon it. Therefore, they do not dare to enter the Gaza Strip because they know well that the resistance is embraced by large Palestinian factions, headed by Hamas, and that there are Palestinian people who have opted for resistance. Therefore, entering Gaza will not be like leaving it. They know well how bravely Hamas and Al-Qassam Brigades will fight to defend our land and people.

[Taha] The Palestinian president today termed what happened in the Gaza Strip as a massacre and called for an international action to protect the Palestinian people and deploy international forces in Gaza and the West Bank. How do you view this reaction by the Palestinian president?

[Barhum] The Palestinian president no longer protects the Palestinian cause, adopts the resistance, or defends Gaza. Accordingly, denunciation in this manner reflects a very weak position by the PNA. We wished the PNA would take a brave, strong, and firm stand by ending its security coordination with the Israeli occupier and by stopping the normalization and daily negotiations with this occupier, who is exploiting this security coordination and negotiations to cover these crimes. There are daily negotiations. Before every negotiation, crimes are committed against our people, specifically in the Gaza Strip. These target all Palestinians. Therefore, the PNA president should have expressed a firm and brave position by boycotting this occupier. We also yearn for a strong Arab position in order to boycott the Israeli occupier and reject all forms of negotiations and normalization with this occupier.

[Taha] Fawzi Barhum, official spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, thank you very much.

Originally published by Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1304 15 Jan 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.