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Hamas to Appoint Christian As Palestinian Tourism Minister

Posted on: Sunday, 12 February 2006, 06:00 CST

The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds on 11 February carried an interview with Anwar Zbun, new member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Hamas's Change and Reform List in the governorate of Bethlehem.

In the interview, conducted in Bethlehem by Al-Quds correspondent Najib Farraj, Zbun answers a number of questions about Hamas's plans for the future. He says Hamas "will not drop the option of resistance but will continue on this course and will always remain in the trench defending the Palestinian people, side by side with other forces and factions to repel the Israeli aggression, which has become increasingly ferocious". Zbun adds that "Bethlehem is in the heart of the comprehensive plan we are drawing up. This holy city needs many services"; "it has remained neglected for several reasons, above all the Israeli occupation and its policies hampering any construction or development of the infrastructure. Therefore, we are determined to create development and change, especially in the sphere of tourism."

Zbun says: "The governorate of Bethlehem, like other Palestinian governorates, has become a big prison. All its entrances are blocked, vast areas of its land have been seized, and the apartheid wall has been built in the northern part of it, which was annexed and incorporated into the Jerusalem Municipality boundaries. Undoubtedly, all this has paralysed tourism and economic life in the governorate."

Asked about reports that six Christian Palestinians had offered to take up the Tourism Ministry portfolio, Zbun said, "In fact, there are more than six candidates. We will study their CVs to choose the best candidate." Asked whether he can confirm that this post will be assigned to a Christian and not a Muslim, he said: "Certainly, why not? We need the efforts of all our people, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or affiliation."

Al-Quds also published a report by its correspondent in Jenin, Ali Sammudi, in which leading Hamas figure Shaykh Jamal Abu-al- Hayja addresses an appeal from his cell in Israel's Beersheba prison "to all forces to respond to Hamas's initiative and participate in a national unity government". Abu-al-Hayja, who is serving nine life sentences, says: "At a time when we congratulate our people on this real democratic wedding that has aborted all wagers on failure and fragmentation, we insist on the need for all our people's energetic forces to retain this historic achievement by participating in the Palestinian government, rising to the level of challenges and shouldering their responsibility." He adds: "We must bypass all excuses made to justify non-participation in the government, especially by Fatah, because our people and their rights and aspirations are higher and greater", and "there is no meaning in boycott or rejection, which conflict with the concept of national unity and our people's interests". In closing, Abu-al-Hayja says: "Hamas has entered the PLC to put the Palestinian house in order and to fight graft and corruption."

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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