Hamas Movement’s leader Yahya Sinwar said Wednesday that his group had reached an agreement with Egypt to prevent protests on the coastal enclave’s border with Israel from escalating to a fresh conflict with Israel but warned it would not rule out the possibility of an armed clash in the future.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Sinwar said Hamas has pursued “peaceful resistance” during the weekly rallies of the Great March of Return on the Gaza border which culminated on Monday as the US inaugurated its embassy in occupied Jerusalem.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t use armed resistance. If Israel goes overboard and spills lots of blood we will be forced to respond accordingly” Sinwar said.
Sinwar mentioned Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haneyya’s recent visit to Cairo during which Egypt reiterated its commitment to the Palestinian struggle and right of return according to Sinwar.
“The Egyptians have promised to open the Rafah Crossing to ease the blockade but not as a condition to stopping the marches – contrary to what was said in some media outlets” he said.
Referring to the Great March of Return protests Sinwar said they did not achieve all goals but they achieved the key goal of bringing the Palestinian agenda back into the public discourse.
“The strategic situation around the Palestinian agenda today is very complex mostly because the American administration fully adopted the Zionist stance” said Sinwar also referring to the normalization of Israel at by several Arab nations at the expense of Palestine.
Sinwar also called upon the Fatah and PLO leadership to allow Palestinians from the West Bank to join the demonstrations. “Let the Palestinian people commence a non-violent civil struggle against the occupation in the West Bank” he said.
On the other hand Sinwar said that talks between his group and Israel were being held several months ago regarding a possible prisoner swap deal.
“An opportunity to turn the talks into a deal arose but Israel withdrew because it was not willing to pay the price” Sinwar clarified.
“In the past four months there have been no talks or breakthroughs on the matter” the Hamas leader added.
Sinwar’s remarks were his first since Israel’s massacre against Gaza’s peaceful protests last Monday which left more than 60 killed and thousands more injured.
