Moussa Abu Marzouk Hamas political bureau member confirmed that achieving national reconciliation and holding the Palestinian National Council with the participation of all parties is possible.
Abu Marzouk said in an interview with the Palestinian Information Center that a delegation of Hamas recently held several meetings with senior officials of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service headed by Minister Abbas Kamel the Director of Egyptian General Intelligence.
He explained that there was a brotherly and frank atmosphere during the meeting between Hamas and the Egyptian officials about bilateral issues and means of enhancing relations and means of pushing forward the Palestinian reconciliation. He also praised the Egyptian role and expressed the support of Hamas for the Egyptian efforts. He also highlighted the Movement’s commitment to Palestinian reconciliation on the basis of the national partnership based on the May 2011 and the September 2017 agreements
He added: “We have explained the reasons why we refuse to hold the Palestinian National Council the way it is and the Egyptian brothers stressed their determination to continue their efforts to broker the Palestinian reconciliation and support the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
In response to a question about the Movement’s response to President Mahmoud Abbas’s request to hand over the Gaza Strip from the ground up Abu Marzouk said: “One of the main obstacles to the implementation of Palestinian reconciliation is the lack of the will of Fatah specifically President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) who is fully centralizing the power of Fatah to oppose any opinion contrary to his.”
He added: “We are afraid that the priority of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority is crystallized around ending the rule of Hamas and its strength in Gaza and seeks to eliminate any role for the Movement in the (Palestinian-Israeli) conflict and this will mean weakening the Palestinians in their confrontation with the occupation and weakening the Palestinian national project.”
Abu Marzouk said: “The Palestinian house today is full of chaos and the intransigence of Abbas will necessarily lead to an increase in chaos although Hamas provided all requirements to end the division. Since day one Hamas has taken the initiative to overcome everything that opposes reconciliation and ending the division and made concessions that went beyond what is stated in the Cairo agreement in May 2011 yet Fatah faced all of this with intransigence.”
He added: “We in Hamas are determined that what the occupation did not take by war will not be taken by Abbas by starvation. There is no such thing as empowering the government but rather forming a national consensus government that is monitored by the Legislative Council there is no such thing as a handover. Hamas is an elected party by the people and it is not an occupying power to handover the Gaza Strip and whatever has taken place since September 2017 is outside the agreements.”
He stressed that the Hamas Movement will not make any new concession “before Abbas lifts sanctions imposed on our people in Gaza since April 2017 and abides by what we had agreed upon in May 2011.”
He emphasized that Gaza has never been and will never be subdued by any person capital or entity. “Gaza is the one that kicked the occupation out and defied the siege. It is the heart of national dignity. I call on Abu Mazen instead of punishing his people and in light of the crises that our national issue is going through to support our people and use them in this battle to defend our cause especially that what is coming next needs unity to face challenges.”
Holding the National Council
In response to a question how do you view Abu Mazen’s insistence on convening the National Council at the end of this month in Ramallah after the rejection of Hamas the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Islamic Jihad Abu Marzouk said: “Fatah has shown that it does not want to partner with anyone. Not with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad nor with Palestinian movements affiliated with the PLO not even with opponents within Fatah itself.”
He added: “Fatah wants to limit the Palestinian cause to its vision and believes that those who depart from its vision are outside the national consensus and it restricts the Palestinian situation with its behavior and policies. We in Hamas reject the convening of the National Council under these circumstances. It should be a council of unity not a council of division.”
He added: “Understandings reached in Beirut on the National Council in early 2017 were clear that all Palestinians are against the convening of the National Council in its old form and called for convening it outside Palestine based on unity. Several Arab capitals were suggested to host it but President Abbas takes over the Palestinian decision-making and turns against everything we agreed upon.”
He continued “We submitted a request to the Speaker of the Lebanese House of Representatives Nabih Berri to host the Palestinian National Council in Beirut and he agreed and asked the Palestinian ambassador in Beirut to contact President Abbas but Azzam Al-Ahmad responded and stressed that it should be held inside Palestine. If so let it be in Palestine but in the Gaza Strip unless Fatah does not recognize the Gaza Strip as part of the Palestinian homeland.”
Abu Marzouk pointed out that “Abbas’s insistence on holding the National Council in Ramallah will limit the presence and quality of people attending it and the Council’s decisions will be influenced by the occupation. This eliminates the idea of the PLO’s representation of all Palestinians and do not support pluralism within the framework of the Palestinian house. It contradicts the agreement of May 2011 and March 2015 on the PLO and keeps the conflict among various national forces. If you want to see the quality of people attending look who is attending at the end of the month.”
He concluded by saying: “Holding the so-called National Council in Ramallah means limiting the national consensus of the representation of the PLO of our Palestinian people to some Fatah members in the West Bank. We will not recognize the outcome of this meeting.”
