Khalil Al-Hayya a member of the Political Bureau of Hamas said that the main way to protect the Palestinian issue and guarantee the return of Palestinian refugees is achieving national unity stressing that his Movement wants a national unity based on what was agreed upon in the 2011 agreement.
Speaking at a press conference held by the Palestinian Media Forum in Gaza on Thursday Al-Hayya said that Hamas wants to form a government of national unity that is capable of facing challenges and overcoming division.
“We want to go to general elections and let the United Nations monitor the elections” he said.
Abbas’s stubbornness and sanctions
He said that the stubbornness of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and his refusal to lift the siege of Gaza is the reason why national unity was not realized noting that the PA and the Fatah movement led by Mahmoud Abbas are the ones who delay national unity. He stressed that reconciliation is the only option for his Movement which will make concessions despite ‘stabs from the back and sanctions.’
Al-Hayya stressed that the punitive measures imposed by the PA on the Gaza Strip ‘constitute a stab in the back of the Palestinian people’ stressing that the recent Fatah response to Hamas’s recent proposal presented at the Cairo meetings is worse than the previous ones.
Al-Hayya challenged Fatah to agree to presidential legislative and national council elections after 3 or 6 months advising Abbas to seize this opportunity and achieve unity.
Truce and prisoners
Speaking of the truce talks in Cairo the Hamas leader said: “We want a water gateway connecting us to the outside world just like other countries.” He stressed that the most important thing to achieve in order to lift the siege of Gaza is to have a seaport and an airport refuting reports that suggested the location of the airport will be in Eilat.
He pointed out that the discussion is about stabilizing the truce with the Israeli occupation reached in 2014 stressing the acceptance of his Movement to stop firing burning balloons and cutting the security fence in exchange for lifting the siege and calling on the United Nations and Egypt to accomplish what was presented to the Palestinian factions during the talks.
Al-Hayya revealed the anger of the PA from all efforts aimed at lifting the siege of the Gaza Strip. He said “the PA went mad after the efforts made to lift the siege in the wake of popular protests and using new tools to resist the occupation.” He accused Fatah leader Azzam Al-Ahmad of pressuring resistance factions during the 2014 truce talks to stop digging tunnels which led to its failure according to him.
Al-Hayya said that if the Egyptian and international efforts to break the siege failed “we will continue resistance” adding “we say to our brothers in Egypt and the United Nations and to the occupation that there should be a time limit to end the siege of Gaza.
As for soldiers captured by the Palestinian resistance Al-Hayya stressed the readiness of his Movement to start negotiations to reach a prisoner exchange deal but he noted that the Israeli occupation is not ready yet.
