Hamas senior member: Deal of the Century not raised during our last visit to in Egypt

A Member of Hamas Political Bureau, Suhail Al-Hindi, had said that US ‘s Deal of the Century, was not discussed when his delegation was in Cairo.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Al-Hindi rejected any international efforts to establish a state in the Gaza Strip and parts of the Sinai. He stressed that the Deal of the Century is mainly aimed at annexing the occupied West Bank.

He reiterated his movement’s rejection of the establishment of “a state in Gaza, or a Palestinian state without the Gaza Strip.”

Reconciliation

Al-Hindi said that Egypt “has recently renewed its efforts toward Palestinian reconciliation.” He also expressed his hope that such efforts would lead to a “real breakthrough in the file.”

“We hope that the Egyptian efforts will soon make a breakthrough on this issue and bring down the Fatah Movement,” he added.

Palestinian politics has been split between Fatah and Hamas since 2007.

Al-Hindi stressed that his movement is willing to embrace reconciliation as “a strategic option for Hamas.”

He also stressed that his movement is ready to “make further concessions in the reconciliation file for the sake of the Palestinian cause.”

However, clarified that his movement would not make concessions related to “the resistance’s weapons.”

He said that the Fatah movement is placing “impossible conditions” to accomplish this file.

He added that his movement is putting forward an end to the division through an “approach” based on the formation of a national unity government. This includes all Palestinian factions and would the organise “legislative and presidential elections and a national council”.

“This is what we call for a way to end the division. In case we could not end it, we will bring a government of national unity and elections, whether the results would be satisfactory for us or not,” Al-Hindi continued.

He stressed on his movement’s commitment to “accept the results of any elections.”

He further said: “We are involved in partnership whether we are a majority or not. We are interested in everybody’s participation in the Palestinian decision.”

Armed resistance

Evoking the file of the “resistance’s weapon” in the Gaza Strip, Al-Hindi said that There would be no talk or bargaining in this matter.

He continued in this regard: “The weapon is built with blood and suffering for the Palestinian people. The weapon of the resistance is the strongest card that the factions have, so any debate on this issue is rejected.”

Truce

Al-Hindi stressed that Hamas “is committed to the understandings of the Egyptian-mediated truce with Israel based on the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip.”

“The understandings are known to focus on increasing the fishing area to 15 nautical miles, improving the work on the crossings in trade, and in the industrial zone, working on the issue of workers’ employment, and improving the electricity sector,” he said.

The Palestinian factions are committed to stopping the marches of return and the breaking of the siege and moving away from the security fence in the eastern Gaza Strip.

For several months, Egyptian, Qatari, and UN delegations have been holding consultations between the factions in Gaza and Israel to ease the siege on the Gaza Strip. In return for suspending the ongoing Palestinian protests near the borders since the end of March 2018.

Al-Hindi explained that some provisions of understandings have already been implemented. However, there is procrastination in the implementation of other provisions.

Violence

More recently, burning balloons have been launched from the Gaza Strip to the adjacent settlements. Al-Hindi described these as acts by “individuals”.

Al-Hindi denied that there is a collective decision on “the return of the course means used in the marches of return and the breaking of the siege.”

Al-Hindi believes that Israel is not currently supposed to launch a new war against the Gaza Strip, but if it does, the resistance is ready to respond.

“In the recent escalation of violence, the resistance sent a message within two days, about its qualitative and quantitative capabilities, as ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’.”

Bahrain Workshop

Commenting on the economic workshop to be hosted by Bahrain on 25 and 26 June, Al-Hindi said that his movement is looking “suspiciously at this workshop, as it is part of the Deal of the Century”.

He continued: “It is part of the conspiracy deal against the Palestinian people, which we hoped Bahrain would refuse to host, and Arab countries would boycott.”

Hamas has not been invited to the workshop, according to Al-Hindi, stressing that his movement would “absolutely refuse” to participate in the workshop in case it receives an invitation.

The workshop is the first event as part of a peace plan that Washington plans to announce after the current month of Ramadan. The plan is said to force Palestinians, with the help of Arab states, to make unfair concessions to Israel, especially on the status of Jerusalem and the refugees’ right of return.

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah declared its total refusal to hold this workshop and called on the Arab states to boycott it.

Al-Hindi reiterated his movement’s “rejection of the deal of the century,” stressing that it “will not be successful.”

In the face of the Deal of the Century, Hamas and the Palestinian factions are making efforts to come up with a shared vision to counter the deal, as Al-Hindi put it.

Al-Hindi said that in the upcoming days, different events would be launched to counter the US plan.