Hamas calls for Saudi-backed reconciliation

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar called on Friday evening for a new Saudi-backed reconciliation deal between the Islamic movement and Fatah, with other Arab support.

Speaking on Aljazeera Mubasher TV, Al-Zahar reiterated the importance of Saudi Arabia sponsoring a new reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and called for Arabs to monitor the implementation of any agreement. He stressed the need to name and shame whichever side failed to fulfil its obligations under a reconciliation deal. Al-Zahar reminded viewers that Fatah officials tried to stage a coup and damage Hamas’s relations with Saudi Arabia immediately after the 2006 reconciliation known as the “Makkah Deal”.

He reiterated that there are serious regional and international efforts to achieve reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, and expressed concerns over attempts to prevent it. However, Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israeli moves aimed at spoiling such efforts are, he insisted, to be expected.

When asked about the position of PA President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the siege of the Gaza Strip, Al-Zahar was critical. He claimed that Abbas is ignoring the Cairo [reconciliation] Agreement and fears a general election. He added that the unity government is still unwilling to work with the Gaza Strip or solve its problems under the pretext of its inability to control the border crossings. As such, the Hamas official called for the crossing to be handed over to the PA immediately, the reactivation of Fatah security services and contact between ministers and their ministries in the besieged territory to overcome all of the authority’s objections. He accused the unity government of Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah of “extending the people’s starvation in Gaza” because it is not dealing with their problems.

According to Al-Zahar, the recent visit of unity government ministers to Gaza “embarrassed” everyone, including European observers, because they only wanted to solve the issues affecting their own employees. Those Palestinians who were recruited following Hamas’s election victory in 2006 were again ignored, he claimed.

The Europeans, he noted, are also embarrassed with the PA’s position on the elections. Clearly, he said, the PA does not want to go to the polls because Fatah fears another defeat. “Abbas and his party still insist on their coup against electoral legitimacy,” he accused, pointing out that following the victory of the pro-Hamas bloc in the Birzeit University student elections, the PA arrested members of the Hamas students’ union and banned similar elections elsewhere.

Turning to the current situation regarding Israel, Al-Zahar said that if the Israeli occupation forces carried out another major attack, his movement would not remain silent. “We would respond in the same way that we have before,” he insisted. Hailing the liberation of even just one centimetre of historic Palestine, the Hamas official said that this does not mean in any way that the Palestinians concede their rights to the lands remaining under Israeli occupation.

With regards to Syria and Egypt, he stressed that the Islamic movement has never interfered in any states’ internal affairs. There is, he insisted, positive contact with Egypt, which has asked Hamas to cooperate in protecting the common border. Hamas’s position on the crisis in Yemen, said Al-Zahar, remains that it supports any legitimate government and is against coups of any kind. The movement, he concluded, maintains its relationship with Iran and is not siding with any one country in regional conflicts. “We continue to accept aid from any country, including Iran, as long as there are no preconditions,” he stressed.