Follow-ups – FiMED

The head of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in the West Bank, Zaher Jabareen, affirmed that the Israeli occupation is continuing to implement a plan aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people from their land, displacing them and destroying the foundations of their existence, stressing the need for serious Arab, Islamic and international action to protect the Palestinians and deter Israeli attacks.

Jabareen said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday evening that what the occupation is doing to the Palestinian people is nothing new, but comes within the context of long decades of crimes and violations, explaining that the occupation government had adopted, before October 7, 2023, a programme based on «settling the conflict» with the Palestinians, stripping them of their land and holy sites and displacing them from them.

He added that these orientations, as he put it, are not merely slogans or Palestinian accusations, but appeared in the documents and political programmes of the head of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the two ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Jabareen: No one is capable of deterring the occupation

Jabareen explained that Hamas and the Palestinian factions have worked over the past stages to remove the pretexts used by the occupation, and responded to the efforts of mediators and guarantor parties at various junctures, with the aim of curbing Israeli attacks.

But he pointed out that the occupation is continuing, as he described it, to implement its project aimed at uprooting the Palestinian presence, amid Arab, Islamic and international inability to stop the killing of children and women, the demolition of homes, and the attacks on holy sites.

Jabareen called on the Arab and Islamic states and the international community to act to protect the Palestinians, affirming that the Palestinian people are facing a large military force under occupation and siege, and need a clear international stance and support from their Arab and Islamic surroundings. He noted that a number of states have condemned the settlers’ attacks and called for stopping them, describing them as terrorists, but these positions, in his assessment, have so far failed to deter the occupation from continuing its attacks.

Postponing the elections is a step towards national dialogue

On internal Palestinian affairs, Jabareen said that Hamas had not supported the issuance of a decree to hold elections under the conditions the Palestinian people are living through, amid the killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip and the escalation of Israeli attacks in the West Bank, considering that the existing circumstances were not conducive to organising them.

He believed that postponing the elections represents a step in the right direction to prepare a positive atmosphere that would allow a comprehensive national dialogue to succeed, with the aim of reforming the Palestinian political system and ending the division. He explained that this path should include holding presidential and legislative elections simultaneously, followed by elections for the National Council wherever possible, with agreement on alternative mechanisms for selecting members in places where holding elections is impossible.

He stressed the importance of agreeing on a clear political programme and a struggle programme to confront the occupation, warning that the continuation of the division gives the occupation and the international community, as he put it, a pretext to question the Palestinians’ ability to manage their own affairs.

Hamas affirms its openness to dialogue under Egyptian auspices

Jabareen affirmed that the Hamas movement has not hesitated, over more than forty years, to engage in dialogue, stressing its openness to a comprehensive national dialogue that includes all Palestinian forces and factions, and to working to hold it as soon as possible.

He also expressed the movement’s thanks to the Arab Republic of Egypt for its readiness to sponsor the dialogue, expressing hope of reaching an agreement that enjoys the acceptance of the Palestinian people and contributes to ending the division and reorganising the Palestinian house on shared national foundations.

Jabareen’s remarks come at a time when Israeli attacks are escalating in the Palestinian territories, and calls are continuing to unify the Palestinian ranks and reform the political system, in a way that enhances the ability to confront the occupation and protects Palestinian national rights.