Khalid Mish'al
Tuesday January 31, 2006
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1698702,00.html
It is widely recognised that the Palestinians are among the most
politicised
and educated peoples in the world. When they went to the polls last
Wednesday they were well aware of what was on offer and those who voted
for
Hamas knew what it stood for. They chose Hamas because of its pledge
never
to give up the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and its
promise
to embark on a programme of reform. There were voices warning them,
locally
and internationally, not to vote for an organisation branded by the US
and
EU as terrorist because such a democratically exercised right would
cost
them the financial aid provided by foreign donors.
The day Hamas won the Palestinian democratic elections the world's
leading
democracies failed the test of democracy. Rather than recognise the
legitimacy of Hamas as a freely elected representative of the
Palestinian
people, seize the opportunity created by the result to support the
development of good governance in Palestine and search for a means of
ending
the bloodshed, the US and EU threatened the Palestinian people with
collective punishment for exercising their right to choose their
parliamentary representatives.
We are being punished simply for resisting oppression and striving for
justice. Those who threaten to impose sanctions on our people are the
same
powers that initiated our suffering and continue to support our
oppressors
almost unconditionally. We, the victims, are being penalised while our
oppressors are pampered. The US and EU could have used the success of
Hamas
to open a new chapter in their relations with the Palestinians, the
Arabs
and the Muslims and to understand better a movement that has so far
been
seen largely through the eyes of the Zionist occupiers of our land.
Our message to the US and EU governments is this: your attempt to force
us
to give up our principles or our struggle is in vain. Our people who
gave
thousands of martyrs, the millions of refugees who have waited for
nearly 60
years to return home and our 9,000 political and war prisoners in
Israeli
jails have not made those sacrifices in order to settle for close to
nothing.
Hamas has been elected mainly because of its immovable faith in the
inevitability of victory; and Hamas is immune to bribery, intimidation
and
blackmail. While we are keen on having friendly relations with all
nations
we shall not seek friendships at the expense of our legitimate rights.
We
have seen how other nations, including the peoples of Vietnam and South
Africa, persisted in their struggle until their quest for freedom and
justice was accomplished. We are no different, our cause is no less
worthy,
our determination is no less profound and our patience is no less
abundant.
Our message to the Muslim and Arab nations is this: you have a
responsibility to stand by your Palestinian brothers and sisters whose
sacrifices are made on behalf of all of you. Our people in Palestine
should
not need to wait for any aid from countries that attach humiliating
conditions to every dollar or euro they pay despite their historical
and
moral responsibility for our plight. We expect you to step in and
compensate
the Palestinian people for any loss of aid and we demand you lift all
restrictions on civil society institutions that wish to fundraise for
the
Palestinian cause.
Our message to the Palestinians is this: our people are not only those
who
live under siege in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but also the
millions
languishing in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and the
millions
spread around the world unable to return home. We promise you that
nothing
in the world will deter us from pursuing our goal of liberation and
return.
We shall spare no effort to work with all factions and institutions in
order
to put our Palestinian house in order. Having won the parliamentary
elections, our medium-term objective is to reform the PLO in order to
revive
its role as a true representative of all the Palestinian people,
without
exception or discrimination.
Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you
belong
to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for
13
centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion "the people of
the
book" who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be
upon
him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not
religious
but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us -
our
problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by
force, destroyed our society and banished our people.
We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land
and
deny us our national rights. We shall never recognise the legitimacy of
a
Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else's
sins
or solve somebody else's problem. But if you are willing to accept the
principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms.
Hamas is extending a hand of peace to those who are truly interested in
a
peace based on justice.
Khalid Mish'al is head of the political bureau of Hamas
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