10:02
Ghazi Hamad (Hamas): “They left us no choice but violence”
“There are only two ways: peace or violence. (The President of the PNA, Ed.) Abu Abbas is a man of peace, he is always there to talk, and what has he achieved after 30 years of words? Less than zero. The number of Israeli settlers and confiscations of Palestinian land and isolated parts of the West Bank have increased. It’s not just the policies of Netanyahu’s extremist government. There has never been a good time to concede anything to the Palestinians just to expand Israeli control. They left us no choice but violence.” Ghazi Hamad of the Hamas Political Council explained this in an interview with Corriere della Sera from a “makeshift apartment” in Beirut. “Israel has the arrogance of someone who has the Americans behind them and doesn’t care about international law. Think: Why listen to Hamas when we can defeat them? Well, they were wrong, Operation Al Aqsa is changing the Middle East,” he added. The October 7 attack on Israel was not to prevent Saudi Arabia from recognizing Israel.
“This is a war that has been going on for years. I remember at least six major clashes since 2009. In most cases it was Israel that chose the moment, while now the initiative lies with us. Why? For the violations of Palestinian rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, for the civilians harassed at checkpoints, killed in Jenin, Nablus and Jerusalem, for the inertia of the various mediators (Egyptian, Qatari, UN). “We had to take the ball into our own hands,” explains the Hamas representative. “Israel is not a peaceful state. It has bombed Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran… – he denounces – We have caused a great shock and now we are taking all measures to prevent the problem from spreading beyond these 365 kilometers extends beyond our country. Well, we are no longer the only ones suffering and worrying. We are paying a high price in blood, but it was necessary.”