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Palestinians voted for Hamas because of our refusal to give up their
rights.
But we are ready to make a just peace
By Khalid Mish'al*
January 31, 2006 The Guardian
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 hoood88@hotmail.com.
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