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We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid
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
01/31/06 "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
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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