Khaled Meshal's News Conference In Damascus

2006-07-10

www.sana.org/ eng/21/2006/07/ 10/46198.htm

Damascus, July 10 (SANA- Syrian News Agency) - Head of Hamas Politburo Khaled Meshal stressed that Israeli terrorism and aggression against the Palestinian people wasn't in response to the "Faltering Illusion" operation in which an Israeli soldier was captured but began before and after it.

Speaking in a news conference in Damascus on Monday, Mr. Meshal said the latest Israeli aggression has so far claimed the lives of 60 Palestinians and 148 wounded.

Mr. Meshal compared the underway Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip to that aggression in 1996 when Israel assassinated Yehya Ayyash, pointing out that Israel was adopting the same tactic and way in terms of aggression and exporting its crisis.

He asserted that the Palestinian people is now united more than ever and they reject vehemently to surrender to the Israeli aggression or make any free concession to the aggressors.

Mr. Meshal said the main purpose of the Israeli aggression on Gaza is to topple the Palestinian government after all attempts have failed to pressure or blackmail it.

He added that Hamas and other Palestinian factions had already committed themselves to truce a year ago to pave the way fro diplomatic efforts to make progress, but Israel insisted on liquidating the Palestinian issue.

He rejected American and Israeli accusations against Syria or holding it responsible for what is happening, stressing that such accusations are only desperate attempts to export Israel own crisis.

Mr. Meshal thanked Syrian and President Bashar al-Assad for their support to the Palestinian people and issue.

He described Israeli and American talk about differences between Hamas and Syria as "wishes", reminding of Syria's clear support to the Palestinian legitimate rights.

He added that Israel is not willing to find a solution to the crisis of the Israeli captured soldier by its rejection to the 5-point initiative proposed by Palestinian Premier Ismael Hanieh, adding that Israel preferred escalation to impose defeat on the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian official warned against human catastrophe in Gaza Strip, calling on international relief agencies to shoulder responsibility towards the crime perpetrated by Israel and put an end to this crime.

He said Hamas is committed to the release of the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in return to freeing the Israeli captured soldier, stressing that the Palestinian government will make no concessions in this regard as there is a Palestinian consensus on this point.

Mr. Meshal criticized the world obsession over the issue of the Israeli captured soldier while forgetting about more than ten thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, some of them has been imprisoned for decades. He pointed out that many prisoners are children and women.

He reiterated that resistance is the strategic option for the Palestinian people as long as occupation exists there, adding that resistance is not run by remote control as resistance men know their duties on spot.

Mr. Meshal ridiculed claims that Palestinian resistance operations are carried out on foreign agenda, saying that such talk implies great insult to the Palestinian people who don't need any instructions to resist the occupiers.

He also made fun of Israeli threats to assassinate him, adding that Israel had already assassinated even those who negotiated with it or those who resisted it from Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

The Palestinian official strongly criticized the US policy vis-a-vis the Palestinian issue and its full bias to Israel, calling on the American people to prevent their administration from going on with this policy.

He called on the Europeans to behave in a way that fits the size of crime perpetrated by Israel in Gaza Strip.

Mr. Meshal thanked Arab and Muslim peoples for their standing by the Palestinian issue through demonstrations, calling on these peoples to offer more support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in their ordeal.

Mazen / Zahra

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis