Hamas Asks Iran To Help Liberate Jerusalem
By George Whitten, Jerusalem Bureau Chief
TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News) — The top official of Hamas publicly thanked Iran Monday, February 2, for helping his militant group to achieve “victory” over Israel in the Gaza Strip but said his group would need more support to “liberate” all Palestinians and Jerusalem.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has a big share in our victory in the Gaza Strip,” said Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, as he met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His statement came shortly after Iran denied providing weapons to Hamas, but admitted to providing financial and humanitarian aid to the group. Mashaal described the alleged victory over Israel during recent clashes in the world’s most populated region as a “divine miracle.”
He expressed hope that the victory in Gaza was a precursor of the “full liberation of Palestine” and Jerusalem. Israel governments have described Jerusalem however as the country’s “undivided capital.”
During Israel’s three week offensive in Gaza, the Gazans kept saying the Koranic verse, “Allah is sufficient for us; and excellent Guardian is He,” and remained “faithful and resistant,” Mashaal said.
He did not mention the Gaza Strip’s tiny Christian community, whose members have cited the Bible as their source of inspiration.
FULL LIBERATION
Sounding upbeat, Mashaal suggested his group would soon launch “a war aimed at at lifting the siege and opening the crossings, as a preliminary to the liberation of the country, the return [of the refugees], the liberation of Jerusalem, and extricating ourselves from the [Israeli] occupation.”
In a speech, translated by Middle East Media Research Institute, another senior Hamas official, Isma’il Radhwan stressed “Gaza victory has paved the way to Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, the Negev, and the West Bank.”
He made clear that Gaza is “not our [only] enterprise; [our national enterprise includes] Gaza and Palestine.”
That was music to the ears of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told Hamas to prepare for war. “The war in Gaza is not over yet; the political war and the propaganda and psychological warfare are continuing.”
“ISLAMIC RESISTANCE”
Khameni called on “the Islamic resistance” to be “vigilant and plan for every possibility and … even to be completely ready for the possibility of another war.”
Radhwan made clear that militants would “continue fighting until the occupation is defeated on Palestinian soil,” an apparent reference to Israeli troops and Jewish settlements.
Ahead of his talks in Tehran, Hamas leader Mashaal expressed his frustration of the apparent lack of European support for his group. “You should be ashamed,” he told Europe at a rally Qatar.
“It is a crime that you are cannot stop the aggression against us, and that you are not making it possible for us [to obtain] the weapons of the resistance. It will be a mark of disgrace on the forehead of Europe and the rest of the Western entities, if this policy continues.”
Mashaal said it was time for Europe to normalize relations with Hamas, which, he stressed, “has been legitimized both by the struggle and by the ballot box,” a reference to elections that were won by the group.
BLAIR REACTING
However in a possible sign of shifting opinion within Europe, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told British media it “is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process.” Blair quickly added that this, “can only be done if Hamas are prepared to do it on the right terms.”
He said Hamas should renounce violence, recognize Israel, and respect the past Israeli-Palestinian agreements. The conditions mentioned by Blair were rejected by Hamas parliament speaker Mushir al-Masri.
“The reintroduction of such statements shows the stupidity of Blair and others who insist on such a useless proposal,” he said in a statement obtained by Worthy News.
At the same time he suggested it was a hopeful sign that Blair wants to keep open the option of relations with Hamas, as he is now serving as the Middle East envoy for the ‘Quartet’ group comprised of the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union.
CHANGING WORLD
“Tony Blair’s words [also] prove that Europe and the world have understood that any efforts to remove Hamas from the Palestinian political arena have failed and that today we are the foremost force in this arena.”
He said,”The only way to deal with Palestinian issues and translate them into agreements is through Hamas.” Speaking of Israel, Al-Masri said the West should stop putting obstacles “as an excuse to reject Palestinian democracy, hinder the Palestinian people and allow the Zionist enemy to continue its crimes.”
Palestinian medics have claimed at least 1,300Palestinians died and about 5,400 others were wounded in the Israeli attacks. Israel says the death toll is high because Hamas used people as human shields and fired rockets from civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools.