Press TV
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:14:24 GMT
 Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal |
"Gaza cannot die slowly with the siege or quickly with the firepower of the Israeli military," said the movement's political chief at the Doha summit on Gaza Friday.
On June 19, an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire was brokered between Hamas and Israel, under which the Palestinian movement agreed to stop firing rockets and Israel accepted to gradually ease its embargo on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli embargo, however, remains on the impoverished strip to this day.
"We made a very normal request: Lift the siege off Gaza….Six months past and the siege was not lifted," Mashaal added.
Israel launched Operation Cast Lead shortly after the temporary ceasefire expired on December 27 to put an end to rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns. At least 1,133 Palestinians have died during the offensive, while some 5,150 others have been wounded.
The Hamas chief said, "The Israeli attacks were not launched because the Palestinian resistance did not renew the truce…. This war was imposed to destroy the resistance so Israel can impose its own conditions for a settlement based on Israeli and American interests."
"Israel, after realizing that there is no solution without Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and without the right of (Palestinian) return and without withdrawing from the territories, without putting together a true Palestinian state,…tried to create new rules for the game, impose its own conditions for reaching a settlement and the resistance proved an obstacle to this."
Reports indicate that Hamas fighters have prevented the Israeli army's advance into the heart of Gaza City.
The Hamas chief asserted that the Israeli campaign would come to an end because of Palestinian perseverance and that they have been unable to break the will of the Palestinian people.
Mashaal reiterated the Palestinian demands that Israel end its military campaign in Gaza, pull out its troops, lift the siege and open the 'Palestinian-Egyptian' Rafah crossing before any talks can be held.
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 16, 2009
at Friday, January 16, 2009
and is filed under
Middle East
. You can follow any responses to this entry through the
comments feed
.
