Bassam Al Antari-Amman
In a telephone interview with Albawaba.com, prominent Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz al Rantisi denied as “baseless” the accusations that his movement has been blackmailing Fatah through exploiting the issue of suicide operations inside Israel in order to achieve political gains from the dialogue between the two factions.
While the two sides are preparing for a new round of talks in Cairo next week, many Palestinian political sources accused Hamas of using the military operations inside Israel as a tool for achieving political gains that would open the doors for them for more participation in the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization dominated by Fatah.
“Hamas is far superior to working for selfish and very trifle objectives,” Rantisi told Albawaba.com. adding that his movement “fights to liberate the scared places and homeland and defend our oppressed people.” “Hamas cannot allow shedding one drop of blood for personal or selfish objectives.”
In the same context, the Hamas leader acknowledged that the dialogue with Fatah which started last November had no specific agenda agreed upon by the two sides.
He said, “the agenda has not been prepared yet but the dialogue is open and in general includes the present political and security circumstances of the Palestinian people.”
Rantisi renewed his rejection of the reports that described the dialogue which started few months ago as concentrating only on the halt of the operations launched by Hamas.
“The phrase ‘halt of martyrdom operations’ is not a relevant title for the dialogue,” said Rantisi reiterating that Hamas wants the title to be ‘what is good for the Palestinian interests.” He added, “halting the operations will minimize the importance of the dialogue.”
On the other hand, Rantisi denied that Egypt has put any pressures on his movement during the previous rounds of talks as press reports suggested. He also denied any Syrian pressures in view of the fact that Syria hosts Hamas’ politburo in Damascus.
“There have been no pressures by our brothers in Egypt.” Said Rantisi.
Responding to a question about the reasons to hold meetings outside the Palestinian lands and particularly in Egypt, Rantisi said, “We in Hamas look at the Arab and Islamic nation as one entity. Egypt offered to host the meetings and we responded for Egypt’s regional weight and role and its concern about the Palestinian issue”.
Hamas leader also rejected statements by Palestinian sources that some officials in both movements attempted to make the dialogue fail. “For our part there is not a single leader who does not believe in or refuse the dialogue,” said Rantisi adding that the other side should be asked about its stance.
On Monday, Reuters cited two sources it described as “official” as saying that prominent leaders from both movements were working behind the scenes to disrupt and undermine the dialogue. (Albawaba.com)
