Nir Gontarz : Senior Hamas Official: 'I Think We Can All Live Here in This Land – Muslims, Christians and Jews'
Yes, hello.
Hello to senior Hamas official Dr. Ahmed Yousef, former diplomatic adviser to former Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. This is Nir Gontarz from Haaretz.
Hi, how are you?
I’m good...
Nir, your name is Nir?
Yes, Nir.
N-i-r?
Yes. Gontarz.
Gon Gon?
Gontarz. Can you tell me a little bit about Hamas' plans for this holiday season in Israel?
What do you mean, holiday season in Israel?
To the best of my knowledge, there’s supposed to be a march to the fence [on the Gaza-Israel border] during the Passover holiday in Israel, and after that on Independence Day, your Nakba Day.
Aha.
Is Hamas moving from military action to civil action?
Actually,
Mr. Nir, it is not Hamas who made the decision, but the youth. The main
idea was thought up by the youth. There are people who think there is
no hope, no future, and that we have to do something – ya'ani, to remind
the whole world that we as Palestinians are still suffering, we are
still living in the diaspora or in refugee camps, and there's a certain
decision by the United Nations, [Resolution] UN 194, that we are trying
to implement, ya'ani, and to send a message to the world community that
our problem is not solved and we’re still suffering, and continue to see
our land being abused by the occupation, or Israelis trying to squeeze
us to the corner, punishing the Palestinians, and this is something that
this generation of Palestinians is not going to accept. And so they’re
doing their own civil march, they don’t intend to do anything
belligerent, and I think this is the message they would like to carry to
the whole world, about the situation and the suffering in Gaza.
Right. Can you estimate how many young people
and citizens of Gaza will come to this march? Because in the Israeli
media it's being described as a huge deal.
People
are talking with confidence about more than half a million, ya'ani,
something like this. I don’t know if they’re going to reach that number
or not. But at least they will send a strong message about the situation
the disaster, it has become a disaster, the situation has been
deteriorating here in Gaza because of sanctions and the fact that Gaza
is under a closure, how the disaster became the situation here in Gaza.
It's all about the message that we want to send, [a message] that Israel
will get, the international community will get, and anyone who is
looking, people in the region, from Arab and Muslim countries – that we
Palestinians are still under occupation, and we’re still suffering from
that occupation as well as from Israeli aggression in Gaza, and from
what the Israelis are committing when they hold Gaza under siege. It is a
crime against humanity.
I see. And Hamas will take part in this march? I understood that
I
think everyone has been invited to participate. It’s not a factional
march. Everyone has been invited to participate and mobilize, to be part
of this message that we all would like to send to the whole world.
Okay, and the plans are to cross the border to the other side?
No,
no, no, no one is talking about crossing the border. No. It will take
place inside the area. It's something that can take place near the
border, not too close to the border, but it can be in the buffer zone,
or near the border. We will hold various activities, singing, folklore
performances, Palestinian folklore.
It sounds like Woodstock.
Something
like this, ya'ani, that would attract the attention of the media to the
fact that we Palestinians are still living on this land, and are still
suffering. At least that’s the message that the people in Gaza would
like to send, and of course the media will cover the events, and we hope
that foreign journalists will come and listen to what the Palestinians
have been telling about their narrative, about the whole story s there a chance that I, as an Israeli reporter, can cross the border to Gaza and cover it?
To
be honest with you, I don’t think this is something easy to do and also
I don’t think Israel will let an Israeli cross to Gaza, it’s risky for
them It's something that needs to happen within some sort of
arrangement. But I don’t think it is a good idea right now because there
is still tension in the relations between us.
Listen,
usually Hamas doesn’t speak with the Israeli government. Sometimes,
with the help of a third party, Hamas does speak with the Israeli
government. I’m asking, would you like to convey a message to the people
of Israel – to the people, not the government?
I
would like to publish an article. I think I once wrote an article but
it was stopped by our people here. But I may consider writing an article
about these kinds of things
n once sentence, is there anything you would like to say to people in Israel?
I
can tell them, look, you’ve suffered a lot as Jews around the world,
and there were issues of suffering and agony in Spain or Europe. Don’t
repeat what has been You were treated badly in Europe during the war and
also during the inquisition in Spain. Don’t repeat what you have
suffered. You are causing the Palestinians suffering by pushing them to
the wall. This land, Palestine, is the holy land for all the people of
Abrahamic faiths, who lived together through history for centuries. I
think we can all live here in this land – Muslims, Christians and Jews –
in this blessed land Allah chose for all the good people of Palestine,
Muslims, Jews and Christians. This is my message to the Jewish community
in Israel or to the Jewish people in Israel.
Okay, Dr. Yousef. Thank you very much for speaking with me.
Nir,
could you send me your email or phone number so if I would like to
write an article, I would know where to send it? And convey my regards
to Gideon Levy, I've read his articles, I respect him and all the people who write fairly about the Palestinian issue in Haaretz.
I’ll send you my email by Whatsapp.
Okay, thank you very much, Nir.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
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