Hamas leader stresses ‘military ties’ with Hezbollah

CAIRO – 27 November 2017: Hamas’ official Salah al-Bardawil renewed his party’s pledge to cancel moving forth with forming a unilateral government with Fatah movement, Asharq Awsaat newspaper reported on Friday.

Bardawil is a senior member of the resistance movement of Hamas and is a key member of the negotiating team with Fatah. He is also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and frequently acts as a spokesman for the resistance movement.

“I want to reassure everyone, despite currently securing 60 percent of the council’s seats, and having the right to form a government and doing what we want, we do not want to bring the Palestinian people into a new wave of inhumane pressure,” said Bardawil in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.


“We are now ready to activate the Legislative Council on the basis of consensus and not majority,” revealed Bardawil to the Arab-Pan newspaper.

In his interview, conducted in Cairo, Bardawil said that “We did our best to implement practical outcomes and lift the sanctions imposed on Gaza, but we have not succeeded,” adding that “Hamas experienced a huge amount of pressure that prevented them from reaching a satisfactory and applicable agreement.”
On the other hand, he mentioned that Hamas remains committed to redrafting its program and reshaping its movement.

During the interview with the Pan-Arab newspaper, Bardawil admitted to Hamas’ arms-link with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group.

Despite crystal-clear disagreement between Hezbollah and Hamas regarding the Syrian crisis, Bardawil praised the two sides’ military collaboration, without giving further details.

“Hezbollah and Iran were angry, even though we only meant for them to stay out of the muddled situation in Syria and not interfere, we offered this as a recommendation.”

“In 2006, we agreed that there should be a national partnership in deciding on peace and war, in the sense that we affirm that the resistance is the right of the Palestinian people, but this resistance is not carried out unilaterally by a faction,” Bardawil noted.

On November 21 and 22, Palestinian national authorities and factions met in Cairo upon an Egyptian invitation to resume talks between Fatah and Hamas. They intended to find a common ground for implementing the next step of their Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.

It was agreed during the meeting upon adhering to principles of the October 2017 Fatah and Hamas reconciliation to allow the government to carry out its responsibilities in the Gaza strip.

They also agreed to invite the Freedoms Committee that was formed in accordance with the May 4, 2011 reconciliation to resume its works immediately in Gaza and the West Bank.