British peer endorses Hamas resistance

Former British Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP), Baroness Jenny Tonge stressed the importance of Hamas to be included in any talks over the Palestinian issues.

“It is necessary for the international community to include Hamas in the Middle East peace process, as it is the only trusted faction [in the occupied territories] in which the Palestinian could rely upon”, Baroness Tonge said in an exclusive interview in London.

“The longer Hamas is being kept out from the talks, the more difficult will become the situation in the Gaza Strip, and this is probably what the Israeli regime wants to use it as a pretext to launch a new war on Gaza”, added Tonge.

The British official was speaking in the wake of the recent leak of several thousand confidential documents which has been branded as the most comprehensive exposure of the inside story of a decade of failed negotiations.

The 1,600 confidential records of hundreds of meetings between Palestinian, Israeli and US authorities, as well as emails and secret proposals, were leaked to the Qatar-based satellite TV channel al-Jazeera and shared exclusively with the British newspaper, The Guardian.

The revelations shed light on a decade of betrayal the Palestinian Authority’s officials have been committing against the cause of the Palestinian nation.

“The leaked documents show that the authorities with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah movement [in the occupied West Bank] have given up their struggle to reclaim the rights of refugees; it’s very unfortunate and depressing”, said Baroness Tonge.

“On the other hand, the revelations confirm that Mahmoud Abbas as the head of the Palestinian Authority and his colleagues are too weak to represent the Palestinian nation”, she said.

Meanwhile, the leaks revealed the true nature of Israel which has always been trying to hinder Palestinians’ moves to advance the process of talks, added the former Liberal Democrat MP.

Baroness Tonge said that the so-called Middle East peace process has reached a dead-end but Israel is trying to maintain the talks in its bid to occupy more Palestinian lands.