Hamas: Comprehensive resistance, unity sole way to liberate Palestine

In a statement on the 34th anniversary of the First Intifada (popular uprising), Hamas called on the Palestinians across the occupied territories to continue their uprising for al-Quds and respond to Israel’s ongoing aggression against of inhabitants of the holy city and al-Aqsa Mosque.

The resistance movement said the city of “al-Quds and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque have remained at the heart of the conflict with Israel and that Judaization projects will not succeed in changing Palestinian landmarks, borders, and history.”

Hamas also strongly condemned the Palestinian Authority’s security cooperation with the Israeli regime in the occupied West Bank.

“We reject all unreasonable negotiation project schemes with the enemy and security coordination with it, which only pave the way for the occupation to further expand its settlements, increase its aggression, Judaize holy places, and blockade our people,” the statement read.

Palestinians have time and again urged the international community to act immediately to protect the holy and historical sites in Palestine, and to compel Israeli authorities to respect the sacredness of the holy sites and implement relevant UN resolutions.

In its new statement, Hamas urged the Arab and Islamic world to stand decisively against normalization of ties with the Israeli regime. It said normalization deals have been a stab in the chest of the Palestinian people and a blow to the security of the Palestinian nation.

“The movement calls on Arab and Islamic nations, leaders, governments and communities to act effectively to strengthen solidarity with the Palestinian people, until the end of the occupation and liberation of Palestine,” Hamas added.

Morocco was the latest country to normalize ties with the Israeli regime under a United States-brokered deal last year, following in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.

Elsewhere in the statement, Hamas said detainees in Israeli prisons are an integral part of the struggle, stressing that their release is a priority.  

More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held in Israeli jails. Hundreds have been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, which allows holding Palestinian inmates without trial or charge.

Hamas managed to free more than 1,000 detainees from Israeli jails in the Wafaa al-Aharar (True Promise of Free Men) prisoner swap deal with the occupying regime in 2011.

In recent months, Israeli forces have frequently raided the houses of Palestinians in the West Bank, arresting dozens of people, who have been transferred to Israeli prisons and held without any charges.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Much of the international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on the occupied lands.

The Israeli regime has faced widespread global condemnation over settlement constructions in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Founded in 1987, Hamas is the largest Palestinian resistance movement. Since 2007, it has ruled the besieged Gaza Strip and has since defended the impoverished enclave against four major Israeli wars, including the most recent 11-day conflict that ended in an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in May.