Hamdan: The Syrian people should decide their own future independently

Osama Hamdan said that the Syrian people should decide their own future without any external interference, denying media rumors that his Movement is involved in the internal Syrian events.

Hamdan made his remarks in an interview conducted last week by Russia Today (RT) satellite channel.

Hamadan categorically denied that the Palestinian resistance participates in the Syrian events and affirmed that his Movement does not take sides in any regional conflict.

“As for Syria, everybody knows that we had good relations with the Syrian government. These were very specific relations. When problems started in Syria in March 2011, we took a certain approach. We did everything we could to help our Syrian friends find a peaceful solution and start a political dialogue. We believe that the Syrian people should decide on their future without any outside interference. We did all we could for 10 months, trying to come up with solutions and ideas.”

“We respected the position of our Syrian friends, but we could not go against our own political principles, it would have destroyed us politically. So we had to say that we could not take sides. When the situation demanded that, we made a choice and left the country. We have become nobody’s enemy, we just left.”

“We released a statement [in the first two weeks of the internal events in Syria] saying that the Syrian government supported the Palestinian cause and Hamas, that we had good relations, we respected it, but we also respected the Syrian people and believed that everybody must respect the will of the Syrians.”

“What is happening in Syria now is very sad, towns being destroyed, people being killed, and there is constant gunfire. We believe that it is up to the Syrian people to find a solution. It has to be a Syrian decision, not something imposed from the outside. ”

The Hamas official emphasized that his Movement’s only goal is to resist the Israeli occupation in order to liberate the land and restore the usurped rights.

“The goal of Hamas is to oppose the occupation and establish the Palestinian state that I am sure will maintain a good relationship with the brotherly Arab and Islamic nations and the international community. The reason we are fighting the occupation is not for the sake of fighting. Not at all. We are only fighting because there is no other way to liberate our land. Over 20 years, the peaceful settlement process has not produced any results for the Palestinian people, thus the only way there for us is to fight the occupation.”

“The lesson that history teaches us is that you cannot obtain freedom without fighting against the occupation.”