Haniyeh: Only armed resistance will liberate Palestine

Hamas leader tells Tehran conference two-state solution, as proposed by the United States, European Union will fail.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
ismail haniyeh_311 reuters (photo credit: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)
ismail haniyeh_311 reuters
(photo credit: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh told an audience in Tehran Sunday that only armed resistance would liberate Palestinian land, and a two-state solution with a Palestinian state existing side-by-side with Israel would fail.
Haniyeh, whose comments were transmitted to a video conference in the Iranian capital, said intifada is capable of liberating “occupied Palestinian land” and “restoring the rights” of the Palestinian people, Al- Resalah television quoted him as saying.
RELATED:Israeli leftists demonstrate for PA statehood in TAPA: Obama will be responsible for failure of peaceHamas PM: Palestinians shouldn't beg for a state Haniyeh continued to doubt the PA efforts to work with the international community to gain recognition for a Palestinian state, saying a two-state solution as recommended by the EU and the US was a fallacy, and insisted that it would fail.
The Hamas leader said negotiations were a “mirage,” and only through armed resistance could Jerusalem and “the land” be liberated. He urged Palestinian negotiators not to make any settlements given their failure to “restore the rights” of the Palestinian people, including the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Haniyeh has been consistently critical of the PA’s efforts at the UN to gain state recognition, saying “liberation” of the land comes before the “state.”
The Hamas leader has dismissed the UN, saying the international body is “controlled by the Americans and others,” and that its political orientation is “not beneficial.”