“The time has come for the US and EU to remove Hamas from the list of designated
terrorist organizations,” Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said
Sunday.
Haniyeh’s appeal came during a meeting in Gaza City with a
visiting European mission in solidarity with the Palestinians.
“Hamas and
the Palestinian groups are national liberation movements that are defending
themselves against Israeli aggression on our people,” Haniyeh told the
delegation.
He also called for prosecuting Israeli leaders “for their
ongoing crimes against our people, especially the last eight-day aggression [in
the Gaza Strip].”
Haniyeh complained that the UN-sponsored investigative
report into Operation Cast Lead, which was prepared by South African judge
Richard Goldstone, “had been shelved by some countries that help the
occupation.”
The Hamas leader said that had the report been “activated,”
Israeli leaders would have been prosecuted for war crimes.