Mashaal: Armed struggle a strategy

Threatens violence if Israel, US don't accede to 1967 borders, right of return.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
khaled mashaal 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
khaled mashaal 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal said Saturday that "all options would be open" to the Palestinians if Israel and the United States failed to comply with Palestinian demands for a state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital and right of return for Palestinian refugees. At a rally at Al Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, Mashaal insisted that the Palestinians "wouldn't compromise," and would make strategic use of armed resistance, Israel Radio reported.
  • Palestinians rally in favor of Hamas Mashaal's aide Ahmad Youssef told the London-based Asharq Alawsat that the PA government wouldn't "negotiate" with Israel, but that it was seeking Israeli leaders who would be ready to withdraw from "Palestinian land," solve the refugee issue, and release Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for a limited cease-fire of 5-10 years. On Tuesday, Mashaal cautioned that Hamas can direct an intifada even if it sits in power, and added that that the hudna (calm), like violence, was a Palestinian tactic in the conflict with Israel. Even the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank will not move Hamas to recognize Israel, as Palestinian lands would still remain "occupied," Mashaal told the Lebanese newspaper Al Safir.