Hamas: State needs armed struggle with Israel

Osama Hamdan says Palestinian state without an armed struggle against Israel is an illusion, won't add anything for Palestinians.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
A masked Hamas man holds a gun 370 (R) (photo credit: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters)
A masked Hamas man holds a gun 370 (R)
(photo credit: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters)
A Palestinian state without an armed struggle against Israel is an illusion and won’t add anything for the Palestinians, top Hamas official Osama Hamdan was quoted Sunday as saying.
Hamdan, who is based in Beirut, said that the result of the UN General Assembly vote last Thursday on the statehood bid was a “political step, but not a victory or great achievement.”
He pointed out that the PLO already had representation in the UN.
“The PLO has paid a heavy political price for this representation because it relinquished its claim to the lands of 1948,” Hamdan said. “Therefore, the real achievement lies in the liberation of the land, the return of the refugees and achieving steadfastness on the land. These are the achievements which the people respect and appreciate.”
The Hamas leader said that the UN vote in favor of upgrading the Palestinians’ status would be considered a political achievement “only if it were part of a comprehensive strategy for liberation, with the resistance being its main basis.”
Hamdan explained that Hamas had welcomed the statehood bid “because it reflected the international community’s readiness to fix what it corrupted in Palestine.”
He also reiterated Hamas’s commitment to the armed struggle against Israel. He said that his movement would continue to seek the “liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”