Al-Manar reports: This unilateral ceasefire does not foresee a withdrawal” by the Israeli army,” Hamas’s representative in Lebanon Oussama Hamdan said Saturday. He stressed the resistance group will fight on if Israel orders a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza. “As long as it remains in Gaza, resistance and confrontation will continue,” he said.
Speaking at a conference in Beirut, also attended by European representatives supporting the Palestinians, Hamdan added that Israel’s proposal for a unilateral ceasefire, which was to be put to a vote of the security cabinet later on Saturday, was an “attempt to derail the Egyptian plan” for a reciprocal truce. “The different initiatives for a ceasefire were aimed at getting the Palestinians to concede things “which the enemy failed to achieve through the fighting,” he said.
Hamas would only agree to a ceasefire if the conditions set by the organization are met. “I would like to suggest to all the mediators to focus in their initiatives on halting the offensive and lifting the blockade and not to touch anything else.”
He called on regional elements to stand by the resistance and warned Israel that “if we don’t hear what we want, we’ll return to the fighting arena.”
‘Don’t suggest that we surrender because we haven’t been defeated and we won’t be defeated. Our determination grows stronger every day, because our debt to the martyrs whose blood has been spilled is bigger. We shall continue fighting, so don’t suggest that we surrender,” Hamdan stressed.
The senior Hamas official called on the Palestinian people to continue the struggle and addressed resistance fighters in Gaza.
“Just like the resistance was victorious in Lebanon in 2006, you will win in January 2009.”
“There are elements in the region which believe that the enemy treats them as a partner. They don’t understand that the enemy treats them like servants or like an improved image of the ancient slaves, but this is the 21st century,” he said signaling several leaders dubbed by the US as so called ‘moderate Arabs.’
He also criticized Mahmoud Abbas, whose term as PA leader ended in January 9, for not showing up at the Arab summit in Qatar.
Hamdan stressed that Israel’s leaders should be put on trial for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. He told the Europeans that “the Zionist entity enjoys a special status in the European Union.”
He also congratulated the presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia for severing their diplomatic ties with Israel, and ridiculed Arab leaders who he said were letting Israel act without disturbances.
Hi Saker
After the three week carnage and the apparent inability of Hama for hit back with enough force, one wonders what’s next? Do you have any thoughts about the future developments of this dark and ghastly chapter?
Where were the thousands of RPGs the Hs made the photos with?
Israel wants to make sure Hamas knows it lost
@anonymous-1: this entire ceasefire business is PR bullshit. From both sides. What really happened is that nothing happened. No decisive victory on any sides. The Israelis got to gorge themselves on the blood of 1200 Palestinians, and Hamas got to stay in power and (correctly) claim that the Israelis never really dared to fight them.
As long as this bullshit of “not talking to Hamas” continues, nothing will really change. The Israelis can now have their elections, and the Palestinians will get some reprieve from the blockade. Qassam rockets will still be fired as a sign of defiance, and the Israelis will kill more civilians in retaliation as a sign of “firmness” and “resolve”.
@Anonymous-2: pure Israeli propaganda, and rather pitiful one at that. I love this part here:
With Israeli tanks reaching within 4,000 meters of the center of Gaza City and encountering only sporadic fire it will be difficult for Hamas afterwards to construct a narrative of heroic resistance
Oh yeah?! Please, launch Google Earth, “fly” to Gaza, then go to Gaza city, then start the “ruler” and measure the distance from the center of Gaza city to the outskirts.
That’s right. The Israelis NEVER ENTERED Gaza city. Yeah, here and there, mostly at night, they did roll in and out, but 4’000 meters from the center of Gaza means ON THE OUTER EDGES OF THE GAZA OUTSKIRTS!
I am both amused and baffled at how stupid the Israeli propaganda is :-)
The Saker
see the assessment of as’ad abu khalil on his blog, angry arab.
http://news.aol.com/article/israel-pulling-out-of-gaza-hamas-ceases/299488?cid=13
Israel pulling out of Gaza; Hamas ceases fire:
Israeli troops, some smiling and dancing, began to withdraw from Gaza Sunday after their government and Hamas militants declared an end to a three-week war. But neither side achieved long-term goals and the burden of consolidating the fragile calm fell to world leaders.