PLO official: Hamas is changing the goals of the March of Return “to favor the personal party agendas that have no connection to the right of return”
Headline: "Al-Zaq: Hamas is acting to distort the idea of the peaceful popular struggle"
"National Activity Council Secretary, [Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) political bureau member, and Secretary of the PPSF in Gaza] Mahmoud Al-Zaq said that the Hamas Movement is acting to distort the idea of peaceful popular struggle by diverting the direction of the March of Return (i.e., violent riots on the Gaza-Israel border) in order to realize personal party agendas.
Al-Zaq added yesterday [Sept. 22, 2018] in statements to [official PA radio station] The Voice of Palestine that Hamas has added a special clause to the main goals of the March of Return and turned it into a primary goal – breaking the siege in order to realize its personal agendas. In other words, it wants to be recognized and that a bilateral agreement between it and Israel will be signed. This means that Gaza will become a political entity that signs agreements, and herein lays the danger as the center of the American plan is to establish a tiny state for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
He continued and said that the attempt to change the struggle's position and its goals has caused the national forces to aggressively criticize what is happening. He explained that it was agreed from the beginning not to push the young people into dangerous areas and turn them into cannon fodder for the occupation's army, but there are clear attempts on Hamas' part to change the goals of the March of Return to favor the personal party agendas that have no connection to the right of return.
Al-Zaq explained that Hamas is acting in a completely absurd and wrong manner, and all of this is part of its personal agenda to continue its rule of the Gaza Strip by applying pressure to extract regional recognition of it as [having] political weight in the Gaza Strip.
"The March of Return" refers to massive violent riots in Gaza, in which thousands of Palestinians are rioting on the border with Israel and attempting to cut through the security fence, attacking with firebombs, flaming kites, and gunfire. The riots began on March 30, 2018, and were scheduled to last for 6 weeks until Palestinian "Nakba" Day on May 15. On the day the US embassy opened in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018, the Palestinian attacks escalated and 62 Palestinians were killed. A senior official of the terror organization Hamas, Salah Bardawil, stated that 50 of the 62 belonged to Hamas, while Islamic Jihad identified 3 others as belonging to it.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli research institute, published research documenting that from the start of the riots on March 30 until May 15, 93 of the 112 Palestinians killed in the riots (approximately 83%) were members of terrorist organizations.
Petitions against the IDF's use of live fire to combat the rioting submitted by organizations that advocate for Palestinian rights were rejected by Israel's Supreme Court on May 24, 2018. The court accepted the state's argument that the riots were "organized and directed" by Hamas, a terrorist organization, and thereby rejecting the claim that the riots were peaceful and civilian in nature. PMW reports were referred to in the Supreme Court's decision.
"National Activity Council Secretary, [Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) political bureau member, and Secretary of the PPSF in Gaza] Mahmoud Al-Zaq said that the Hamas Movement is acting to distort the idea of peaceful popular struggle by diverting the direction of the March of Return (i.e., violent riots on the Gaza-Israel border) in order to realize personal party agendas.
Al-Zaq added yesterday [Sept. 22, 2018] in statements to [official PA radio station] The Voice of Palestine that Hamas has added a special clause to the main goals of the March of Return and turned it into a primary goal – breaking the siege in order to realize its personal agendas. In other words, it wants to be recognized and that a bilateral agreement between it and Israel will be signed. This means that Gaza will become a political entity that signs agreements, and herein lays the danger as the center of the American plan is to establish a tiny state for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
He continued and said that the attempt to change the struggle's position and its goals has caused the national forces to aggressively criticize what is happening. He explained that it was agreed from the beginning not to push the young people into dangerous areas and turn them into cannon fodder for the occupation's army, but there are clear attempts on Hamas' part to change the goals of the March of Return to favor the personal party agendas that have no connection to the right of return.
Al-Zaq explained that Hamas is acting in a completely absurd and wrong manner, and all of this is part of its personal agenda to continue its rule of the Gaza Strip by applying pressure to extract regional recognition of it as [having] political weight in the Gaza Strip.
"The March of Return" refers to massive violent riots in Gaza, in which thousands of Palestinians are rioting on the border with Israel and attempting to cut through the security fence, attacking with firebombs, flaming kites, and gunfire. The riots began on March 30, 2018, and were scheduled to last for 6 weeks until Palestinian "Nakba" Day on May 15. On the day the US embassy opened in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018, the Palestinian attacks escalated and 62 Palestinians were killed. A senior official of the terror organization Hamas, Salah Bardawil, stated that 50 of the 62 belonged to Hamas, while Islamic Jihad identified 3 others as belonging to it.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli research institute, published research documenting that from the start of the riots on March 30 until May 15, 93 of the 112 Palestinians killed in the riots (approximately 83%) were members of terrorist organizations.
Petitions against the IDF's use of live fire to combat the rioting submitted by organizations that advocate for Palestinian rights were rejected by Israel's Supreme Court on May 24, 2018. The court accepted the state's argument that the riots were "organized and directed" by Hamas, a terrorist organization, and thereby rejecting the claim that the riots were peaceful and civilian in nature. PMW reports were referred to in the Supreme Court's decision.