Fatah official: Armed struggle is a Palestinian right affirmed by UN Resolution 3236
Program about Palestinian - Fatah-Hamas reconciliation and the appointment of a transitional Prime Minister.
Guests: Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee
From studio in Gaza: senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan
Zaki [talking about the issue of Fatah and Hamas political prisoners, which was discussed as part of the reconciliation agreement]:
”I, as Abbas Zaki, am opposed to any political detention and opposed to the detention of someone who once bore arms for the sake of the Palestinian cause.”
Radwan [asks to address the issue of popular resistance against the backdrop of its success in altering the route of the security fence in the Bil’in region]:
”We are in favor of resistance in all its forms, but popular resistance is not an alternative to armed resistance. Each of them is used in its proper place.”
PA TV host: ”In other words, resistance is sacred. [So] you would agree with this principle: ’Resistance is the right of the Palestinian people, a sacred right, but weapons are not sacred, and every situation has its own circumstances and its own timing’?”
Radwan: ”I say to you that it’s not a matter of weapons or no weapons. Weapons are sacred when I use them against the occupation, which knows only the language of force. So while the popular resistance has been good (i.e., effective), at the same time the armed resistance has also been good. I tell you honestly, we [Hamas and Fatah] may well agree on organizing the resistance, whether popular or armed or in all other forms of resistance -”
[Host allows Zaki to respond]
Zaki: ”Firstly, I agree with him that popular resistance, against the backdrop of the current situation, does work, and [the security fence route adjustment around] Bil’in proves that it’s an effective means which can achieve results. However, we the Palestinian people – [UN General Assembly] Resolution 3236 gives the Palestinian people the right to use all means of struggle, including the armed struggle. But the use of the armed struggle requires a [certain] atmosphere, it requires internal order, it requires that using it will be of great benefit to you and will carry a heavy price for the enemy. Unfortunately, all of this is absent.”
Guests: Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee
From studio in Gaza: senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan
Zaki [talking about the issue of Fatah and Hamas political prisoners, which was discussed as part of the reconciliation agreement]:
”I, as Abbas Zaki, am opposed to any political detention and opposed to the detention of someone who once bore arms for the sake of the Palestinian cause.”
Radwan [asks to address the issue of popular resistance against the backdrop of its success in altering the route of the security fence in the Bil’in region]:
”We are in favor of resistance in all its forms, but popular resistance is not an alternative to armed resistance. Each of them is used in its proper place.”
PA TV host: ”In other words, resistance is sacred. [So] you would agree with this principle: ’Resistance is the right of the Palestinian people, a sacred right, but weapons are not sacred, and every situation has its own circumstances and its own timing’?”
Radwan: ”I say to you that it’s not a matter of weapons or no weapons. Weapons are sacred when I use them against the occupation, which knows only the language of force. So while the popular resistance has been good (i.e., effective), at the same time the armed resistance has also been good. I tell you honestly, we [Hamas and Fatah] may well agree on organizing the resistance, whether popular or armed or in all other forms of resistance -”
[Host allows Zaki to respond]
Zaki: ”Firstly, I agree with him that popular resistance, against the backdrop of the current situation, does work, and [the security fence route adjustment around] Bil’in proves that it’s an effective means which can achieve results. However, we the Palestinian people – [UN General Assembly] Resolution 3236 gives the Palestinian people the right to use all means of struggle, including the armed struggle. But the use of the armed struggle requires a [certain] atmosphere, it requires internal order, it requires that using it will be of great benefit to you and will carry a heavy price for the enemy. Unfortunately, all of this is absent.”