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Egyptian Journalist Abdel Moneim Saeed said in a September 15, 2020 interview on Ten TV (Egypt) that "the time has come for our Palestinian brothers and their political elite to rethink things." He said there is no reason that the Palestinian cause must oblige all other Arab countries to remain in conflict with Israel, the Palestinians must resolve their cause on their own. Saeed added that a future independent Palestinian state will have to maintain a monopoly over the use of weapons, and no other military wings of Palestinian factions will be able to keep their weapons. He added that Hamas had jeopardized attempts at regional reconciliation in the 1990s and he then compared the movement to Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Al-Nusra, and Hizbullah.
Host: "The position of the Palestinian Authority is somewhat rigid. Not 'somewhat.' It is very rigid."
Abdel Moneim Saeed: "Obviously, it is rigid. This is what we have become accustomed to from them. The time has come for our Palestinian brothers and their political elite to rethink things. If they really want a Palestinian state, this state would have to have a monopoly on weapons. You cannot talk about an independent state with its own security forces, and alongside them you would have Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP with their weapons. This is impossible. This is not a real state."
Host: "You're talking about the military wings of these organizations."
Saeed: "Yes. But when you're talking about a state..."
Host: "But they say that these weapons are used for resistance, because they could not achieve anything..."
Saeed: "But they did not achieve anything with this resistance either. So far, they have not liberated a single centimeter of Palestine.
[...]
"When we look at history, we see something very important: All the Arab nations were liberated from colonialism by means of their own people. The people received material and diplomatic support from the Arab countries, and that included weapons. We have seen this in Algeria, Yemen, Egypt, and all the other Arab countries that have been colonized by foreigners.
"The only exception is the Palestinian people, who have turned their cause into everybody's problem. When this cause becomes everybody's problem... Our Palestinian brothers need to realize that when Al-Fujairah is bombed, or when places in Saudi Arabia, like Aramco, are attacked, or when missiles target Riyadh, like Saddam Hossein did, they cannot cheer for this. We have to have an honest and brave dialogue with our Palestinian brothers.
[...]
"The Palestinian cause has withered, and some people have even asked why nobody is talking about Palestine. The reason is that the region has been consumed by other wars and conflicts. So it is only natural that when you try to lower the flames in the region, you do this in cooperation with all the parties that have an interest in this.
[...]
"We need to tell [the Palestinians] that although it is true that there is an important and significant Palestinian cause, there is also an Emirati cause, a Saudi cause, and an Egyptian cause. There are other causes in the region, some of which are bleeding heavily. What has happened in Syria and what is happening in Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere because of the Houthis, or Hizbullah and Al-Nusra..."
Host: "Okay, but [the Palestinians] respond to this by asking: 'Would peace or normalization with Israel solve these problems?'"
Saeed: "Of course. I believe that it would resolve many problems. If I were to [analyze] everything that has happened, I would say that the plan [for regional cooperation] that had been formulated in the multilateral negotiations [of the 1990s] and that were thwarted by the operations of Hamas and similar organizations... This [plan] is happening now.
[...]
"I think that the biggest enemy of Palestinian rights is Hamas. Its actions have earned Hamas a place right next to Al-Qaeda, [Jabhat] Al-Nusra, Hizbullah, and all the other proponents of extremist ideologies in the region."
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