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Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 2, 2010:
Khaled Mash'al: Independent decision-making is defended by the gun. It is formed in the battlefield, and it reflects the will of the people. As for the negotiations, they will make you subservient to the American decisions, and to Israeli pressure and threats.
By Allah, I felt honor and pride, and the spirit of Jihad was awakened in me once again, while in this camp. As simple as it is, its values are lofty. Indeed, this is the path. From here, we set out, and we cannot reach the end from anywhere else.
Many leaders, forces, and organizations have lost their way. They began on the right path, taking right steps, but they have lost their way, and have begun to wander aimlessly on the path of settlement and negotiations.
My brother Abu Jihad, and my brothers the commanders of the factions and the Shabiba, and all the representatives from dear Syria, from Lebanon, the land of resistance, and from Palestine of holy Jerusalem... I say to them: This is the path. We will never be ashamed, even if they try to scare us with allegations of terrorism. If our jihad is terrorism, let them say what they like. We will adhere to Jihad, to the resistance, and to the gun, as the path to liberation and to the return, Allah wiling.
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There is no legitimacy to Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, whether direct or indirect. Those negotiations derive their coerced legitimacy from the Americans and the Israeli pressure. As for the Arab endorsement [of direct negotiations] it is worthless. The Arab endorsement does not bestow legitimacy upon these negotiations, because this endorsement was imposed upon the Arabs, but that does not stem from their free will.
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Today, from this celebration, we reiterate the option of the resistance and the gun. This is the path to our honor and glory. This is what will reshuffle the cards and restore the initiative to our own hands. This is what will draw us out of this putrid quagmire, in which we have lost our spirit and our free will, and in which we have become a voiceless echo – an echo of external dictates.
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