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Follow are excerpts from an interview with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, which aired on Al-Quds TV on March 5, 2012 :
Interviewer : You have said recently – and let me quote you verbatim: "Resistance on the ground is subject to interests, to an assessment of the circumstances, to a national consensus, and to the priorities of the Palestinian people." Take the Fatah movement and the PA in the West Bank – isn't this the same discourse they employ over there?
Ismail Haniya : There is a big difference. President Abu Mazen, who holds the most senior position in the West Bank, has stated very clearly that he supports peaceful resistance, and is against comprehensive resistance against the Israeli occupation. In many instances, the security and political Palestinian officials went so far as to criminalize the purchase of arms by the resistance in the West Bank.
The situation here is different. Here we talk about resistance as a strategic option, about the right of all the resistance factions to obtain all the means needed to conduct resistance, about the legitimacy of the weapons of the resistance, and about a national consensus on managing the resistance in a way that does not harm the principle.
We talk about operating in accordance with the conditions we talked about: taking people's circumstances into consideration, and even the conditions in Gaza, which has become… Today, there is no occupation in Gaza. You are not in a situation of daily resistance, with daily dealings…
Interviewer : You are under siege…
Ismail Haniya : … with the occupation forces or the settlers. Gaza has been liberated from Israeli occupation. There is no military presence or settlement within the Gaza Strip. This is in contrast to the West Bank, where there are settlers and Israeli forces, and where Israeli incursions take place. The occupation is present in all forms in the West Bank.
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