Palestinian Presidential Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash: The Palestinian People Did Not Want October 7, And Were Not Consulted About It; Ending The Aggression Is Our Number-One Priority, And Iran Has No Say In This

Palestinian presidential advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in a June 4, 2024 show on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) that the only people who have the right to speak regarding the interests of the Palestinian people are the Palestinian people themselves, who are the ones paying the price for the war in Gaza and making sacrifices. He said that the Palestinian people did not want October 7 and were not consulted about it, and now their number one priority is a ceasefire. He elaborated that anybody who deviates from this popular line – such as Hamas – will be "cast out of the Palestinian circle into other circles," and he added: "We operate only in accordance with the feeling we get from our people."

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "[Khamenei’s comments] are nonsense. The only people who have the right to consider what is necessary and what is not are those who pay the price, those who are burnt by the fire. The people who make the sacrifices are the ones who have the right to consider what is right and what is not what is necessary and what is not. Therefore, the opinion [that is important] now is that of the Palestinian people – not that of Iran or anyone else.

"Any Palestinian faction that deviates from the popular line which sees stopping the aggression as the number one priority, will be cast out of the Palestinian circle into other circles. [Hamas] are free to do as they want. If they want to agree with Iran or with anyone else, they are free to do so, but we operate only in accordance with the feeling we get from our people, because we are experiencing this suffering. We are the ones who are suffering. We are the ones who have sacrificed martyrs. The victims are our sons and brothers and the houses that are destroyed are our homes. The victims who fall are us. The only thing that should guide our entire policy is the interests of the Palestinian people.

"The Palestinian people did not want October 7 and were not consulted about it, and what they want now is a ceasefire and an end to the aggression. This is the Palestinian people, and if they think there is another [Palestinian] people, they should ask the 2.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip what they want."