HAMAS WILL NOT TRADE RESISTANCE FOR RECONSTRUCTION

Gaza, 24 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/14 February 2015 (MINA) – Hamas official Ismail Radwan has repeated the movement’s firm refusal to negotiate the right to resist in return for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by Israel three times since 2008, most recently last summer.

He insisted that Hamas rejects all attempts to put pressure on the resistance group to give up their weapons, describing such efforts as “conspiracies” against the Palestinians in Gaza, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islami News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Speaking during his Friday Prayer sermon at Al-Omari Mosque in Gaza, Radwan said that Hamas “will not negotiate over our weapons.”

He made a point of addressing the ongoing Israeli blockade that has been imposed for the past nine years on Gaza.
“There has been great suffering in Gaza as a result of the blockade that has affected all aspects of life, including the social, health, educational, environmental and humanitarian sectors,” he said.

This, he added, has meant that the Palestinians in the coastal enclave are in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

Radwan condemned the Arab and international silence in the face of the Israeli blockade and the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, including electricity and fuel shortages, lack of salaries, the closure of border crossings and tunnels, and the suffering in this very cold winter of those whose homes were destroyed in the war last year.

He also pointed that there are more than 10,000 people who are ill or injured and require medical treatment in hospitals overseas. “The blockade,” he added, “means that they cannot have access to that essential treatment.”(T/P008/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)