Hamas says armed struggle only way to confront 'Zionist enemy'

A top official of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, says the movement believes that armed struggle is still the sole way of confronting the “Zionist enemy” while condemning recent moves by certain Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.

The announcement was made by Naseem Yassin in a Sunday event during which the movement announced that it was canceling a ceremony planned to mark its 33rd establishment anniversary in the light of the ongoing pandemic of the deadly new coronavirus.

“Today, we recall the founder [of Hamas] martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who despite his suffering presented a patriotic model in sacrifice and working for the unity of Palestinians and armed struggle for Palestine,” he added, as quoted by the Palestinian Information Center.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, was assassinated along with a number of his guards on March 22, 2004, when an Israeli aircraft targeted them with Hellfire missiles as the 67-year-old leader was being wheeled out of an early morning prayer session held at a mosque close to his house in Gaza City.

The Hamas official further stated that the 33rd anniversary of Hamas comes at a time that the Palestinian cause is going through great challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic has also compounded the problems facing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been suffering from an immoral Israeli-imposed blockade from land, air, and sea since 2007.

The crippling blockade has caused a sharp decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the densely-populated enclave.

Yassin added that Hamas still believes that armed struggle is the only feasible means of confronting the “Zionist enemy,” while negotiations, normalization, and security coordination [with Israel] are mere illusions.

His remarks come as four Arab countries – namely the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and quite recently Morocco – reached much-condemned US-brokered agreements with Israel on the normalization of relations.

Yassin also called on all Palestinians to strengthen the sense of solidarity throughout the Palestinian nation and to launch charitable initiatives to enhance the steadfastness of Palestinians in the face of all challenges and threats posed by the Tel Aviv regime.

Muslim scholars slam Morocco’s normalization of ties with Israel

Muslim scholar groups censure a move by Morocco to agree to normalize its relations with the Israeli regime.

Morocco, Israel normalization “poisonous stab” to Palestinian cause: Hamas

Separately on Sunday, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the group's leadership in the Gaza Strip, said the recent declaration of normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel is a “poisonous stab” to the Palestinian cause and the entire Muslim nation.

The top Hamas official, who is also the head of Hamas’ parliamentary Change and Reform Bloc, made the comments during a speech he delivered at the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Morocco had reached an agreement with Israel on the normalization of relations. Morocco, thus, became the fourth Arab country — after the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Sudan — to reach such an agreement with the Tel Aviv regime since August.

The US secured the deal by agreeing to recognize Moroccan “sovereignty” over disputed areas in Western Sahara.

Morocco, Israel reach US-brokered normalization amid Palestinians' condemnation

Morocco and Israel have reached a US-brokered agreement on normalizing relations, making Morocco the fourth such Arab country since August.

Morocco annexed the vast Western Sahara region, a former Spanish colony, in 1975 and has since been in conflict with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory and end Morocco’s presence there.

Al-Zahar described normalization of relations with the Israel as “a complete deviation by the normalizing regimes with the (Israeli) occupation from the values and constants of the Arab and Islamic nation.”

The senior Hamas official also said that the so-called normalization is also a betrayal of the Moroccan martyrs who defended the land of the Holy City and who built it until one of the Jerusalem al-Quds neighborhoods and one of the gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque were named after them. 

“Normalization is a reward to the Zionist occupation for its crimes against the Palestinian people and its aggression against the [Palestinian] nation. Israel exploits these deals to escalate its persistent aggression against Jerusalem and al-Aqsa, confiscate land, establish settlements, arrest women and children, demolish homes and besiege the defenseless Palestinian people”, al-Zahar stressed.

He also appealed to all Moroccans to strongly protest against the crime of normalization and not accept the cheap bargain that Trump forged at the expense of the rights, constants, and sanctities of the Muslim nation.

“Normalization with the occupier in exchange for forfeiting one of the Muslim nation’s sanctities is high treason and a crime against our religion and a political, human and moral crime aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause and giving false legitimacy to the Zionist occupation of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, and Palestine,” al-Zahar concluded.

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