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Monday, September 26, 2016
Hamas leader concedes 'mistakes' were made after 2006 rise to power in Gaza

Hamas leader concedes 'mistakes' were made after 2006 rise to power in Gaza
Sept. 25, 2016 7:27 P.M. (Updated: Sept. 26, 2016 1:54 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773287

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- In a speech delivered Saturday night in Qatar, Hamas
politburo chief Khalid Mashaal admitted that Hamas “made mistakes” after
winning elections in 2006 that led the party’s rule over the Gaza Strip, and
also hinted that he would not run for reelection in Hamas’ internal
elections expected to be held next year.

"The experience has proved that winning a majority in the ballots is
important, but not important enough to abandon maintaining partnerships in
national unity or undertake the decision-making process alone,” Mashaal
said, in a rare open acknowledgement of how Hamas handled tensions that
arose with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) since Hamas’ rise to
power in the Gaza Strip a decade ago.

Mashaal delivered his speech at a symposium organized by the Al Jazeera
Center for Studies, a think tank affiliated to the Al Jazeera Media Network.

"It has also been proven that if you receive a negative response from a
partner after you offer partnership, you shouldn't just give up on them," he
added, referring to the years of failed reconciliation efforts between Hamas
and Fatah since 2006.

"When we won elections, we offered partnership to other Palestinian forces,
but it later became clear they aimed to place us on the margins to justify
targeting us at international and regional levels."

"I say it very honestly, as chief of the movement, that we found it easy to
rule alone. However, I put 'rule' between quotation marks because there
isn't real governance in Palestine, but rather a political experiment."

He said that the PA could not be treated as a state or a legitimate
authority, and instead described it as "a pattern of authority which was
imposed on us since the Oslo Accords. We chose to participate in that so as
to compete, defend, reform, serve our people, and protect the (Palestinian)
resistance."

He went on the make a distinction between Hamas as an Islamist group and
others Islamist movements which came to be in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"Hamas, as a form of Palestinian resistance, does not follow the same
pattern of other Islamist resistance movements which were active during the
Arab Spring revolutions or anti-revolutions, because Hamas is originally a
resistance movement -- or a national liberation movement -- whose
fundamental struggle is against the Zionist occupation of the land of
Palestine.

“However, the movement undoubtedly has a political face and a political
Islamist thought."

When asked about rumors which have been circulating over his intention not
to run for reelection as chief of Hamas’ politburo after serving in this
position for 20 years, Mashaal said: “Just as (Deputy Hamas leader) Ismail
Haniyeh is a former prime minister -- which is something to be reckoned with
in the Palestinian experience -- Khaled Mashaal will become the former chief
of the Hamas politburo next year, and this is also something to be reckoned
on as an advantage for Hamas."

Hamas official Ahmad Youssef said in an interview with Ma’an on Tuesday that
the movement was planning on holding internal elections during the first
half of 2017, following the cancellation of Palestinian municipal elections
by the PA-controlled Supreme Court, which were set to be held in the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in October.

Youssef said that after internal elections for each area were completed,
Hamas would gather to elect a new head for the politburo.

However, he said that it was “too soon to expect who would be head of the
politburo following Khalid Mashaal.”

Hamas holds internal elections every four years.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Supreme Court postponed on Monday a decision
regarding future municipal elections to Oct. 3, following a request by the
public prosecution.

The last elections in the Gaza Strip were held in 2006, when Hamas’ victory
led to a violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah, as both groups attempted
to take control of the besieged coastal enclave.

Gaza was placed under an Israeli military siege in 2007 following Hamas'
victory in the general elections and subsequent takeover of the government.
The nearly decade-long siege has severely crippled the economy and further
isolated the Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

The two parties reached a reconciliation agreement in 2014, but its
practical implementation was met with failure as a result of Hamas’ wariness
at relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip and numerous political
disagreements between the two groups.

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