Haniyeh: Reconciliation must not entail security coordination with Israel

Any reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah must not entail security coordination with Israel, according to Ismail Haniyeh. The Prime Minister of Gaza made this announcement during a ceremony to honour the heads of the National Security, Police and Protection Departments held in his office in Gaza City last week. In his speech, Mr. Haniyeh pointed out that since 2007 and the decisive move against the planned military coup, these departments have been truly “national”, without any requirement to coordinate activities with the Israeli authorities.

“We have eliminated the Oslo Convention, which was built on security coordination and protection of the [Israeli] occupation and the settlers,” he said. “Today, we are consolidating the doctrine of cutting security ties with the Zionist occupation in our security apparatus.”

According to Haniyeh, the national consensus for reconciliation will be far removed from any will imposed by the Israeli occupation. The discussions between Hamas and Fatah have been focusing on protecting the resistance and building a purely Palestinian security service, he added.

The political leader of Hamas in Gaza stressed that the Ministry of Interior has been asked to impose the severest sanctions on anyone found undermining the security of Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip.

“We will not allow the return of security chaos in the Gaza Strip, under any circumstances. Our aim is to provide security, protection and stability to the Palestinian people.”