Meshaal: Qassam commander Deif is alive

Hamas’ military commander Mohamed Al-Deif is still alive and the tunnels from Gaza to Israel are defensive weapons, the head of the movement’s political bureau Khaled Meshaal has said.

Speaking during an interview with the American magazine Vanity Fair published recently, Meshaal said: “Mohammed Deif is alive. Israelis failed to kill him. But they succeeded in killing his wife and his two children. Mohammed Deif is still alive, and will continue to fight the Israeli aggression and occupation. Inshallah.”

Responding to the question about why Al-Deif has not made an appearance to prove he is alive, Meshaal said: “We have proof. It is not important the others have it. Mohammed Deif is not a politician in order to make public appearances. He is a military man who hardly ever turned up in public, even before the war.”

Defensive tunnels

About the tunnels, which were a game changer in the recent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Meshaal said they mark a creative technique that achieves a kind of balance with the Israel’s military power.

“In light of the balance of power, which is shifted toward the Israeli occupation, we had to be creative in finding innovative ways. The tunnels were one of our innovations. The Israeli army is stronger than us. It possesses a great destructive power. It has airplanes, artillery. It possesses the strongest weapons arsenal in the region.”

“Therefore, what Hamas and other resistance factions are doing in Gaza, with the full support of our people, is just an attempt to ensure the necessary means to protect our people… The tunnels come in this context, that of putting more obstacles in the way of any Israeli attacks, and enabling the resistance in Gaza to defend itself.”

He explained: “We used them [tunnels] when the Israeli occupation waged war against us. So the tunnels may have been outwardly called offensive tunnels, but in actual fact, they are defensive ones.”

“If those were offensive tunnels,” he explained, “Hamas would have used them before the war. But, when Israel carried out its aggression against us, we used the tunnels to infiltrate behind the back lines of the Israeli army, which is waging war on Gaza.”

Meshaal insisted that the tunnels were not used to wage aggression against civilians. “There are Israeli towns adjacent to Gaza. Have any of the tunnels been used to kill any civilian or any of the residents of such towns? No. Never!”

“[We] used the tunnels either to strike beyond the back lines of the Israeli army or to raid some military sites such as Nahal Oz. Hamas filmed this operation and aired the footage on TV networks. This proves that Hamas is only defending itself, is engaged in a war of self-defence.”

Israel targets civilians

“They [Israel] did not declare the tunnels as part of the military targets. But when they discovered the tunnels, this is when they started to raise the issue. This proves that they first started the war, and then looked for justifications. This is the first point,” the Hamas leader explained.

“The second one is, if what Israeli leaders are claiming is correct – that Hamas dug those tunnels to attack the Israeli towns and kill civilians – how come Hamas hasn’t done that during the war?”

Meshaal insisted that Israel started the war because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to iron out internal problems within his government.

“Netanyahu, because of his cabinet’s internal problems and because of the public anger against him, opted to escalate the situation in Gaza. He sought to score a victory over his political opponents and in front of the Israeli people, so he carried out his aggression.”

Fighting settlers is lawful

When asked about the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron on June 12, Meshaal said: “The Israeli investigations have shown that a Hamas field group in the West Bank had killed those three settlers. So, this was indeed an operation executed by a Hamas group.

“As the Israeli investigations have shown, it turned out that a Hamas field group in the West Bank had killed those three settlers. So, this was indeed an operation executed by a Hamas group. We now have specific information. [The] question now is: Was this operation legitimate or not? This was a legitimate operation. Why? I told you. It is the right of the lawful owners of the land in the West Bank, whether they are from Hamas, or from some other group, to engage in resistance against the occupiers, whether they are the Israeli military or settlers. It’s as simple as that.”

Meshaal explained that Hamas’ leadership don’t give orders regarding which operations should be executed but there is an overall control mechanism. “In the leadership of Hamas, we never give orders to execute this operation – or stop that one. We present general policies: that there is an occupation and part of our strategy is to resist this occupation. Somebody might say, ‘But don’t you have any control over those working in the field?’ Of course we do.”

“When we agree on a ceasefire, for example, this becomes a decision from the leadership of the movement, and those working on the ground must abide by it. But the leadership does not interfere with the execution, or with ordering this operation to be carried out, and that one not to.”

Hamas accepts state on 1967 borders

Hamas doesn’t seek to kill Jews of people of any other faith, but rather is fighting to liberate its people from an occupation and settlers, Meshaal told Vanity Fair.

“Hamas’ position and its principles are clear. We do not seek to kill Jews or any other people of any faith, nationality, or race. We are only engaged in resistance against those who occupy our land, regardless of their religious beliefs or race.

“We do not kill Israelis because they are Jews. We kill them because they are occupiers. They occupied our land and have transgressed against us. This falls in the context of self-defence and defending our land. This is a legitimate right recognised by all religions and by international laws.”

To distance the policy of his movement from the policies of other extremist Islamists such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), Meshaal insisted that his movement does not extend its operations outside Palestine.

“Hamas is containing its struggle within Palestine,” he said, “we killed no Americans, or Europeans. Nor did we kill anyone else in the East or in the West. Our battle is on Palestinian land, because this is where the occupation and the settlements are.”

He asked: “Why did the Americans start their revolution centuries ago? And why have the French fought the Nazis? Why did South Africans struggle to achieve their freedom? Those are peoples’ rights.”

Meshaal said a two-state solution is the solution to the ongoing unrest between Palestinians and Israelis. “Hamas announced many years ago, that it agrees with other Palestinian forces on reaching a settlement on the basis of the 1967 borders. We agreed to a Palestinian State on the basis of the border of June 4, 1967, and its capital Jerusalem, along with the right of the returnees.”