Al-Zahar: Elections are the solution to the Palestinian crises

Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar said on Sunday that the Palestinian unity government has not achieved any of its missions and called for new elections to solve the current crises.

Speaking to the Arabic channel Al-Ghad Al-Arabi Al-Zahar said that the government has not achieved social reconciliation, prepared for elections or unified the administrative and security institutions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The government’s insistence to carry on this way is a crime,” he said.

Al-Zahar said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to return all those employed by the PA before 2007 to their posts, while those who took over when his employees left are still “illegal”.

“Legitimacy in our opinion comes only through ballot boxes,” he said. “Hamas won municipal elections in 2005 and parliament elections in 2006… This is not legitimacy for Fatah. Legitimacy for Fatah is the recognition of the Israeli occupation and the US, which are enemies of the Palestinian nation.”

Al-Zahar called for holding new elections to solve the Palestinian crises. “We will accept its results if the people chose Fatah, and they have to accept the results if the people chose us,” he said, noting that the current crises are related to the unification of PA institutions and paying salaries to Gaza employees.

He denied accusations that his movement bans the government from taking over in Gaza and that Hamas is insisting on remaining on the crossings. “No one from Hamas is stationed on the crossings with the Israeli occupation,” he said. Regarding Rafah, he said: “We cannot leave it before they come and take over.”

About the reconstruction of Gaza, Al-Zahar said: “The situation is miserable and this is the sin of Abbas and his alliances, which destroyed the houses.” He noted that the EU, US and UNRWA have persuaded him not to reconstruct the Strip.

He said there are daily Israeli raids and detentions against Palestinians in the West Bank. “The Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are living a crisis because of the failure of the PA, which collaborates with the enemy.”

Criticising negotiations, he said that the Palestinian resistance proved it is able to achieve the goals of the Palestinians.

“There is no chance to unite both programmes, but there is a possibility to coexist,” he said of the Hamas and Fatah ideologies.