Hamas rejects Bush's calls for abolishing right of return and adjusting borders

Haniya: Bush's visit aimed at reinforcing American hegemony in the region

[ 11/01/2008 - 10:27 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya said that Bush's visit has achieved nothing more than reinforcing American hegemony in the region and deepening the internal Palestinian differences by targeting the Palestinian cause.

Haniya said in a statement after the Friday prayers: "Bush has given the occupation all assurances necessary to perpetuate it, obliterated Palestinian constants that form the basis for Palestinian unity and the same time sold the Palestinian Authority more illusions, slogans and inflated words that have come to represent the politics of deception which have characterised this visit."

Haniya added that his government did not pin any hope on this visit which turned to be useful in one respect and that is giving clearer vision to those who were deceived by the US administration and thought that it might one day make a stand for Palestinian people's rights.

He said the Palestinian people have a problem with the occupation, the apartheid wall, the settlements, over 11,000 captives in occupation jails and the continued aggression on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

With regard to inter-Palestinian talks, Haniya said that there are Arab efforts being exerted in this regard adding that the cooperation between the PA security agencies with the occupation agencies in the West Bank is a real hurdle in the face of these talks.

He called on the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank to free themselves from American and Israeli influence, insist on Palestinian rights and work towards fundamental solutions to the Palestine problem.

Hamas: Promises by Bush are 'an illusion'

Saturday January 12, 2008 09:43 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News saed at imemc dot org

The leader of the democratically-elected Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, warned the Palestinian people not to believe yesterday's speech by U.S. President George W. Bush in which he called for an 'end to the occupation'. Haniya stated that Bush's visit to the region was harmful to any peace process between Palestine and Israel, and hurt the chances of Palestinians to achieve the internationally-recognized right of self-determination.

Bush, during his two days in Israel and one day in the West Bank (one of two Palestinian territories), made differing promises to the Israeli and Palestinian leadership. According to Haniya, Bush's promises to the Palestinians were lies,

Haniya stated, "Bush gave Israel all the required pledges to solidify its occupation and wipe out basic Palestinian rights and sacred issues, while he gave the Palestinians more illusions, slogans, and loose words that only express the deception which has characterized this visit."

The elected government of the Palestinian people, which Haniya heads, has been boycotted by the U.S. government since it was elected in January 2006. During his visit to the region this week, Bush refused to meet with the Palestinian elected government, instead meeting only with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his unelected government. Bush also stated that the situation in Gaza was a problem that he would not deal with in his year left in office.

Hamas rejects Bush's calls for abolishing right of return and adjusting borders

[ 12/01/2008 - 08:36 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The Hamas Movement announced its outright rejection of statements made by US President George Bush on Thursday evening in occupied Jerusalem on the abolition of the right of return and the need for mutually agreed adjustments to the 1967 borders.

In a press release, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, charged that such utterances and positions voiced by Bush were "direct American intervention" in the negotiations in favor of the Israeli occupation and against the Palestinian people's rights and constants.

Dr. Abu Zuhri added that Bush's statements refuted his previous allegations that he would not interfere in the negotiations between the PA and Israel.

The spokesman expressed Hamas's belief that that the overall tone of Bush's statements was in favor of Israel and carried instigation against the Palestinian resistance through his calls for supporting the PA security apparatuses to continue their role in the suppression of the Palestinian people and their legitimate resistance.

For his part, Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, strongly denounced the US president for his statements in Ramallah Thursday, describing them as "direct incitement against the Palestinian people in addition to encouraging the Israeli aggression and settlement activities, and deepening division in the Palestinian arena."

Hamadan in a statement to the PIC also deplored the statements of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas especially those in which he condemned the Palestinian factions for resisting the Israeli occupation and renewed his commitment to work on eliminating the Palestinian resistance.

"What strikes in Bush's statements, is his admission of the failure of UN in restoring the Palestinian people's rights over the past sixty years, but he condones the reason behind the UN's failure represented in the successive American administrations' support for the Israeli aggressions and occupation, and their refusal to put any pressure on the Zionist entity to implement the United Nations resolutions," Hamas representative in Lebanon stated.

The Hamas leader described Bush as a "war criminal", and called on the international community to work on bringing him to international justice, for the crimes he committed in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and perhaps in other regions of the world.

In a related context, a report issued by the political studies center in the Israeli foreign ministry described the current American administration as "weak" and that it was too weak to be able to accomplish anything in the region especially with regard to the peace process with the Palestinians and the cessation of the Iranian nuclear program.

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