DPA: Hamas chief warns of possible new Palestinian uprising

By PAKINAM AMER, dpa
Nov 25, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Cairo - Khaled Meshaal, head of the Palestinian politburo of Islamic militant group Hamas, on Saturday warned of an intifada (uprising) within six months if the political and especially financial horizon remained dim for Palestinians.
Speaking during a press conference in Cairo, Meshaal also accused the US State Department of attempting with side issues to 'distract' Palestinians away from forming a government.
'We have made good progress so far,' said Meshaal. 'And we do not want to form a weak government just because the Western parties want it this way.'
'However, forming a unity government is dependent on some points that are currently being negotiated: the first and foremost (of these points) is the presence of guarantees that would secure that the (financial) siege on the Palestinians would be lifted soon.'
'Efforts are currently being done in this direction,' said Meshaal who warned of a new 'Palestinian uprising' if a political settlement is not reached for the Palestinians and if the pressure on the country is not lifted within the next six months.
'The lifting of the siege is not a demand that we plead for with others,' added the Hamas supremo, who arrived in Egypt Thursday. 'It is a human right; just like the air we breathe, like water and food.'
'The Palestinians - a great nation like Palestine - should not be punished through the cutting off of aid to employees, women and widows, through cutting off the people's right to live.'
Meshaal called on Arab leaders to put forward 'practical steps' that should be taken towards ending the political and economic siege imposed by the West on the Palestinians after Hamas rose to power last January and refused to lay down its arms or change its charter to recognize Israel.
'We need a programme... to end the siege,' said Meshaal. 'We give the international community, the American state department, the Western countries six months.'
Meshaal added that the Palestinians would be ready in any case. 'We are ready for the choice of war and we are also ready for the choice of peace.'
During his Cairo visit, Meshaal held talks with Egyptian officials - intelligence chief Omar Sulieman topping the list - on the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, whose release Egypt is trying to secure, as well as on problems dogging the formation of a Palestinian national unity government.
So far, the talks have been 'positive and successful,' said Meshaal. The leader said he welcomed the Egyptian mediation, adding that the country is making significant efforts and that the negotiations were moving forward.
But he also warned against linking both the formation of a government and peace in the region to the prisoners-soldier swap, saying that the linkage did injustice to both issues.
Hamas has been constantly accused of hampering talks on the prisoners swap. The militant group has put forth conditions - such as listing the names of the to-be-released prisoners and insisting on an instantaneous swap - and has reportedly refused to compromise.
'I have to point out that this issue has not been delayed because of us,' said Meshaal, referring to discussions over the release of Shalit, captured last June. 'The delay was mainly because of the other party - Israel.'
According to the exiled Hamas chief, the Palestinian side wanted a deal whereby 10,000 Palestinian prisoners - women, children, the sickly as well as top leaders - would be exchanged for Shalit.
'Israel has delayed this (deal),' claimed Meshaal. 'They thought that murders and airstrikes would handicap the Palestinian people and so we would surrender the soldier without a price.'
'And as they were striking the Palestinians, they were (meanwhile) trying to discover where the soldier was hidden through their intelligence and through seeking oracles and fortune-tellers.'
'Israel, which is considered by the West as the civilized part of the Middle East, is seeking spirits and jinn (devils) to find its missing soldier,' added Meshaal in a serious tone.
A day before Meshaal's press conference, Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' politburo, was quoted as saying that Mashaal would only meet Egyptian officials, brushing aside any possible meeting with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abu Marzouk had also said Hamas has accepted Egyptian mediation in the Shalit case on the basis of a simultaneous exchange of prisoners and that Israel, after initially rejecting any such exchange, has agreed to the proposal.
During the press conference, Meshaal also said Hamas would stop firing rockets at Israel if Israel stops its attacks on the Palestinian territories, in a statement carrying rhetoric voiced earlier by Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniya.
'Israel is trying to blackmail us through its own strikes and by bloodshed,' Meshaal said.
'But don't worry,' Meshaal said. 'The Palestinian is always ready for dialogue. But only Palestinian-Arab dialogue (will be tolerated) because the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue has proved to be inadequate and ineffective.'

© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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