Hamas Senior Official Osama Hamdan: Russia And China Have Protected Us In The UN; The Power Of The 'Resistance Axis' Is At The Service Of Their Int'l Role; Next Phase Of The Resistance Will Be In The West Bank, This Is Our Priority
https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-offi...ia-china-resistance-axis-next-phase-west-bank
Osama Hamdan of the Hamas Political Bureau discussed in a May 5, 2024 symposium that was uploaded to the Masar Badil YouTube channel his vision for the "Al-Aqsa Flood" war with Israel that was launched on October 7. He said that Hamas maintains contact with Russia and China and that the power of the "resistance axis" is at the service of their international role. Hamdan continued to say that the next phase of the war will be resistance in the West Bank. He stated that after October 7, it is clear that the discussion can only be about a Palestine from the River to the Sea, with Israel being dismantled. However, he qualified, this does not mean the "annihilation" of Israelis, they are welcome to stay as citizens of the Palestinian state or foreign residents, as long as they respect its laws. Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, who was arrested by Canadian law enforcement following her speech in which she saluted October 7, also spoke at the symposium. Kates is the wife of Khaled Barakat, a Canada-based former PFLP official who is also on the executive committee of Masar Badil, Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement.
Osama Hamdan: "With regard to the international guarantees [to the proposed ceasefire agreement], we have been in direct contact with China and Russia, and we repeatedly asked for their intervention. Indeed, they have intervened, but this has always been impeded by the Americans.
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"We have even asked for South Africa and Brazil to be among the guarantors. Expanding the scope of intervention by the countries that support the Palestinian rights serves our cause in any case.
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"Russia and China have provided [us] good protection in the United Nations, against the American attempt to criminalize the resistance by means of a Security Council resolution. [Russia and China] built a barrier that presented the U.S. administration from using this international institution to harm the Palestinian resistance, and to turn against the Palestinian rights. This was achieved through contacts with these two countries, but also as a result of these two countries' vision.
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"With regard to the resistance axis, I think that China and Russia understand that the power of this axis is at the service of their international role.
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"The role of China and Russia in this confrontation was beneficial to us. We wish that this role further develops, and we will appreciate the support of anybody who can work on this.
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"The resistance in the West Bank still has a way to go in order to restore the role it played in 2002-2003. It is capable of doing so.
I believe the next phase will be the phase of the West Bank and its resistance. This is not a random analysis, but a realization of the facts on the ground, both with regard to Hamas and to the other resistance factions. This is one of our priorities in the next phase, as Palestinian resistance.
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"I believe that after October 7, nobody will talk about anything apart from a free Palestine – from the River to the Sea, and that the regime occupying Palestine must be dismantled. Here we should make it clear that when we talk about dismantling this occupying and racist entity, we are not talking about annihilation, like the narratives that the Israelis are trying to peddle. Dismantling this entity means that things will go back to how they should be. When there is a Palestinian state on the land of Palestine, whoever wants to be a citizen of that state is welcome, regardless of his religion, or his political and ideological orientation, and whoever wants to be a foreign resident of that state, and to respect its laws, is also welcome."
