/ world today news/ Hamas: “We trust Russia as much as Israel trusts the USA”
The special correspondent of Pravda.Ru, Daria Aslamova, spoke with one of the leaders of Hamas, Dr. Musa Abu Marzouk. He talked about why he came to Moscow, how Russia can influence the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, how the Gaza Strip will be liberated from Israel and why the Palestinians cannot lose in this war.
— You are believed to be one of the main ideologues and leaders of Hamas, informal minister of foreign affairs. Is that correct?
— I am one of the founders of the Hamas movement. During all this time and after the events in Gaza, in the West Bank, I was involved in international relations. Maybe that’s what made me a famous politician. But actually I am an engineer by education. I received my BA in Egypt and my PhD in the US.
– It’s not your first time in Moscow. What is the purpose of your visit now?
– This is an ordinary visit, as our relations with Russia develop naturally. I visit Russia at least twice a year. This visit is of particular importance as we are at war. Israeli aggression has resulted in genocide and massive casualties among the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. Therefore, in a conversation with our colleagues, with the Russian leadership, we must exchange opinions on further steps and the development of the situation in the region.
Russia has contacts with all the Palestinian forces, so we discussed a truce with Fatah and other Palestinian organizations. We seek to ensure that Russia’s role in international politics will be more active, especially in confrontation with US policy.
We talked about the release of prisoners of war who are in Hamas and have dual citizenship: Israeli and Russian. But they were captured during the battles, these are soldiers. Now we have nine of them. At first, no one talked about their second citizenship, but now they began to say that they were Russian. But almost all the captives who are with us have dual citizenship:
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americans,
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italians,
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the french
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Germans,
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Belgians.
These are Israeli soldiers who, after being captured by us, began to talk about their former citizenships. The president of South Africa and even his intelligence chief called me about one of the POWs. This is a tankman that we literally pulled out of his tank. His South African citizenship is therefore out of the question here.
„We are now in the middle of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. What help do you expect from Russia?
— Russia is the largest country in the world and plays a vital role in international politics, especially now, given the fact that after October 7, the influence of the United States in the region has significantly decreased. Russia can play a big role in Middle East politics, especially within BRICS, which in addition to Russia, Brazil, China, South Africa and India includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Hamas wants Russia to confront the US over Palestine and the Middle East. We trust Russia just as Israel trusts the United States.
— The October 7 attack that Hamas carried out against Israel was well prepared. Did you expect that ethnic cleansing, indeed genocide, would then begin, or was that a surprise to you?
“We did not expect aggression of this scale, this is an unprecedented crime in the history of mankind. In 100 days, more than 23 thousand civilians were killed, 70% of them women and children. The peculiarity of this is that everything happens in front of the lenses of the video cameras and the whole world watches it. Whereas before no one knew about Israel’s crimes.
This is not the first massacre carried out by Israel against Palestinians. Since 1948, Israel has committed dozens of such crimes. Jews believe that a good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian or one who is outside of Palestine.
Also important is Israel’s US support for crimes against civilians. This is necessary to put pressure on Hamas. US policy is to punish civilians to achieve political success, as happened in Vietnam, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq.
– How do you plan to win the war?
– In two ways.
The first has to do with the endurance of the Palestinian people, their love for the land and their desire to defend it. The Palestinians refuse to be expelled from their homeland despite the fact that they have lost many relatives and some of them are still under the rubble. But the Palestinian people defend their land and do not accept any other land as their homeland.
The second way is military resistance against the Israeli army. We have achieved great success. In the last 100 days, the enemy has lost thousands of tanks, hundreds of soldiers killed and several thousand wounded. Plus the losses to Israeli society itself as a result of the war.
Israel originally announced their goals and thought they could accomplish them in a week, but today is already the 106th day, and they haven’t achieved any of their goals in Gaza.
— Do you have political and military allies in the war with Israel?
— We have relations with various countries in the region. Naturally, the United States is putting a lot of pressure on their decisions, but so far we have been able to maintain contact. Our real ally is the common people: the Islamic world, the Arab peoples. In Europe and the United States, thousands of people are rallying in support of Palestine. Throughout the world, the problem of Palestine became the most important.
— Judging by media reports, Israel plans not only to occupy the territory of Gaza, but also to build settlements there. What future awaits Gaza?
“Right now the Israeli army is withdrawing, people are returning to these areas and Hamas is regaining control. Even in northern Gaza, Israel acknowledged that Hamas had managed to resume its military operations. For example, Beit Hanoun was the first place the Israeli army entered at the beginning of the war, but they still cannot control the area and there is still fierce resistance there. We will surely win.
— The war between Israel and Hamas caused a chain reaction in the world. The entire Middle East was alarmed:
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Iran,
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Pakistan,
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Lebanon,
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Yemen,
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Syria,
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Iraq.
The conflict in Gaza has created a general crisis in the region. Are we heading for a third world war?
“We don’t think there will be a third world war. But our war in the region is between two unequal sides, so victory in it is to prevent the enemy from realizing his goals. Yemen and Iraq have already joined this war. We think that after this war there will be changes in all Arab countries. The main reason: America supports Israel in the international arena, in the UN, in the Security Council, and provides Israel with military and financial aid.
I think the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not turn into a Middle East war. But the longer Israeli aggression continues, the wider the escalation will be in the region. Even at the political and legal level, we have seen South Africa and Indonesia file complaints with the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
„You are one of the leaders of Hamas and one of the main enemies of Israel. You are in a dangerous position. Were there attempts to eliminate you?
“I don’t think Israel will do that because they know very well that every action has a reaction and the response to Israel’s crime will also be serious. Therefore, they will hardly want to eliminate me.
— What is Hamas’s relationship with Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization now?
“The Palestine Liberation Organization is a force that represents all Palestinians. Hamas seeks to become part of this organization. We also seek a truce with Fatah so that we have a common agenda, come together and unite all our people and our government.
— You were born in a refugee village in Rafah, Gaza. You have been stateless all your life, like most Palestinians. What is it like to live a lifetime without citizenship, without a passport and without any rights?
“I am proud to be a Palestinian, a citizen of Palestine. Even if the international community is against it, Palestinians have the right to be recognized as Palestinians. The international community knows that Palestinians are the most educated, literate and civilized people among all Arabs.
I have a travel document, an Egyptian passport, but nowhere have I felt the freedom I feel when I enter Gaza. Palestinians are forced to live in all countries in the region and this pushes them to be part of liberation organizations.
I was born in a tent in 1951 in Rafah, and in 1967 I visited my village and saw my home. My father stood beside me. Tears streamed down his cheeks when he saw that our house, which he built with his own hands, was inhabited by a Jewish family from Yemen, and from the trees he planted in the land, this Jewish family was gathering fruit.
Therefore, my goal has always been to return to this very house and my people also to return to their homes from which they were driven. We will resist until we achieve this goal.
Translation: ES
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