Not a single Palestinian will compromise on Jerusalem - Hamas's Haniyah

Text of report by pro-Hamas Palestinian Information Centre website on 21 August

[Unattributed report: "Haniyah: Gaza Siege Won't Let Us Forget Jerusalem"]

GAZA, (PIC) - Palestinian Prime Minister Isma'il Haniyah has affirmed on Thursday [21 August] that the Israeli economic blockade on the Gaza Strip won't succeed in sidelining the issue of Jerusalem, and that the liberation of the Aqsa Mosque is coming.

Haniyah's remarks were uttered in a speech he delivered during a rally held by the PNA Awqaf and religious affairs ministry in support of the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem.

"We won't let the Israeli siege on Gaza to lead us astray from our central issue.... Yes indeed, they (Israelis) had besieged our bodies in the Gaza Strip, but they won't succeed in besieging our souls that fly and would fly over Jerusalem as well", Haniyah underlined in his speech.

He also reiterated his government's absolute rejection of the Israeli "shelf agreement" that was leaked a few days ago by Hebrew media and affirmed Israel's rejection of negotiating over Jerusalem or the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland.

Both issues are essential for the Palestinian people as no Palestinian leader had dared compromise either issue.

"Whether those reports were true or not, and whether the Palestinian negotiator acknowledged or denied them; we, in the name of the government, the Palestinian people, and the ummah [nation of Islam] declare that any agreement that concedes Jerusalem and Palestine is null and void, and not binding to the Palestinian people now or in the future", Haniyah asserted, emphasizing that not a single Palestinian would compromise on Jerusalem.

Although the anniversary of torching the Aqsa Mosque was and still is painful, yet, it indicates the degree of feebleness and weakness that engulfed the Arab and Muslim ummah, but, he underscored, "All the attempts to distort the Muslim and historical features of the city had failed, and would never succeed.

"The sacrifices of the Palestinian people and caravans of the Palestinian martyrs will continue for the sake of Jerusalem, and for the sake of the Aqsa Mosque", Haniyah stressed, explaining, "Jerusalem could only be liberated by resistance, and not through negotiations and meeting and embracing the enemies".

"The liberation of the Jerusalem is, without doubt, forthcoming, and we believe that the Palestinian generation that carries the torch of the resistance and jihad is able to achieve it", the Palestinian premier confirmed.

For his part, acting speaker of the PNA legislature MP Ahmad Bahar deplored the "horrible" Arab and Muslim silence vis-a-vis the Israeli crimes and aggressions against the Aqsa Mosque. He also held Arab and Muslim leaders and peoples responsible for any harm that the Israeli occupation government might inflict on the Aqsa Mosque as a result of that unexplainable Arab and Muslim silence.

Moreover, Bahar pointed out that the PNA parliament had enacted a law prohibiting and criminalizing compromise over Jerusalem in any negotiations with the Israelis, vowing that the Palestinian people would remain "faithful to Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, and would defend them with souls, blood, and all available means".

Source: Palestinian Information Centre website in Arabic 21 Aug 08