"Hamas will never abandon armed jihad"

From Now Lebanon:

Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritizing "peaceful resistance."

"We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas will "never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy," he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighborhood in East Gaza, in honor of the "martyrs" of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave.

Zahar is being mentioned as a possible successor for Khaled Meshal, who is stepping down as its political leader.