Deputy head of Hamas Mousa Abu Marzouk says the last visit to Gaza by international Quartet envoy Tony Blair came to notify the Hamas movement of a new set of preconditions before the war-torn coastal enclave could be rebuilt.A casual reading of this would make it sound like Hamas accepts a two-state solution, with a vague caveat.
Blair is now talking about five new preconditions to be imposed on Hamas before Gaza reconstruction and improvement to the living conditions, the official said.
Blair's five new preconditions, says Abu Marzouk, include Palestinian reconciliation, a Palestinian political program based on a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, and confirmation that Hamas is a Palestinian movement seeking to achieve Palestinian goals rather than being part of an Islamic movement with regional dimensions.
He also says Blair wants approval that the two-state solution is a final solution to the conflict and a reassuring message to Egypt that Hamas won't be a base for "terrorism in Sinai" and that it would hold talks with the Egyptian government to "prevent terrorism."
In response to the alleged preconditions, the Hamas official said his movement is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic resistance movement. Its goals are to achieve the Palestinian people's aspirations of return, freedom and liberation, and its top priorities "at this stage" are reconciliation, ending inter-Palestinian dispute and unity of all the Palestinians wherever they live.
Furthermore, Hamas looks forward to operating within a national Palestinian consensus whose goals are withdrawal of Israeli occupation from the West Bank and Jerusalem and establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.
Hamas, according to Abu Marzouk, is using all available means to achieve those goals and to have distinguished relations with all Arab countries especially with Egypt.
Palestinian reconciliation has already been accomplished, added Abu Marzouk, confirming that his movement is willing to put into effect every single term of the reconciliation agreement.
The question is, said Abu Marzouk, would Israel accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders? Would they accept to evacuate the West Bank settlements and stop seizing lands there? Or is it still looking forward to expanding even beyond the West Bank so as to "devour" the West Bank and impose facts on the ground? he asked sarcastically.
With regard to Hamas' insistence that it doesn't have regional plans, the Hamas official said such an assumption would need evidence that the movement has political programs and agendas in that direction. "Where are such agendas and programs?!" he wondered.
Abu Marzouk also commented on the two-state solution as a final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and confirmed that Hamas "won't agree to sign" an agreement that "confiscates the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people."
He finally reiterated that it was indisputable that Hamas cared about Egypt's security and stability and would never intervene in Egyptian internal affairs.
Which is exactly how Hamas wants to appear to Tony Blair.
Hamas media, however, reports that Abu Marzouk explicitly rejected Blair's demands for a two state solution and that he emphasized that point. He said that "the hopes and aspirations and identity and attachment to the land can not be eliminated or changed by the signing of a leader or the approval of a faction," meaning that no agreement will ever stop Palestinian Arabs from trying to destroy Israel. He accuses Blair of trying to force Palestinian Arabs to waive their "rights" to Israel.
His entire statement is here.
And yet there are still plenty of idiots who will point to lying declarations and mentally fill in vague statements to confidently declare that Hamas has accepted the two state solution.