[R-G] Huge Rally Supports Hamas in Gaza

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

If only we could mobilize 13-16% of our population. -- Yoshie

<http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/15/africa/mideast.1-189602.php>
Huge rally supports Hamas in Gaza
By Steven Erlanger and Taghreed El-Khodary
Saturday, December 15, 2007

GAZA: About 200,000 Gazans rallied in support of Hamas on Saturday,
the 20th anniversary of its founding.

It was a peaceful and significant show of strength from Hamas, which
took over the Gaza Strip six months ago in a rout of Fatah forces. The
rally was intended to display popular steadfastness in the face of the
diplomatic and economic isolation of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has
declared a "hostile entity." It was easily as large as one a month ago
for its rival, the Fatah faction, on the anniversary of the death of
Yasir Arafat, and estimates ranged up to 250,000 people.

Central Gaza was filled with green flags and political slogans, and a
large banner reading "We will not recognize Israel" adorned the back
of the stage.

There were fiery speeches from Hamas notables, filled with the oratory
of defiance toward Israel and the United States, coupled with calls
for renewed national unity with the West Bank, run by the Palestinian
president, Mahmoud Abbas, his Fatah faction and his appointed prime
minister, Salam Fayyad.

The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, whose government was fired by
Abbas, said: "Your message today is that the movement will not
surrender in front of such an embargo. We will not break. The root of
the movement is like a good tree in good soil." He said the suffering
of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million people from that isolation "will not
achieve its goal, which is our collapse."

He said Hamas had succeeded in the first and second intifadas in
forcing Israeli troops and settlers to withdraw from the Gaza Strip,
in winning legislative elections in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
in January 2006 and forming a government, "due to the will of the
people, the will to resistance and steadfastness." Hamas, he said,
"has created a great transformation in the history of the Palestinian
cause."

The coming Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, he
said, "is a feast for an Islamic Arab Palestinian identity, a feast
for the project of Islamic jihad."

Haniya also called for renewed dialogue with Fatah and other factions
for renewed unity. "We want a dialogue on the basis of no winner and
no loser," he said. "We want a dialogue with no conditions, because
the central enemy is the Israeli occupation."

Abbas has said he will resume talks with Hamas if it gives up power in
the Gaza Strip, returns security buildings to Fatah and apologizes,
which Haniya and Hamas seem to have no intention of doing. Fatah and
the government in Ramallah banned Hamas from having any similar
demonstrations in the West Bank.

The Fatah rally for Arafat in the same Gaza square on Nov. 12 was also
huge, the largest show of support for Fatah since its defeat last
June. It was marred by violence, with six people killed and 100
wounded in clashes with Hamas police officers and security officials.

The Hamas rally was well-organized and not disrupted, and it featured
speeches from Hamas founders and the leader of Islamic Jihad in the
Gaza Strip, Muhammad al-Hindi. Osama al-Mzeini, a Hamas leader,
addressed the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, saying: "The
only language the enemy can understand is the language of power, of
force. So speak to them in that language."

Thousands sang along with a popular Hamas song, which starts: "A Hamas
is not afraid of death." The crowd featured many who are poor and
devout, with many veiled women and masked men.

Layali al-Kher, 27, said there was little money in her family because
factories and construction has largely stopped because of
Israeli-imposed restrictions on cement and raw materials.

"But this siege was not imposed by Hamas but on them, so why should we
criticize them?" she asked. "They've put Hamas in a bottle and they
are trying to suffocate it. But they have achieved a lot: the streets
are safe, the traffic is controlled. They have adapted quickly and
have a strong will."

Kher said she supported armed struggle against Israel, as did Myasar
Suleiman, 56, whose family of six sons and three daughters is largely
supported by her husband, who sells vegetables, and by United Nations
aid to refugees. Her son, Saleh, saw his salary cut by Ramallah
because of his ties to Hamas, she said.

"I like what Hamas is doing, fighting the occupation and getting rid
of collaborators," Suleiman said. She said that Abbas "should stay
away from those people," meaning Israel and the United States, "who
are playing with his head" and return to national unity.

A Hamas legislator, Mushir al-Masri, told the crowd that after 20
years, the roots of Hamas "stretch into the heart of the nation and
every part of the land."

"Twenty years," Masri said, "from the stone to the knife, the bullet
to the bomb, the mortar to the rocket, and from the martyrdom
operations to the tunnels of hell."

Khaled Meshal, the Hamas political leader in exile in Syria, said in
comments published Saturday that the Palestinians "are capable of
launching a third or fourth intifada until victory is ours." But he
admitted that the Hamas anniversary came amid "difficult circumstances
and a painful situation for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza."

Israel has said that it will maintain restrictions on imports, exports
and travel to and from the Gaza Strip so long as rockets and mortars
are fired from the area toward Israeli cities and towns. In efforts to
suppress such fire, Israeli troops and aircraft make regular raids
into the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, in Paris, Abbas and Fayyad will attend a conference of
Western countries that are likely to pledge $5.6 billion in budgetary
and development support over the next three years, in large part to
try to show Gazans that Fatah's willingness to negotiate a peace with
Israel is a preferable path.

Steven Erlanger reported from Jerusalem.

--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>