But if my word is not good enough for you, take the word of Senior Hamashole Mahmoud al-Zahar, said to his own people in Arabic.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar has cast doubt his party will take up peaceful resistance against Israel as advocated by former rivals Fatah.
Under a reconciliation deal between the factions signed in May, officials called for a unified “national strategy,” and Fatah officials say that Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal agreed to adopt non-violent popular action in favor of armed struggle.
But in comments to Ma’an late Monday, senior Hamas official in Gaza Zahhar stressed the situation in the Gaza Strip is different to the occupied West Bank.
“Against whom could we demonstrate in the Gaza Strip? When Gaza was occupied, that model was applicable,” Zahhar said.
Israeli forces withdrew from the coastal strip in 2005, and imposed a crippling land and sea blockade after Hamas took power in 2007.
Zahhar said that no program of peaceful resistance had been agreed with Fatah. “We only discussed that as a slogan,” he said, without elaborating.
The mass popular protests of the Arab Spring are not applicable to Palestinians’ opposition to Israeli occupation, he added.
“We can’t use the same means seen in Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia because they are inappropriate in the West Bank. Egypt got rid of the British occupation with arms, and since we are resisting occupation, we should use all means including armed resistance.”
So there you have it, folks. What we’ve been telling you for years now, right in front of you, clearly visible for all to see.
