By Izzat Ramini
Albawba.com - Ramallah
A top Hamas official in the West bank has reiterated that the Islamic movement will not orchestrate Intifada activities on its own.
“We are committed to activities organized by the Islamic and nationalist powers, either at the central level or in the governorates,” said Hassan Youssef, Hamas leader in the West Bank in a statement to Albawaba.com on Friday.
Youssef was responding to a question regarding a statement by Hamas a day earlier calling on the Palestinians to stage certain activities according to a schedule set by the group.
Observers here saw the statement as a turning point in the work of Hamas, which has since the outbreak of the Intifada joined efforts with all the Palestinian factions in one front that has been steering all the Intifada activities.
Hamas called on the Palestinians to escalate their resistance on Fridays, and to head for the Aqsa Mosque in defiance of Israeli tight security measures to limit the number of Palestinians performing Friday prayers at the holy mosque.
They also called on the people to mark the anniversary of the aggression on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel in 1956, which falls on Sunday, October 29.
Another anniversary to mark with more demonstrations, according to Hamas, is the November 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, wrote to Jewish leader Lord Rothschild, to assure him that his government supported the idea of providing a homeland for the Jews.
The Islamic group also appealed to the Palestinians to dedicate October 30 to show solidarity and support for the Intifada martyrs’ families.
“These are not activities exclusive to Hamas. Rather, they are calls for our people to mark these occasions. The activities proper are the ones orchestrated by all the powers jointly, and we are committed to them,” stressed Youssef.
In the same statement, Hamas renounced the security meeting between PNA officials with Israeli and CIA counterparts. The group charged that such meetings were designed “to abort the Intifada.”
Hamas also called on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat not to meet with US President Bill Clinton in Washington, who aims, according to the group, “to drag the Palestinians into succumbing to [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak’s demands.”
The Islamic group praised the thousands of Jordanians, who took part in the Return Rally last Tuesday, while criticizing the authority’s crack down on them. Hamas also called on Jordan and Egypt to sever relations with Israel, following suit of Oman, Tunisia and Morocco.
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