New Delhi: Milli Gazette editor Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said here that Hamas’ takeover of Gaza Strip is good for Palestine and there is no justification to think that it will harm the Palestinian cause. As a result of the takeover, today for the first time in history there is a free and independent part of Arab Palestine.
Dr Khan, an expert in Middle Eastern affairs, was delivering a lecture Saturday evening, 23 June, at the headquarters of the Jamaat-e Islami Hind here on Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip in mid-June and its implications for the Middle East and the Palestinian cause.
In his hour-long lecture, followed by a session of questions and answers, Dr Khan explained the emergence of Hamas as an armed resistance group late in 1987 with the avowed aim of liberating Palestine once it became clear that secular groups were not serious about liberation and that Israel had no intention to voluntarily withdraw from the occupied lands.
Fateh leadership was made corrupt by Israel and western powers in order to submit to their whims and plans. Now various Fateh leaders own big businesses in places like Tel Aviv, Cairo, Beirut, Paris and London. Palestinian Authority provided them with good opportunity to loot money intended for one of the poorest people on earth with a high a percentage of refugees and people living below the poverty line. This loot stopped when Hamas won  elections in January 2006.
Dr Khan explained the process starting from Oslo which led to an ever-continuing series of Palestinian concessions while Israel betrayed no signs to return anything even if it was explicitly written in the Oslo accords. Instead, Likud through the American Neocons laid down the “Clean Break� plan to frustrate Oslo which rendered the Palestinian Authority meaningless and powerless and left the big issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem unresolved. Fifteen years later, there is no trace of a Palestinian state; Israel continues to nibble away Palestinian territory while blocking the Palestinian Authority from all sides. Palestine Authority territories are surrounded by Israel from all sides like a big jail. In the West Bank alone, Israel mans 520 checkpoints.
Dr Khan went on to say that Israel and its western backers did not accept the popular mandate which brought Hamas to power. An international blockade was unleashed in order to beat the Palestinians into submission. The West wants a democracy which is subservient to its whims. It does not tolerate our free will. This is clear from the experience of many Muslim societies like Algeria, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon.
West and its lackey Mahmoud Abbas planned to effect a coup in Palestine in order to wipe off Hamas. America poured huge sums of money for this purpose in addition to vast quantities of arms delivered through Israel and Egypt. The legally elected Hamas government only prevented this unconstitutional coup planned by illegal militias whose bosses had lost the elections.
During the takeover of Gaza, Hamas people have recovered a lot of secret documents from the Fateh militia bases across Gaza Strip which show how Fateh’s corrupt and quisling leadership was involved knee-deep with western and Israeli intelligence services plotting against its own people.
Dr Khan said that no harm is expected of this move in the long-term. Hamas is too strong to be touched by Fateh and Israel. Hizbullah with only 5000 fighters exposed Israel’s feet of clay last year. Now for the first time in modern history there is a free and independent part of Arab Palestine.
Dr Khan said that there is no reason to fear that Hamas victory will destabilise the Middle East or turn Gaza Strip into a base for Al-Qaeda terrorists as the focus of Hamas has always been on Palestine and it consistently rejects to be drawn into Arab and international problems or take sides in disputes between Arab states. Hamas is a principled and responsible resistance movement. It delivers what it promises. Hamas’s enmity to Al-Qaeda is well-known. Hamas-controlled Gaza means Al-Qaeda-free Gaza. It will be wrong and harmful for the US in particular and the West in general to believe the Israeli lies about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Gaza.