We\'re not fully for Israel truce

Dr. Rabah Muhanna Gaza – Mohammed Habib  Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the politburo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and its chief in the Gaza Strip, attested that both Fatah and Hamas were undergoing a crisis that pushed them towards reconciliation. They also contemplated that external pressures on President Mahmoud Abbas did not influence him in the same direction. In an exclusive interview with 'Arabstoday', Muhanna mentioned the urgent need for reconciliation the failure of negotiations, in addition to America’s blatant bias for the Israeli occupation all weakened American and Israeli pressure on President Abu Mazen and Fatah. Muhanna stressed that Hamas was not committed to the truce with the Israeli occupation, but had taken into account the national consensus so as not to cause any internal problems. Below is the full interview: AT: What do you expect from the meeting between Abbas and Meshaal? Can reconciliation be done this time? RM: We hope that the next meeting between President Abbas and Mr. Khaled Meshaal will be serious and reconcile through a comprehensive national dialogue. I believe that both Fatah and Hamas are undergoing a crisis that would push them to achieve reconciliation, as President Abu Mazen’s choice to negotiate with the Israeli occupation has failed, while being certain that such a choice would not help establish a Palestinian state. Hamas is under pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood to reconcile with Fatah, in order to gain international acceptance, in addition to the situation in Syria. AT: Do you expect the reconciliation to be held back by American and Israeli pressures on the authorities? RM: The pressure are not supposed to influence Fatah if they truly want to reconcile, for the popular pressure towards achieving the reconciliation is stronger than any outside pressures. I believe the pressure of an urgent need for reconciliation, the failure of negotiations, and America’s blatant bias towards the Israeli occupation will all weaken these pressure on President Abu Mazen and Fatah. AT:But is there an alternative? I mean in the area of financial support to the authority? RM: There are many alternatives; like paying attention to the people and keeping away from official extravagance, taking into account that we are people suffering the bitterness of occupation. The alternative can also be the Arab world. What is important is for President Abbas to realise that Palestinian concepts are precious and are not to be compromised  in return of a handful of dollars. AT: Do you expect the security problem, which is always a major obstacle in the way of conciliation, to be resolved? RM: The reconciliation agreement has a defect concerning the security file from the start, however, if both Fatah and Hamas have the true will for reconciliation, it will then be possible to resolve it. In the end, Abu Mazen will have to be liberated from the the pressure of the security issue. AT: Are you willing to join the next government? RM: We agreed to form a government of independent technocrats. We will play an active role in the selection of these technocrats, and work on assuring that this government is more solid than the previous ones, in order to reach safe shores, and to provide us with the appropriate atmosphere for the elections. The front has given rise to many technocrats who are recognised for competence and integrity. AT: You were rejecting the bilateral dialogue in Fatah and Hamas, does this influence your decision/position to participate? RM: We believe that the bilateral agreement between Fatah and Hamas, and the marginalisation of other factions is harmful, and the Mecca agreement is the best witness to that. In that, the exclusively bilateral makes the dialogue lose the national solution agreed upon, and leads to jumping out of the comprehensive national dialogue and ignoring true participation and other opinions as well as the Palestinian people’s voice. It only leads to more intolerance and narrow-mindedness, and will end up harming one of the sides...losing the case and the people by procrastinating and avoiding urgent national demands on the altar of individualism, acquisition, division, and quotes. AT: What will be the situation if the authorities return to negotiations? RM: Negotiations are currently going through a difficult situation, and we are seeking to get President Abbas to maintain his position on refusing the return to negotiations, to look for alternatives, and to continue addressing the United Nations, and knock on every door parallel to the resistance in order to achieve our people’s rights.   The Palestinian interest does not require returning to negotiations at the time being, especially after addressing the United Nations, where priority must be given as it is the foundation upon which to build a new strong Palestinian balance in the region. A return to negotiations will be lowering the Palestinian ceiling after addressing the UN. AT: Do you consider the National Reonciliation Document appropriate for the current phase? RM: The National Reconciliation Document is important and must be used as a base to build upon. We always call for a comprehensive political review based on this document, as it is a unified Palestinian strategy. We call for respecting the goals our brothers and comrades imprisoned in occupation prisons wanted: the national reconciliation document as a basis of dialogue, consensus, national unity, and formation of a national coalition government to activate, develop, and reconstruct PLO as it is considered the only and legitimate representative and national reference to our people. AT: Are you in favor of holding the elections early? RM: We emphasise the need to be able to prepare well for the elections so that they will be of great integrity, thus the next government should give enough chance to provide for these elections. AT: How do you describe your relationship with the authority of Hamas in the Gaza Strip? RM: We are Opposition, and Hamas is the ruling power in Gaza, and we have the right to oppose what we view as mistakes, but unfortunately Hamas does not accept criticism, hence disputes arise with Hamas. In addition to the suppression of liberties which Hamas practices at times in Gaza, we also disagree with their collection of money from poorer sects in the society. As for the resistance, we disagree with Hamas on the timing, although we realise that Hamas is still in the trench of the resistance. AT: Are you in favour of the truce with the occupation? RM: We do not recognise the truce with the occupation, we believe it is wrong. We cannot go into any truce agreement with the occupation, and we are not committed to any as long as that entity occupies our land, but we take into account the national consensus on the subject so as not to cause any internal problems