Days of Palestine – Gaza

Dr. Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas", said that his movement is moving steadily and confidently to run in the elections in its three stages, and accepts the results of the poll in free and fair elections.

Al-Hayya added that his Movement ready to form a unified national list from the widest Palestinian spectrum, which is the preferred option, stressing that the national interest requires the formation of a unity government after the elections that includes everyone, and it carries out its tasks in the West Bank, including Jerusalem and Gaza, while the PLO manages political affairs and resistance.

Al-Hayya said in an interview with "Al-Quds" newspaper that Hamas is ready to agree in the presidential elections on a patriotic figure, and they have no reservations about anyone.

He added that the Cairo dialogue after mid-March will discuss the agreement on the National Council elections law, the number of its members, supervision of its elections, the elections court, and countries in which it is possible to be held.

"Are we really going to elections? Some are still questioning?" Al-Quds newspaper" correspondent asked Al-Hayya.

Al-Hayya answered: "Yes, I believe, we are going to the elections and we will reach the last stage because this is a national entitlement and consensus sponsored and guaranteed by countries, and our need as Palestinians for this stage as it is very important to get out of the current situation to face the challenges facing the Palestinian cause."

"Renewing legal legitimacy is a Palestinian decision and an external desire," He added.

Correspondent: Is the election decision a pure national decision or the product of external pressure?

Al-Hayya: Both, an internal decision and a Palestinian need, without a doubt, but this decision and this Palestinian need coincided with an external desire that the Palestinian Authority and its institutions disrupted the elections and the Legislative Council and the presidency for 15 years without elections, and therefore there was advice from some countries that it is necessary to renew Legitimacy, so renewing legal legitimacy is a Palestinian decision, and an external desire.

Correspondent: Some believe that the priority was not for the elections, but rather to agree on a national program to face the serious challenges facing the Palestinian cause?

Al-Hayya: With political understanding and human experiences correct, Hamas tried that in many stations, and we had aspired to go to a state of consensus and then go to the elections to be the product of a state of comprehensive national consensus.

Hamas wants to hold elections to strengthen the internal ranks, restore the national institutions, and rebuild the Palestinian political system through democracy and elections to meet the complex, successive, and renewed challenges.

Therefore when we go to the legislative elections as the first stage of the National Council elections, then the presidential, and then the National Council, there will definitely be a new reality of partnership and national strength.

Correspondent: Has Hamas decided how to participate in the elections?

Al-Hayya: Hamas is open to all options and is ready for them. We are ready for the widest Palestinian spectrum to form a unified national list, and this is our preferred option because it is the easiest and most correct option in this case. 

The national consensus after the split is an experiment carried out by some peoples and entities, and we see it is the best, but if this is not possible, while we acknowledge that consensus does not prevent others from entering the electoral lists, there are other options, such as entering the elections within another national list with the resistance forces, independents, factions and whoever wants, or we enter the elections, with a Hamas list of national competencies.

Correspondent: Recently, voices rose to activate the conditions of the international Quartet, with the necessity that those running in the elections abide by the Oslo Accords?

Al-Hayya: These conditions are unfair to the Palestinian people. Injustice and arrogance were practiced in response to the demand of the Israeli occupation, so the world should benefit from the previous experience, in addition, that there are voices have begun to arise and say that these conditions were not in the interest of the Palestinians and non-Palestinians because they complicated the scene.

The political development that took place in the consensual national situation and the political program at the minimum, and what Hamas presented of the minimum program in its political document in May 2017, all of this is sufficient to block the path of the Quartet's conditions.

On the other hand, we are going with a firm conviction for a true national partnership and to form a national unity government that adopts the national accords that have occurred in Cairo in February 2021, and we agree on it, and we present ourselves to the whole world and this government represents all of us.

Today we are going for a partnership to protect the national project and the Palestinian cause and to rearrange the Palestinian national institutions and build the organizational structures, foremost among which is the PLO, all under the basis of a national program on which we agree from 2006 to 2021.

Correspondent: What about the arrest of the Israeli occupation your leaders and your cadres?

Al-Hayya: We are facing the Israeli occupation and resisting it, and whoever wants to carry the banner of the resistance must prepare and bear the sacrifices and we are ready. We are free people who want to exercise their rights in the elections, and we are ready to shuffle the cards in the upcoming Israeli elections if the occupation insists on interfering in our elections.

Correspondent: The Israeli occupation may prevent elections in Jerusalem, how will you deal with that?

Al-Hayya: Holding national elections in Jerusalem is a national position, and it is the position of Hamas and a red line that we cannot cross. 

If the Israeli occupation dares to enter into this issue, we as Palestinians are required to make the elections in Jerusalem a real political and electoral battle against the Israeli occupation, and we must agree on the ideal image for holding elections in Jerusalem, and we do not back down from that in any way, but we, as Palestinians, must make this issue a national issue par excellence, and stand before the Israeli occupation and its interference and witness the world to it, this issue does not give up, and it is a national battle.