Hamas at Hay It's a rare thing to hear a person from Hamas interviewed: here's what he had to say.
Katharine Viner Comment is Free Guardian May 27, 2007 2:00 PM It's only when you hear a person from Hamas talking that you realise how rare it is to hear a person from Hamas talking. Ghazi Hamad, the spokesperson for the Palestinian government, a survivor of an assassination attempt (last week) who spent five years in Israeli jails, was interviewed on stage at the Hay festival on Saturday by William Sieghart, chairman of Forward Thinking, a conflict resolution agency that works with all sides. It couldn't have come at a more relevant time, given the escalation of conflict between Hamas and Israel in the last couple of months. Some highlights: .He reminded the audience that he believes, as every Palestinian believes, that Yasser Arafat was poisoned. .He said he couldn't understand that what he described as Hamas' chance to "show the world that you could have a democractic Islamic society" - after their shock win in the 2006 Palestinian election - had been so comprehensively undermined by Israel, with 10 months of constant shelling of Gaza after the election, and the world, with global boycotts, sanctions and embargos. .He asked "why are the victims asked to give everything?" in relation to the demand for Hamas to recognise the state of Israel - he twice reminded the audience that Arafat recognised Israel at Oslo in 1993, and most Palestinians don't think much good came out of that. .He said that Palestinians fighting Palestinians, with the sporadic Hamas vs Fatah scraps in Gaza, was a "big mistake" and "shameful", though "under control". "But what do you expect of these people? We are encaged." .He said that the Palestinian cabinet was unable to meet, and that 41 parliament members, elected in a process internationally recognised as fair, are in prison. .He stated what is becoming the increasingly familiar Hamas position that Israel's withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders would effectively mean the end of the conflict. He was challenged by a sceptical member of the audience as to whether this was Hamas's real line -- as, depite growing recognition that it is in all practical terms, Hamas leaders continue to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state in Palestine. .On Alan Johnston, he said: "He is my friend, he is a very very good man. His capture is shameful for our people and our government." Confirming rumours that it was known who was keeping Johnston and where, he said, "it is a small group which is holding Alan, it is not secret, I met with them, what I know is that Alan is healthy, well and in a very good situation - this is my certain information. It is a very small political group [Jaish al-Islam] who are trying to get he release of radical cleric Abu Qatada [who has been described as "Osama bin Laden's spiritual ambassador to Europe"] from jail in Britain. Alan must be released, he will be released and I promise that we are doing our best efforts to save him". William Sieghart concluded by saying that he believed that you have to get the "extremes to the table". If you want a peace process that will work. Olmert and Abu Mazen chatting, he suggested, gets you nowhere. In light of Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley's moment, "who remembers David Trimble and John Hume?"
