Israel is cancer and must be uprooted

 New Hamas representative to Tehran told in an inaugural interview that the ultimate goal of the movement was to free the entire Palestinian land, destroy the Zionist regime and rescue the revered Quds from the claws of the Zionists.

Khaled al-Qoddoumi said Hamas would not pay any attention to the negative propaganda of the western media that Hamas should or would withdraw from the path of resistance.

In a first interview with Iranian media after arriving in Tehran, Qoddoumi, who replaced Osama abd al-Mo’ti early in May, said Israel has no belief in living alongside the Palestinian nation.

The senior Hamas member refuted any option of compromise with Israel and underlined resistance as the only way of struggling with the occupiers and restoring the rights of the Palestinian nation. He predicted that one day, the Quds would return to the lap of the world of Islam.

Asked about the status and position of resistance in Palestine and its destiny, the Hamas envoy said the Palestinian resistant people has stood fast to the way of resistance while the form of such resistance have varied from stone throwing to military confrontation to missile firing to popular demonstrations. “Today, the nation has kept the path alongside the Arab world, Muslims and all free people of the world,” he added.

Asked whether the Palestinian nation considers the option of compromise with Israel as legitimate, he said the Palestinian nation sees no reason to approve the option as it sees compromise as a futile and useless way. “The Israeli side has never sought peace. They have no belief in living alongside the Palestinian nation or other Muslim nations. The Zionist regime is a cancer and cancer must be uprooted,” he said.

Al-Qoddoumi said Hamas was more powerful than ever and has acquired a stronger faith in the path of resistance which guarantees the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian nation.

Touching on the recent reconciliation deal between his movement and Fatah, he said the Hamas believes that a new page opened in the history of Palestine by the deal. “We have a golden opportunity ahead. People expect us to feel the results of the deal in practice. We must forge the past and follow a new stage, namely a stage of resistance until the Zionist regime is defeated,” he said.

Al-Qoddoumi denied reports that Hamas was going to move its office from Damascus to other countries and said Hamas has no decision to transfer its office from the Syrian capital.

The envoy also expressed sympathy with the families of those killed across the “Israeli border” in the recent popular demonstrations and said the demonstration ere a new form of Intifada. “These blood heralds the approaching end of the Zionist regime and freedom of the entire Palestinian land. We can certainly call the incident a third intifada,” he added.

Asked about an idea that the IRI must establish a diplomatic office in Gaza, the Hamas envoy welcomed the idea, adding however that Palestine has still to become a state and therefore the time was not ripe for opening the embassy.

"Following an establishment of a free Palestine, all countries including Iran would open their embassies in the Palestinian areas," he suggested.

He said Hamas was following a much more important issue than embassy that is a unification of resistance forces in the region against the Zionist enemy.