Hamas calls for ‘unified command’ against Israel, urges PLO to scrap Oslo Accords
In response to the cold-blooded murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli regime forces, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called for a unified command against the occupation regime.
In his remarks late Friday, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Gaza-based resistance movement’s political bureau, called for the “rapid formation” of the command to lead the fight against Israel.
The call came two days after Abu Akleh, 51, was brutally murdered while covering an Israeli military raid on Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
The longtime Al Jazeera Arab journalist, who rose to prominence covering the second Palestinian intifada between 2000 and 2005, was accompanying a group of local journalists when she was targeted.
Haniyeh said the Palestinian liberation struggle is going through a “new stage”, which requires the adoption of “incisive and strategic decisions”.
He said the unified command will be responsible for leading the resistance against the apartheid regime.
The formation of the united front is essential in light of the regime’s “bestiality”, which was manifested in the “killing of the daughter of Palestine”, Haniyeh said, referring to Abu Akleh.
The Hamas leader said the Palestinians must pull themselves together in the face of unbridled aggression from Tel Aviv, advocating unity among the various Palestinian political groups.
He cited examples of Israeli aggression such as the increase in settlement building activities in the occupied territories, the assault on Palestinian worshipers in the compound of al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied holy city of al- Quds, the long-running and crippling siege of Gaza, detaining thousands of Palestinians and denying them the right to return to their homeland.
Haniyeh called on the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) to end its cooperation with the Tel Aviv regime and abandon the so-called Oslo Accords, which were signed in 1993 and marked the first time that the Israeli regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) recognized each other.
The Oslo Accords were signed at the White House, but named after the capital of Norway, where the secret dialogue took place.
Hamas leader urges PA to withdraw ‘recognition of Israel’, end ‘security cooperation’ with Tel Aviv, ‘and focus on overall plan of resistance to confront occupier “.
Relevantly, this happened on the eve of Nakba Day (the day of disaster), when in 1948 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homeland and Israel became a illegal and illegitimate entity.