PM junge Welt: The daily newspaper junge Welt has conducted interviews with Hamas and other Palestinian organisations about the ceasefire and the future of Gaza

The Berlin-based national daily newspaper junge Welt has conducted interviews with high-ranking representatives of the three leading Palestinian organisations in the Gaza Strip.

The interviews with spokespeople from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) took place in Lebanon about a week ago. An evaluation and summary of important statements will be published in junge Welt on Monday. In addition, the interviews, which were filmed on site and then translated from Arabic into English and German, will be documented in writing at www.jungewelt.de.

According to the interviewees, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the PFLP were all involved in the negotiations in Egypt that led to the ceasefire in Gaza with their own delegations.

‘We are negotiating a ceasefire and we will adhere to this agreement as long as the occupying power adheres to it,’ assures Walid Kilani, Hamas spokesman in Lebanon. ‘Of course, there are violations that can be responded to with violations, but we as the Palestinian resistance remain committed to this agreement,’ emphasises Haitham Abu Ghaslan, a leader of Islamic Jihad. The party believes that US President Donald Trump forced Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire. ‘Today, Israel and the US have an interest in ending their isolation and therefore in continuing this agreement,’ Abu Ghaslan said.

When asked to what extent his organisation would support an internationally favoured two-state solution, Kilani counters by blaming Israel for not intending such a solution. ‘Their goal is the annihilation of the Palestinian people. As long as Israel continues to occupy territories – in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or elsewhere – it is an enemy, and we cannot call this a peace agreement. It is a ceasefire agreement,’ said the Hamas spokesman. Islamic Jihad explicitly rejects a two-state solution: ‘We are not in favour of the proposal, and the Israeli enemy is not in favour of the proposal.’ The goal is the liberation of ‘Palestine from the river to the sea, the entire land of Palestine,’ said the PFLP representative.

The three organisations agree in their rejection of a foreign mandate to administer Gaza. ‘As far as the administration of the Gaza Strip is concerned, we advocate a government of technocrats, an administration or a committee that is independent, competent and purely Palestinian,’ said the Hamas spokesman, who assured that Hamas was ‘not determined to rule the Gaza Strip.’ . The decisive factor, he said, is that an independent administration be recognised by all Palestinian factions. Representatives of the other two parties expressed similar views.

When asked about three alleged Hamas members arrested in Berlin in early October who are said to have planned attacks on Israeli facilities, the Hamas spokesman denied that they were members of the organisation. ‘Since the movement was founded, Hamas has not carried out any military operations outside Palestine and has limited its military actions to Palestine, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This is a principle we adhere to, and we have learned from the experiences of others,’ Kilani said. ‘We are a national liberation movement that wants to liberate our country.’