“It represents a new beginning for joint Palestinian-Syrian action,” said a Hamas official on the sidelines of the meeting with Al Assad
Oct. 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A delegation from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) met this Wednesday with the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, in a meeting that the Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, has described as “positive and historic”, since presupposes the reestablishment of relations with Damascus.
The relationship of the then leader of the Palestinian militia, Khaled Meshaal, with the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, based on his enmity towards Israel, broke down when Damascus began the repression in March 2011 against opposition movements. In February 2012, Hamas decided to close his office in the Syrian capital and left the country.
The head of the Office of Arab and Islamic Relations, Jalil al Hayya, has indicated in a press conference that this meeting “represents a new beginning for the joint Palestinian-Syrian action” and a “new addition to the Axis of Resistance”, according to a statement from the formation itself.
“It is an important day, and we will resume our presence in Syria and the joint work with the Palestinian forces and with Damascus in support of our cause and the unity and stability of Syria,” he explained, adding that the past must be corrected to avoid same problems in the future.
The meeting comes after a group of Palestinian organizations, including Hamas and the Fatah Movement, signed a declaration in Algiers to promote “national unity” and end the Palestinian political division in the presence of the Algerian president, Abdelmajid Tebune.
In said appointment, the president of Algeria met with Abbas and with the leader of the political arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniya, being the first meeting of this type in the last 15 years.
The 2006 elections and the victory of Hamas at the polls caused the international community to cut off its aid to the Palestinian authorities, which led both factions to clashes that ended with the administrative separation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Since then, Al Fatá controls the West Bank –despite not having won the elections– and Hamas is in charge of the Gaza Strip, without elections having been held since then. In fact, the Islamist group does not recognize the authority of Abbas, whose mandate expired without his being succeeded as head of the Palestinian Authority.
The contacts of the Palestinian faction have also been made towards the Iranian side. Thus, in September 2020, the secretary general of the Lebanese party-militia Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, met in Beirut and reiterated their commitment to the Axis of Resistance, in which Iran also participates. .
