“Hamas is supported by private bodies and individuals, who are not obliged by the resolutions of heads-of-state summits,” said Zahhar

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, June 4 (IslamOnline.net) – The Palestinian resistance movements Hamas and the Islamic Jihad mocked at the agreement reached during the Arab-U.S. summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to stymie “assistance” to what U.S. President George W. Bush dubbed as “terror groups.” 

“Hamas is supported by private bodies and individuals, who are not obliged by the resolutions of heads-of-state summits,” Mahmoud al-Zahhar, a Hamas leader, told IslamOnline.net.

He stressed, however, that the outcome of Sharm El-Sheikh summit would not influence the movement decision to mull Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas’ proposal for a truce between Palestinian resistance movements and Israel.

“We will respond to Abbas within few days,” Zahar told IOL over the phone. 

He said Hamas leaders are either imprisoned in different prisons, live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip or abroad, which “means that more time is needed to consider the proposal.”

Zahhar also said Hamas would cope with all pressures without making any painful concessions as regards “the essence of our basic principles.

“But at the same time, we bear in mind the interests of the Palestinian people,” he added, noting that Hamas would not be intimidated by Bush.

The Hamas leader condemned the Arab leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh summit for “shooting the resistance drive.”

By deciding to combat the so-called terrorism whatever the motives are, the Arab leaders “legalized the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the occupation of their countries as well,” he charged.

Regimes

“No Arab regime provides any financial assistance to the (Palestinian) resistance,” said Hindi

Dr. Mohammad al-Hindi, the spokesman for the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, said “no Arab regime provides any financial assistance to the (Palestinian) resistance.

“We believe that the resolutions of Sharm El-Sheikh summit are nothing but media propaganda,” Hindi told IOL.

He said that Bush has won two Arab important decisions on combating what they called terrorist groups and supporting stability in postwar Iraq in swap for his pledge to establish a Palestinian state.

Hindi hit out at this “bargain,” noting that Bush’s pledge made no mention of the borders or sovereignty of this state.

“Ambiguity was clear and intended. Bush, for instance, did not make any reference to a Palestinian state based on the borders of June 1967,” stressed the Jihad spokesman.

On the anticipated meeting between Jihad leaders and Abbas on a possible truce with Israel, Hindi said they would listen to the prime minister and put forth their viewpoints.

The U.S.-Arab summit hosted by Egypt with the aim of re-launching the Middle East peace process closed its formal session Tuesday with differences emerging to the fore.

The two sides locked horn over Arabs’ normalization of ties with the Jewish state which delayed the official opening of the summit.

However, the summit ended with a joint agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state and combating "terrorism" in the region.

The Arab leaders vowed, in this respect, that any aid to the Palestinians would be handed to Palestinian Premier Mahoumd Abbas, in an apparent reference to drying up funds channeled to Palestinian resistance groups, a key U.S. and Israeli demand, they added.