New Delhi [India], October 9 (ANI): Citing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks, Palestine Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Al-Haija refuted Israel’s claims of “Iran’s hand” behind the Hamas attack on Israel, and stated that unless the “Palestinian state is established with East Jerusalem as capital” the conflict will continue forever.
The Palestine envoy also refused to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel, and questioned the Western leaders for not condemning the Israel military’s action in West Bank.
Speaking to ANI, Haija said, “I said in 2021, if there is no peaceful solution and establishment of Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, this conflict will continue forever. We are not going to live as slaves in our homeland. Hamas and the people in Gaza have been under siege for 15 years now. 2.2 million are living in an open prison”.
“They can’t move, they can’t do anything. They don’t have any hope. Give them hope, give the Palestinian people hope. Then you can question the Palestinians why you are doing that?” he added.
In a major escalation on October 7, Hamas launched a “surprise attack” on Israel, firing a barrage of rockets into the southern and central parts of the country.
According to Israeli local media cited by The Times of Israel, the death toll in Israel has jumped to 800 Israelis since Saturday’s attack. According to Israeli government, over 2400 people have been injured as well.
The Palestine envoy slammed Israel accusing it of not adhering to the international law and said that it has never implemented any of the over 800 United Nations resolutions.
“They are talking about international law. Israel has never been adhered to the international law. Never. We have more than 800 resolutions from the Security Council and General Assembly. Israel has never been implemented to anyone of these resolutions,” he said.
Speaking on Israel’s claims that Iran is behind the attack by Hamas, Haija said, “I think I have heard Mr Blinken yesterday. He said that we did not find anything from Iran in this conflict. This is not from me it is from the Foreign Minister of the United States”.
This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said that Hamas has grown stronger with Iran’s support in recent years, however, also adding that there is “no direct evidence” of Iran’s involvement in the specific Hamas attack on Israel.
On further being asked about if the conflict can be a justification for the ongoing violence, the Palestine envoy said that his country is against the conflict but they are “not ready to live like slaves” in their own country.
“No, I’m against the conflict…because of that we went to sign Oslo agreement at 22 per cent of our homeland…we are ready for peace from now. We hate seeing any blood anywhere, we hate war. We want to live like any other people, but we are not going to live as a slave under occupation…I am saying now there is no peace if the Palestinian people did not get their independent state and live like any other people in the world,” the envoy said.
He added, “…If you go to the Israeli jail we have more than 200 children in the jail…why no one talks about that, right? Give us our freedom. We are looking for peace. We want our children to live like any other children in the world”. (ANI)
