Jibril al-Rajoub to 'Al-Rai': I urge Hamas to stop and tell the truth... Why did what happened happen?
- All respect and love to His Highness the Emir, the Crown Prince, and the great Kuwaiti people for their support of the Palestinian cause.
- I say to our people in Kuwait and around the world: We will not leave Palestine. We remain and hold our ground in every inch.
- Kuwait was our first host since the 1960s, and its unconditional support for Palestine and its people has continued.
- Resistance and confrontation with the occupation are strategic choices, but militant action must be calculated and considered.
- The results of October 7 had catastrophic repercussions, but the occupation bears responsibility for the crimes.
- The scale of crimes committed by Israel has left it exposed before the world and led to a shift in global awareness.
- An Israeli government that recognizes our rights will not come easily. What is required of us is unity and steadfastness.
- The two-state solution will come sooner or later. Israel is facing growing international isolation due to its actions.
- We want a state with one authority, one weapon, and one law. Partnership is built through ballot boxes, not “bullet boxes.”
- There is no inheritance for the Palestinian presidency. The ballot box is the only path.
- Marwan Barghouti is an organizational and national icon. The presidential candidate is decided by the Central Committee.
- I hope that Hamas will, sooner or later, provide the Palestinian people with an accounting and conduct a review.
Jibril Rajoub, Secretary-General of the Central Committee of Fatah, affirmed that Kuwait represents a firm station in the Palestinian memory in the journey of support and assistance, emphasizing that Kuwait’s position in international forums has always been clear and firm in defending Palestinian rights.
Rajoub said in an interview with “Al-Rai” that Kuwait, since the 1960s and with the launch of the Fatah movement, was the “first host,” and has continued since then to provide unconditional political and financial support to Palestine, its cause, and its people.
Rajoub outlined his vision for the future of the Palestinian cause three years after October 7, the future of Hamas and its weapons, the shape of the Palestinian political system, the upcoming elections, the succession of President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as the future of the two-state solution.
Kuwait’s voice in international forums has always been a clear message supporting the rights of our people and their cause.
• Three years after October 7, 2023, how do you assess its Palestinian tally today? What have Palestinians gained and lost politically, humanely, and strategically?
- First, I am pleased with this appearance through “Al-Rai” newspaper, with all its geographical, historical, and political connotations. I hope to offer, as a Palestinian committed to his cause, a vision that illuminates the path for our Arab depth to understand the complex web of interests, agendas, and considerations facing the Palestinian national project, whether at the national, regional, or international level.
This is a complex web of interests, and reconfiguring it, including confrontation on our part as Palestinians, requires considerable effort and courage to preserve the achievements of our people, whose history and struggle span more than a century, and cannot be reduced to an event that occurred on October 7.
We cannot treat history as if it began there. The occupation’s crimes did not start in October, nor did Palestinian resistance militant action begin in October.
We need to understand the complexities and challenges we face in Palestine, some of which are sometimes beyond our control or ability to regulate the pace.
Today, there is a war on geography and land, a war on demographics and human beings, an economic war to undermine elements of resilience, and a security and political war aimed at emptying the homeland of its substance and human content.
• If you were to sit today before the leadership of Hamas, what is the first lesson you would demand they draw from the past three years? And is their political future contingent upon relinquishing their weapons and accepting “one authority, one law, and one legitimate weapon”?
- Absolutely. What happened on October 7 requires deep and precise study, linked to all the circumstances and conditions we were living through.
We in Fatah believe that resistance and confrontation with the occupation are strategic choices, but militant action must be carefully considered and calculated.
The results of October 7 had catastrophic repercussions and backlash, but the occupation bears responsibility for the crimes it committed, which it considers part of its consistent policy throughout the history of the conflict.
The occupation exploited the sympathy it garnered in the initial days, turning it into an opportunity to dismantle the Palestinian national project. It declared war on all aspects of life: a war on the land through annexation and settlement; a war on people involving ethnic cleansing in Gaza; a siege and suffocation of Palestinians; and an economic war aimed at breaking our will, forcing us into migration, and erasing our cause by treating it as merely a political issue.
• Can Hamas remain a Palestinian political force after the war if it surrenders its weapons, or do you believe its governance of Gaza has ended definitively? And who should govern the Strip in the day after?
- Before October 7, Israeli policy was based on managing the conflict. Afterward, it shifted toward attempting to resolve the conflict decisively.
Israel moved from a phase of containing risks to confronting them with all its military power, beginning to impose facts on the ground in Palestine through expanding the settlement system, seizing land, and suffocating Palestinians in besieged geographic enclaves.
In the West Bank, there are hundreds of checkpoints and closures that besiege cities, camps, villages, and communities, leaving the movement of Palestinians to and from their areas at the mercy of the Israeli army.
Furthermore, there is ongoing ethnic cleansing, genocide, and widespread destruction of infrastructure in Gaza.
However, the scale of crimes committed by Israel has, in my view, left it exposed before the world, leading to a shift in global awareness regarding the Palestinian cause.
The first option is for them to accept being partners with the occupation in entrenching division. I do not believe the occupation will accept their continued presence in Gaza without teeth unless it enshrines the principle of separating Gaza from the rest of the Palestinian territories. This, in my view, represents the height of betrayal, and I am certain that the national current within Hamas cannot accept such an option.
The second option is for them to seek a coalition formula with a segment of the Palestinian people or political forces. I also do not believe this is possible, as no Palestinian nationalist would accept it.
The third option is for them to undertake a review that leads them to engage with the official Palestinian national system without weapons.
This requires a strategic vision and acceptance of the political commitments required, including those of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), resolutions of international legitimacy, agreements signed by the Organization, and charters it has accepted.
Building partnership and engineering the political system must be achieved through ballot boxes, not through boxes of bullets.
If Hamas desires national legitimacy, it must become part of that national legitimacy and accept these commitments. This could provide it with a space to be part of the national legitimacy, and subsequently, regional and international legitimacy.
• President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree to hold legislative elections on November 28, and the Elections Commission is still implementing the official schedule, while you claim that the elections will not take place. Why does your reading differ from the official position?
- Honestly, there will be no elections without national consensus.
As for the decree that was issued, in my view, it should have been preceded by dialogue within institutions, including Fatah’s Central Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Palestinian leadership framework.
- I say this unequivocally: the greatest strategic mistake Fatah has made in its history is that some of us, not all of us, went along with postponing the elections in 2021.
But that is now in the past. Let us look to the future and draw lessons from three years of agony, suffering, destruction, and bitterness.
• You say that leadership should not be inherited and that the ballot box is the way to choose it. Does this include the presidency after Mahmoud Abbas?
Elections are the path to everything. There will be no inheritance, and the ballot box is the only path for all Palestinians to choose their leaders. Any interpretations or maneuvers outside this framework are incorrect.
We respect legitimacy, and we will uphold legitimacy even if we disagree with the symbols of legitimacy. We will not dispute the legitimacy, legality, and constitutionality of its existence.
But no one has the right to impose leadership upon us by appointment or decree. This will not happen in Palestine.
I have known the man since 1978; he is a pragmatic and realistic national leader who possesses all the elements of strength, moral courage, and ethical conviction to defend his beliefs. On this basis, he spent a quarter of a century in occupation prisons, in addition to the years he spent before that.
When it comes to the issue of the presidency, this is a decision for the Central Committee, which has the right to determine who the candidate is.
In my view, Netanyahu’s policy has become a danger to Israel due to his hostility, foolishness, and fascism. I do not believe Netanyahu can win, and I think Israelis may ultimately reject him because of the damage he has inflicted upon them on all levels.
A government that recognizes our rights will not come easily. What is required of us is unity and working to provide all the conditions for resilience.
• There is increasing talk about the de facto annexation of the West Bank. What is the red line, in your view, that if Israel crosses it, makes the two-state solution unimplementable?
The first is the demographic factor, which they have been unable to change by force. The second is security and stability; an Israeli will not enjoy security and stability unless the Palestinian state is established and official Israeli terrorism against Palestinians stops. The third is integration into the region and relations with the international community. In my view, Israel today faces growing international isolation due to its actions.
And I say to our people in Kuwait and around the world: We will not leave Palestine.
We remain steadfast and resolute in every inch, despite all the terrorism and brutality we endure.
From this perspective, we look to provide all the conditions for our resilience, drawing from our Arab depth, our Islamic depth, and our human depth.
