The Palestinian leadership is not opposed to armed struggle, including “martyrdom operations,” the Palestinian Authority’s newly installed Interior Minister Hani Al-Hassan is quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency, IRNA.
Al-Hassan’s rider is that the attacks are “directed against Israeli occupation soldiers and settlers.”
The following is IRNA’s report from its Hebron bureau:
‘”Every people under occupation has an inalienable right to resist the occupier, this is an indisputable fact,” said Al-Hasan.
He said Palestinian resistance against occupation troops and settlers rampaging through Palestinian neighborhoods and fields was a noble act of self defense.
“If somebody comes to kill you and take over your home or olive orchards, will you resist him or allow him to do as he wishes?” he asked.
However, the Palestinian official said the PA was strongly against bomb attacks directed against civilians, especially inside Israel.
“Targeting civilians is morally wrong and politically harmful,” he said.
Al-Hasan said he, as interior minister, would seek to strengthen the rule of law and national unity.
Islamist movements in Palestine have generally welcomed the appointment of Hani al-Hasan as interior minister, who is viewed by many as centrist and untainted by corruption.’